/news-archive/tag/department-of-earth-science/ 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Fri, 24 May 2019 12:56:12 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 /news-archive/2019/05/24/fiallos-fourche-creek/ Fri, 24 May 2019 12:56:12 +0000 /news/?p=74338 ... 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock student studies microplastics in Little Rock wetlands]]> Nearly 73 percent of all water in the Little Rock metropolitan area drains into a watershed located in the Fourche Creek wetlands. Harmful objects are often found within it, including small plastics that often go unnoticed but can have a major impact on the environment. Juliann Fiallos, a junior geology/biology double major from Ansonia, Connecticut, spent several months this spring examining the levels and impact of microplastics in the Fourche Creek wetlands. Microplastics are microscopic pieces of plastic that are released into the environment as plastic products slowly begin to break down. 鈥淧lastics are a modern product that take a significantly long time, longer than our own lifetimes, to break down,鈥� Fiallos said. 鈥淓ven though microplastics are so small, we鈥檝e had plastics for long enough now that it begins to build up. We want to know how much we鈥檙e dealing with now.鈥� During her research, Fiallos collected monthly samples of water and sediment from the wetlands to gain a better understanding of the overall water quality as well as the amount of microplastics present in both. As microplastics are increasingly used in everyday products, it鈥檚 expected that they will be found in increased levels in the wetlands. Because they break down so slowly, buildup occurs, which in turn can cause a myriad of issues for the environment as well as human health, Fiallos said. Dr. Laura Ruhl, associate professor in 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock鈥檚 Department of Earth Sciences, served as the faculty mentor for Fiallos, who gained invaluable field research experience. 鈥淚鈥檝e learned that you definitely want to question,鈥� Fiallos said. 鈥淭he first part of finding an answer is knowing that you鈥檙e asking the right questions. You might be wrong and that鈥檚 okay. Our question in this case is whether these microplastics are being filtered through the wetlands, or if they鈥檙e staying and building up in them.鈥� Aside from analyzing the level of plastics in the wetlands, Fiallos also studied other environmental forces. In particular, she looked at how storm systems affect water flow and trash build-up. Fiallos presented her research at the Undergraduate Research and Creative Works Expo on April 18, where she placed first in the physical science category. She offers the following advice for students who also want to become involved in the research process. 鈥淒on鈥檛 ever doubt yourself,鈥� she said. 鈥淢y parents never even graduated high school, and college seemed impossible to me for a long time. You know so much more than you think you know.鈥�]]> /news-archive/2018/09/17/toltec-mounds-earthtalk-series/ Mon, 17 Sep 2018 20:52:25 +0000 /news/?p=71863 ... Toltec Mounds researcher to kick off 2018-19 EARTHtalk! series]]> An archeologist researching the Toltec Mounds will start off the 2018-19 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Department of Earth Sciences EARTHtalk! lecture series on Wednesday, Sept. 19.聽 The talk, 鈥淭he First Farmers and Lost Crops of Arkansas,鈥� will begin at 6 p.m. in the Engineering and Information Technology Building auditorium. It is free and open to the public. Dr. Elizabeth Horton, an archeologist at Toltec Mounds Archeological State Park and research assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Arkansas, studies paleoethnobotany, the study of the relationship between people and plants, with a special interest in the use of plants for technological purposes. She earned her master鈥檚 degree and Ph.D. in anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis, where she studied the 3,000-year-old fabric technologies of basketry and textiles and plant fiber use in the Ozark Plateau of Arkansas and Missouri. After completing a post-doctoral position with the Arkansas Archeological Survey in 2010, she was hired as the station archaeologist for the Arkansas Archeological Survey鈥檚 Toltec Mounds Research Station. She continues to research the people-plant interactions of the Native Americans who once lived at Toltec Mounds and runs a publicly accessible research garden. For more information, contact Michael DeAngelis at 501-569-3542 or mtdeangelis@ualr.edu or visit the.]]>