Research:

2006-2011 Mechanisms Producing Variation in Lake Salinity in Dune Environments: Nebraska Sand Hills (funded by National Science Foundation, Principal Investigator). Lake salinity in the Sand Hills, Nebraska the largest sand dune area in the Western Hemisphere (58,000 km²) ranges over three orders of magnitude from fresh (0.1 g/L) to brine (>100 g/L), while groundwater is fresh. Solute advection, diffusion, dispersion, variable-density flow in ground water, and eolian transport of dust forms of salts control divergence of salinity paths between different lakes. This study utilizes modeling, geophysics (electrical resistivity imaging, electromagnetic methods), drilling and direct push, remote sensing (Landsat imagery), geochemistry and terrain analysis in GIS framework to explain differences in salinity between various lakes in collaboration with Indiana University, Oklahoma State, Flinders University, Australia, and the USGS. Results are important for understanding climate effects on lake conditions and delineation of dynamics of saline water deposited above fresh groundwater (e.g., tsunami in Indonesia, 2005, hurricane Katrina, 2005) and dust emissions from saline lakes

Publications

Befus, K., M. B. Cardenas, J.B. Ong, and V.A. Zlotnik, 2012, Classification and delineation of groundwater - lake interactions in the Nebraska Sand Hills (USA) using quasi-3D electrical resistivity surveys, Hydrogeology Journal, in press

Zlotnik, V.A., J.B. Ong, and J.D. Lenters, J. Schmieder, S.C. Fritz, 2012, Quantification of salt dust pathways from a groundwater-fed lake: implications for solute budgets and dust emission rates, J. Geophys. Res., v. 117, F02014, doi:10.1029/2011JF002107

Ong, J. B., and V. A. Zlotnik, 2011, Assessing lakebed hydraulic conductivity and seepage flux by potentiomanometer, Ground Water, v. 49, n.2, 270-274, DOI: 10.1111/j.1745-6584.2010.00717.x

Zlotnik, V. A., N. I. Robinson, and C. T. Simmons, 2010, Salinity dynamics of discharge lakes in dune environments: conceptual model, Water Resour. Res., v. 46,doi:10.1029/2009WR008999.

Ong, J., J. Lane, V. Zlotnik, T. Halihan, and E. White, 2010, Combined use of frequency-domain electromagnetic and electrical resistivity surveys to delineate near-lake groundwater flow in the semi-arid Nebraska Sand Hills, USA, Hydrogeology Journal, 18, no 6, 1539-1545, DOI 10.1007/s10040-010-0617-x

Zlotnik, V. A., N. I. Robinson, and C. T. Simmons, 2010, Salinity dynamics of discharge lakes in dune environments: conceptual model, Water Resour. Res.,vol. 46, doi:10.1029/2009WR008999.

Zlotnik, V.A., F. Olaguera, J.B. Ong, 2009, An approach to assessment of flow regimes of groundwater-dominated lakes in arid environments, J. Hydrology, v. 371, 22-30, doi: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.03.012

Bennett, D. M. , S.C. Fritz, J.C. Holz, A.A. Holz, and V.A. Zlotnik, 2007, Evaluating climatic and non-climatic influences on ion chemistry in natural and man-made lakes of Nebraska, USA, Hydrobiologia, Volume 591, Number 1 / October, 103-115

Zlotnik, V.A., M. Burbach, J. Swinehart, D. Bennett, S. Fritz, D. Loope, 2007, A case study of direct push methods for aquifer characterization in dune-lake environments, Environmental and Engineering Geoscience, v. XIII, no 3, 205-216

Map of lake salinity (TDS) in area of Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Nebraska, USA