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Department of Geosciences

Earth, Air, & Water

John Gates

Assistant Professor

Ph.D., 2007, Oxford

Aqueous geochemistry, Physical and chemical hydrogeology

Contact Information

217 Bessey Hall
402-472-2612
jgates2unl.edu

John Gates joined the Department of Geosciences in 2009 following two years as a Postdoctoral Fellow in hydrogeology at the University of Texas Austin and graduate work in the Oxford Centre for Water Research, Oxford University. His research involves geochemical and isotopic approaches to investigating water cycling and water quality, particularly in groundwater and the unsaturated zone. These tools are applied to a wide range of topics, including paleohydrology, groundwater/lake interaction, agricultural hydrochemical cycles and others. One ongoing research interest has been climatic and land use impacts on groundwater recharge. Dr. Gates has active projects on these topics in the High Plains (Ogallala) Aquifer and in northern China (Loess Plateau and North China Plain). Recent water quality studies have involved nitrate cycling in phreatic groundwater and thick unsaturated zones; naturally occurring arsenic and uranium in sedimentary aquifers; and groundwater salinity in arid inland basins.

Interested students are encouraged to get in touch. Most of John’s projects combine field, laboratory and computer modeling activities, and are relevant to water resource management. Opportunities are available for students from a wide range of scientific backgrounds.

Selected Publications

  • Scanlon, B.R., R.C. Reedy, D.A. Stonestrom, F.W. Leaney, J.B. Gates and R. Cresswell, 2009, Inventories and mobilization of unsaturated zone sulfate, fluoride, and chloride related to land use change in semiarid regions, Southwestern US and Australia, Water Resources Research, 45, W00A18.
  • Gates, J. B., B. R. Scanlon and X Mu, 2008, Impacts of soil conservation measures on vadose zone drainage rates in the Chinese Loess Plateau, GSA Joint Assembly.
  • Gates, J. B., J. K. B, 2008, Ecohydrological factors affecting nitrate concentrations in a desert phreatic aquifer in China, Environmental Science & Technology, 42, 3531-3537.
  • Gates, J. B., J. P. Nicot and B. R. Scanlon, 2008, Spatial distribution of Arsenic in the Texas Gulf Coastal Aquifer System and inferences regarding hydrogeochemical controls, Eos Trans. AGU, Fall Meet. Supp, 89, H41E-0925.
  • Gates, J. B., W. M. Edmunds, J. Ma and B. R. Scanlon, 2008, Estimating groundwater recharge in a cold desert environment in northern china using chloride, Hydrogeology Journal, 16, 893-910.
  • Gates, J. B., W. M. Edmunds, J. Ma and P. R. Sheppard, 2008, A 700-year history of groundwater recharge in the drylands of NW China, The Holocene, 18, 1045-1054.
  • Gates, J. B., W. M. Edmunds, J. Ma, W. G. Darling, Z. Pang and A. A. Young, 2008, Conceptual model of groundwater recharge to the Badain Jaran Desert from environmental tracers, Applied Geochemistry, 23, 3519-3534.
  • Ma, J.Z., Z. Ding, W.M. Edmunds, J.B. Gates and T.M. Huang, 2008, Limits to recharge of groundwater from Tibetan Plateau to the Gobi Desert, implications for water management in the mountain front, Journal of Hydrology, 364, 128-141.
  • Reedy, B.R., J.B. Gates and B.R. Scanlon, 2008, Groundwater depletion versus soil salinization in irrigated agriculture in semiarid Southern High Plains, Texas, Eos Trans. AGU, Fall Meet. Suppl., 89, H11G-0853.