Barbara Bekins

Barbara A. Bekins is a research hydrologist at the United States Geological Survey. She studies the environmental impact of a crude oil spill near Bemidji, Minnesota. She was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering in 2020.

Barbara A. Bekins
Bekins profile photograph at the USGS in 2017
Alma materUniversity of California, Santa Cruz (PhD)
San Jose State University (MS)
University of California, Los Angeles (BSc)
Scientific career
InstitutionsUnited States Geological Survey
Stanford University
ThesisA simplified analysis of parameters controlling dewatering in accretionary prisms (1993)

Early life and education

Bekins studied mathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles, and graduated summa cum laude in 1975.[1] She moved to San Jose State University for her master's studies, before moving to the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her doctoral research, under the supervision of Shirley J. Dreiss, used numerical modelling to understand accretionary prisms and the degradation of phenols in groundwater.[2][1] She was appointed as a United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) postdoctoral research associate to measure the biodegradation of groundwater contaminants.[1]

Research and career

In 1997 Bekins joined the staff at the United States Geological Survey, where she combines field research with computer models to understand the geology of North America.[3] In 1998 Bekins was appointed to the National Research Council Intrinsic Remediation committee, with whom she wrote the book Natural Attenuation for Groundwater Remediation.[4]

She studies the attenuation of petroleum hydrocarbons and the effects of fluids on boundary faults. To investigate these, Bekins served as the onboard scientist for several Ocean Drilling Program vessels, including trips to Lesser Antilles, the Peru margin and the Mariana Convergent margin.[1] Her research has evaluated the attenuation of source zone and groundwater plume as a result of the Bemidji oil spill. After the rupture of a high-pressure oil pipe in 1979, the United States Geological Survey established a crude oil research site in an effort to understand the natural attenuation of hydrocarbons.[5] A combination of fermentation and methanogenesis is the main Natural Source Zone Depletion process (NSZD).[6] NSZDs describe the change in composition of oil or fuel that occurs naturally due to volatilisation, biodegradation or dissolution.[7][8] The majority of the carbon dioxide, which is primarily produced by the oxidation of methane, that leaves the surface does so as CO2 efflux.[9] By monitoring the groundwater plume, Bekins has shown that the degradation of benzene is coupled to the reduction of iron. She has monitored a hydrocarbon plume through measurements of the non-volatile dissolved carbon, and showed that over the course of twenty years it expanded by 20 m. Whilst most of this carbon has degraded around 200 m from the source, some remains up to 300 m away.[10]

Awards and honours

Her awards and honours include:

Selected publications

Her publications include:

References
  1. "Dr. Barbara A. Bekins". NAE Website. Retrieved 2020-03-13.
  2. Bekins, Barbara A (1993). 1. A simplified analysis of parameters controlling dewatering in accretionary prisms and 2. the influence of kinetics on the smectite to illite transition in the Barbados accretionary prism and 3. modeling steady-state methanogenic degradation of phenols in groundwater (Thesis). OCLC 29199220.
  3. "Barbara A Bekins, PhD". www.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2020-03-13.
  4. Resources, Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and; Management, Board on Radioactive Waste; Board, Water Science and Technology; Remediation, Committee on Intrinsic (2000-07-31). Natural Attenuation for Groundwater Remediation. National Academies Press. ISBN 978-0-309-13280-0.
  5. Bekins, Barbara A.; Cozzarelli, Isabelle M.; Erickson, Melinda L.; Steenson, Ross A.; Thorn, Kevin A. (2016). "Crude Oil Metabolites in Groundwater at Two Spill Sites". Groundwater. 54 (5): 681–691. doi:10.1111/gwat.12419. ISSN 1745-6584. PMID 27010754.
  6. Bekins, Barbara A.; Hostettler, Frances D.; Herkelrath, William N.; Delin, Geoffrey N.; Warren, Ean; Essaid, Hedeff I. (2005-06-01). "Progression of methanogenic degradation of crude oil in the subsurface". Environmental Geosciences. 12 (2): 139–152. doi:10.1306/eg.11160404036. ISSN 1075-9565.
  7. Garg, Sanjay; Newell, Charles J.; Kulkarni, Poonam R.; King, David C.; Adamson, David T.; Renno, Maria Irianni; Sale, Tom (2017). "Overview of Natural Source Zone Depletion: Processes, Controlling Factors, and Composition Change". Groundwater Monitoring & Remediation. 37 (3): 62–81. doi:10.1111/gwmr.12219. ISSN 1745-6592.
  8. Amos, Richard T.; Mayer, K. Ulrich; Bekins, Barbara A.; Delin, Geoffrey N.; Williams, Randi L. (2005). "Use of dissolved and vapor-phase gases to investigate methanogenic degradation of petroleum hydrocarbon contamination in the subsurface". Water Resources Research. 41 (2): 02001. Bibcode:2005WRR....41.2001A. doi:10.1029/2004WR003433. ISSN 1944-7973.
  9. Sihota, Natasha J.; Singurindy, Olga; Mayer, K. Ulrich (2011-01-15). "CO2-Efflux Measurements for Evaluating Source Zone Natural Attenuation Rates in a Petroleum Hydrocarbon Contaminated Aquifer". Environmental Science & Technology. 45 (2): 482–488. Bibcode:2011EnST...45..482S. doi:10.1021/es1032585. ISSN 0013-936X. PMID 21142178.
  10. Essaid, Hedeff I.; Bekins, Barbara A.; Herkelrath, William N.; Delin, Geoffrey N. (2011). "Crude Oil at the Bemidji Site: 25 Years of Monitoring, Modeling, and Understanding". Groundwater. 49 (5): 706–726. doi:10.1111/j.1745-6584.2009.00654.x. ISSN 1745-6584. PMID 20015222.
  11. "GSA Fellowship - Hydrogeology Division". community.geosociety.org. Retrieved 2020-03-13.
  12. "2019 Class of AGU Fellows Announced". AGU Newsroom. Retrieved 2020-03-13.
  13. "National Academy of Engineering Elects 87 Members and 18 International Members". NAE Website. Retrieved 2020-03-13.
  14. D'Hondt, Steven; Jørgensen, Bo Barker; Miller, D. Jay; Batzke, Anja; Blake, Ruth; Cragg, Barry A.; Cypionka, Heribert; Dickens, Gerald R.; Ferdelman, Timothy; Hinrichs, Kai-Uwe; Holm, Nils G. (2004-12-24). "Distributions of Microbial Activities in Deep Subseafloor Sediments". Science. 306 (5705): 2216–2221. Bibcode:2004Sci...306.2216D. doi:10.1126/science.1101155. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 15618510. S2CID 1055042.
  15. Keranen, K. M.; Weingarten, M.; Abers, G. A.; Bekins, B. A.; Ge, S. (2014-07-03). "Sharp increase in central Oklahoma seismicity since 2008 induced by massive wastewater injection". Science. 345 (6195): 448–451. Bibcode:2014Sci...345..448K. doi:10.1126/science.1255802. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 24993347. S2CID 206558853.
  16. Bekins, Barbara A.; Warren, Ean; Godsy, E. Michael (March 1998). "A Comparison of Zero-Order, First-Order, and Monod Biotransformation Models". Ground Water. 36 (2): 261–268. doi:10.1111/j.1745-6584.1998.tb01091.x. ISSN 0017-467X.
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