Hydrogeology Research

William P. Anderson, Jr.

Groundwater-Surface Water Research Group at Appalachian

My current research focuses on groundwater-surface water interactions (GSI) in coastal and alluvial aquifers, with urban effects on GSI, including the influence of runoff-produced salt and heat on riparian aquifer dynamics and the influence of sea-level rise in coastal aquifers, being my primary foci. A recent article in Appalachian Today highlights my research on stormwater management with colleagues at Appalachian, including Kristan Cockerill of the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, and John Whitehead, Pete Groothuis, and Tanga Mohr of the Department of Economics. I also have coastal collaborations with Department of Economics colleagues Denny Guignet, Ash Morgan, and John Whitehead.

I currently have two students working in my research group:

Ethan Cannon, Senior, Geology - Ethan is studying the contamination of riparian aquifers with road salt runoff, expanding the work of Emily Fedders ('19) by using coupled groundwater flow and solute transport simulations with SUTRA.
Matthew Manbodhe, Senior, Environmental Science, Concentration in Earth Systems Science major - Matthew is studying the earth-tide signal evident in water-level data from the fractured bedrock aquifer on Tater Hill. His work will reveal the hydraulic properties of the single fracture supplying water to the monitoring well.

Recent graduates of the research group are:

Lauren Fleeman, ('25), Environmental Science, Concentration in Earth Systems Science major - Lauren continued the research started by Emily Fedders ('19) on stream temperatures in the Boone Creek watershed. She expanded Emily's work by looking at temperature variations along Boone Creek in relation to urbanization trends and groundwater influence.
Zig Majtenyi, ('25), Environmental Science, Concentration in Earth Systems Science major - Zig continued the research started by Nick Fiori ('21) Tyler Bland ('22) on barrier-island mixing zones. He expanded their work by modeling not only the effects of sea-level rise and tidal oscillations on the freshwater/saltwater mixing zone, but also aperiodic wind events, which may be just as important.
Ely Yancey, ('23) Environmental Science, Concentration in Life Science major - Ely studied the effects of road salt on freshwater occurrence in the riparian aquifers of an urban watershed. He expanded the work of a former student researcher, Emily Fedders, by collecting data from monitoring wells drilled adjacent to two urban streams that are subject to road salt contamination.
Skye-Anne Tschoepe, ('23) Environmental Science, Concentration in Earth Systems Science graduate - Skye-Anne studied the influence of constructed wetlands on water quality.
Tyler Bland, ('22) Geology graduate - Tyler studied the effects of sea-level rise on freshwater resources in the barrier-island aquifers of coastal North Carolina. She expanded the work of former student researcher, Nick Fiori, by utlizing numerical simulations of flow and transport.
Katie Haven, ('22) Environmental Geology graduate - Katie worked on two projects with me, one focused on groundwater usage in Watauga County which was funded by the County, and one focused on ecosystem services in with a research group with Dr. Steve Seagle in BIO and funded by ASU's RIEEE.
Nick Fiori ('21) Environmental Science Life Science Concentration graduate - Nick studied the influence of rising sea levels on salt contamination of coastal aquifers along the coast of North Carolina. He defended a senior thesis in Spring 2021 and will be attending the University of Michigan for graduate school in Fall 2021.
Carly Maas ('20) Quantitative Geoscience graduate - Carly studied the influence of low-impact development (LID) structures, such as rain gardens, on the timing of the transport of road salt from pavement to streams. While not removing salt, these structures and naturally-occurring 'accidental wetlands' may delay the arrival of salt in urban streams, thereby lowering peak stream salinities. This topic was the focus of her senior thesis in Spring 2020. She earned an M.Sc. at the University of Maryland, College Park, in 2023.
Emily Fedders ('19) Quantitative Geoscience graduate - Emily developed a solute transport model of GSI in Hardin Creek in Durham Park on the ASU campus. This became her senior thesis, which she defended in May 2019. She also worked on a manuscript documenting air-stream temperature relationships, which will be submitted for review soon. She has been in graduate school at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, since Fall 2019.
Aeon Russo ('19) Environmental Science/Quantitative Geoscience double graduate - I co-advised Aeon along with Dr. Chuanhui Gu of Beijing Normal University, China. Aeon modeled watershed-scale salt contamination in the Boone Creek catchment using the SCS Curve Number method. He defended a senior thesis in May 2019. He earned an M.Sc. at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 2023, and is pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

Alluvial Aquifer Research

A significant portion of my research time since my arrival at ASU has been the study of the alluvial aquifers adjoining mountain streams, primarily in Boone Creek, right on the Appalachian campus. The alluvial aquifer research, although located in a completely different hydrogeologic environment, is similar to the research that I have conducted in coastal aquifers; however, instead of just studying the tidally-forced transition zone between fresh and saline water, this work also involves the study of stream and streambed temperatures and involves heat transport as well as solute transport modeling. The picture above shows a portion of Boone Creek on the ASU campus with one of our stream gauges visible downstream.

The Boone Creek research has involved a number of undergraduate students over the years on a variety of projects related to stream temperature, stream salinity, and groundwater modeling. Much of this work focuses on the role that urbanization plays in the transfer of heat and salt to streams and riparian aquifers. My students work at a number of levels, from simple data collection projects to more complex groundwater modeling projects. Many of these students present at professional meetings, complete a Senior Thesis, or publish their research in peer-reviewed journals.

Selected publications related to this research (students in italics):

Cockerill KM, WP Anderson Jr, FC Harris, KM Straka (2017) Hot, salty water: A confluence of issues in managing stormwater runoff for urban streams, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA), 1-18, doi:10.1111/1752-1688.12528.
Cockerill KM, WP Anderson Jr (2014) Creating False Images: Stream Restoration in an Urban Setting. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 50(2): 468-482, doi:10.1111/jawr.12131.
Gu C, WP Anderson Jr, J Colby, CL Coffey (2014) Air-stream temperature correlation in forested and urban headwater streams in the Southern Appalachians, Hydrological Processes 29(6): 1110-1118, doi:10.1002/hyp.10225.
Gu C, WP Anderson Jr, F Maggi (2012) Riparian biogeochemical hot moments induced by stream fluctuations, Water Resources Research 48:W09546, doi:10.1029/2011WR011720.
Anderson WP Jr, RE Storniolo, JS Rice (2011) Bank thermal storage as a sink of temperature surges in urbanized streams. Journal of Hydrology 409:525-537, doi: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2011.08.059.
Rice JS, WP Anderson Jr, CS Thaxton (2011) Urbanization influences on stream temperature behavior within low-discharge, headwaters streams. Hydrological Research Letters 5:27-31, doi:10.3178/HRL.5.27.
Anderson WP Jr, JL Anderson, CS Thaxton, CM Babyak (2010) Changes in stream temperatures in response to restoration of groundwater discharge and solar heating in a culverted, urban stream, Journal of Hydrology 393:309-320, doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2010.08.030.

Coastal Aquifer Research

I work with Dr. Roland Gehrels, Professor in the Environment Department at the University of York, England, on a project combining coastal hydrogeologic data with paleo sea-level reconstructions. In 2011, I spent seven months as a Visiting Fellow at Plymouth University, UK, where we worked on a project looking at new methods of reconstructing past changes in sea level using a field site in Hallsands, Devon, England. This work resulted in a paper published in the journal Marine Geology in 2014. We have continued this collaboration and have expanded its scope to include sites in southwestern and northwestern Wales.

Hydrogeologically, we are studying the effects of tidal oscillations and storm events on the mixing zone morphology of 'shingle' beach field sites in the United Kingdom, which comprise high-permeability gravels overlying low-permeability peat. These areas experience maximum tidal variations of nearly five meters. We have worked on Hallsands in southern Devon, England; Abermawr Beach in Pembrokeshire, southwest Wales (pictured above); and Rhoscolyn Beach on the island of Anglesey, northwest Wales. These sites have experienced different glacial histories, and, therefore, different relative rates of sea-level change.

Selected publications related to this research (students in italics):

Whitehead JC, WP Anderson Jr, D Guignet, CE Landry, OA Morgan (2024) Sea-level rise, drinking water quality and the economic value of coastal tourism in North Carolina, Water Resources Research, 60, doi:10.1029/2023WR036440.
Guignet D, OA Morgan, CE Landry, JC Whitehead, WP Anderson Jr (2024) Sea-level rise, groundwater quality, and the impacts on coastal homeowners’ decisions to sell, Journal of Housing Economics, 10.1016/j.jhe.2024.102028.
Rushby GT, GT Richards, WR Gehrels, WP Anderson Jr, MD Bateman, WH Blake (2019) Testing the Mid-Holocene highstand hypothesis in North Wales, The Holocene, doi:10.1177/0959683619854513.
Avalos EB, DH Malone, EW Peterson, WP Anderson Jr, WR Gehrels (2016) Two-dimensional seismic refraction tomography of a buried bedrock valley at Hallsands Beach, Devon, UK, Environmental Geosciences 23(4):179-193, doi:10.1306/eg.07131615014.
Anderson, WP Jr (2014) Coastal Groundwater. Chapter 6 in Masselink G and Gehrels WR (eds.), Coastal Environments and Global Change. London: Wiley-Blackwell, 512 pp.
Gehrels WR, WP Anderson Jr (2014) Reconstructing Holocene sea-level change from coastal freshwater peat: A combined empirical and model-based approach, Marine Geology 353:140-152, doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2014.04.004.

Urban Stream Research

I also have collaborations with other ASU faculty. Dr. Kristan Cockerill and I have spent the past five years studying the urban stream syndrome using Boone Creek as our field area. Our first paper, published by the Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA), won the 2015 Boggess Award for the best paper published by JAWRA during 2014. Our follow-up paper, also published in JAWRA, came out in 2017. Other ASU collaborators in this work include three economists, Dr. John Whitehead, Dr. Pete Groothuis, and Dr. Tanga Mohr, with whom Dr. Cockerill and I work with on urban hydrology issues, specifically stormwater management and the associated costs, and Dr. Chuanhui Gu, formerly of ASU but now at Beijing Normal University, China.

Selected publications related to this research (students in italics):

Mohr TA, PA Groothuis, JC Whitehead, K Cockerill, WP Anderson Jr, C Gu (2022) Discreet and continuous measures of consequentiality, Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy, doi:10.1080/21606544.2022.2142301.
Maas CM, WP Anderson Jr, K Cockerill (2021) Managing stormwater by accident: A conceptual study, Water 2021, 13, 1492. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13111492.
Groothuis P, T Mohr, JC Whitehead, K Cockerill, WP Anderson Jr, C Gu (2021) Measuring the direct and indirect effect of scientific information on valuing stormwater management programs with a hybrid choice model, Water Resources Research.
Gu C, K Cockerill, WP Anderson Jr, F Shepherd, PA Groothuis, TM Mohr, JC Whitehead, AA Russo (2019) Modeling effects of low impact development on road salt transport at watershed scale, Journal of Hydrology, doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2019.04.079.
Cockerill KM, T Mohr, WP Anderson Jr, P Groothuis, C Gu, J Whitehead (2019) Managing stormwater runoff in Appalachia: What does the public think?, Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, doi:10.1080/09640568.2018.1559803.
Cockerill KM, WP Anderson Jr, FC Harris, KM Straka (2017) Hot, salty water: A confluence of issues in managing stormwater runoff for urban streams, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA), 1-18, doi:10.1111/1752-1688.12528.
Cockerill KM, WP Anderson Jr (2014) Reply to Discussion – “Creating False Images: Stream Restoration in an Urban Setting.” Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA), doi:10.1111/jawr.12242.
Cockerill KM, WP Anderson Jr (2014) Creating False Images: Stream Restoration in an Urban Setting. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA), 50(2): 468-482, doi:10.1111/jawr.12131.

Barrier Island Research

The majority of my coastal aquifer research up until 2009 was performed in the barrier-island aquifers of the Outer Banks. My coastal-related work on Hatteras Island and elsewhere on the Outer Banks involves using groundwater modeling techniques to evaluate variations in the mixing zone between fresh and saline water, which is commonly referred to as the subterranean estuary. Of early interest to me was the response of the mixing zone to the large storm events that frequently strike the Outer Banks. My studies demonstrate that it may take the mixing zone a decade or more to recover from a single storm event, calling the whole notion of a static boundary into question. My current focus is on the variations in the mixing between predicted tidal oscillations and those that actually occur.

Selected publications related to this research (students in italics):

Whitehead JC, WP Anderson Jr, D Guignet, CE Landry, OA Morgan (2024) Sea-level rise, drinking-water quality, and the economic value of coastal tourism in North Carolina, Water Resources Research, 60, e2023WR036440, doi:/10.1029/2023WR036440
Guignet D, OA Morgan, CE Landry, JC Whitehead, WP Anderson Jr (2024) Sea-level rise, groundwater quality, and the impacts on coastal homeowners' decisions to sell, Journal of Housing Economics, doi:/10.1016/j.jhe.2024.102028
Fiori N, WP Anderson Jr (2022) The impact of sea-level rise on saltwater intrusion for coastal aquifers in North Carolina, Continental Shelf Research, CSR104789.
Anderson WP Jr, RE Emanuel (2010) Effect of interannual climate oscillations on rates of submarine groundwater discharge, Water Resources Research 46:W05503, doi:10.1029/2009WR008212.
Anderson WP Jr, RE Emanuel (2008) Effect of interannual and interdecadal climate oscillations on groundwater in North Carolina, Geophysical Research Letters 35:L23402, doi:10.1029/2008GL036054.
Anderson WP Jr, RM Lauer (2008) The role of overwash in the evolution of mixing zone morphology within barrier islands, Hydrogeology Journal 16:1483-1495, doi:10.1007/s10040-008-0340-z.
Anderson WP Jr, DG Evans (2007) On the interpretation of recharge estimates from steady-state model calibrations, Groundwater 45(4):499-505, doi:10.111/j.1745-6584.2007.00312.x.
Anderson WP Jr (2002) Aquifer salinization from storm overwash, Journal of Coastal Research 18(3):413-420.
Anderson WP Jr, DG Evans (2001) Comment on ‘Anomalous fresh water lens morphology on a strip barrier island’, Groundwater 39(6):804.
Anderson WP Jr, DG Evans, SW Snyder (2000) The effects of Holocene barrier-island evolution on water-table elevations - Hatteras Island, North Carolina, USA, Hydrogeology Journal 8(4):390-404.

Contact Information

Email: andersonwp@appstate.edu

Phone: (+1) 828.262.7540

Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, ASU Box 32067, Boone, NC 28608-2067

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