Research in the ecohydrology program focuses on the fluxes and transformations of nutrients, greenhouse gases and heavy metals at critical interfaces separating groundwater from surface water bodies, including hyporheic zones, riparian soils, seepage areas and subterranean estuaries.
Our research combines laboratory experiments, field sampling and mathematical modelling. The experiments and field measurements assess the rates, mechanisms and products of biogeochemical transformations, under the transient environmental conditions that commonly prevail in groundwater‐surface water mixing zones. On the basis of the results of the laboratory experiments and field sampling, reactive transport models are developed in order to predict the biogeochemical exchanges between groundwater and surface waters. These models are dynamically coupled to ecohydrological river basin models, in order to simulate the downstream transfer of nutrients and contaminants that directly affect the health and functioning of aquatic ecosystems, including estuarine and coastal ecosystems. The resulting environmental simulation tools are used to forecast the effects of groundwater withdrawal, land‐use changes, economic development and climate change on water quality along the aquatic continuum.