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Zachary Harper – University of Northern Iowa

Zachary Harper – University of Northern Iowa

Student: Zachary Harper, Undergraduate Student in Earth Sciences, University of Northern Iowa

Research Mentor: Dr. Mohammad Z. Iqbal

Coldwater Water Analysis

The Coldwater Water Analysis project involves collecting and analyzing water samples taken from Coldwater Creek and from the diverging branch that runs within Coldwater Cave. Over the summer months, samples are being taken from five sites from the surface stream and thirteen sites within Coldwater Cave. The samples are being used to compare the water quality of the surface stream before and after the surface and subterranean streams reunite at the Coldwater State Preserve. The main goal of the project is to calculate the Water Quality Index of the stream. The saturation index of the water flowing within the cave will also be calculated at the end of the summer to understand whether the ground waters and tributary streams are actively dissolving pre-existing carbonates or if the waters are actively depositing fresh carbonates. The data being collected provides insights for the water mixing models in caves and corresponding streams that could provide insights into the interstellar lakes of the icy moons of the gas giants of the solar system. Moving into the fall, we plan to expand the sampling to other streams within the Coldwater Caves watershed and begin comparing that data to water collected from similar karst systems such as Wind Cave National Park and Mystery Cave State Park.

2024-2025, Undergraduate