Rob Runkel
Biography
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Science, Summa Cum Laude, 1985, Computer Science and Environmental Studies, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Master of Environmental Management, 1987, Water Resources, Duke University: Monte Carlo Analysis of the Surface Water Component for Land Disposal Restriction Determinations
Doctor of Philosophy, 1993, Environmental Engineering, University of Colorado: Development and Application of an Equilibrium-based Simulation Model for Reactive Solute Transport in Small Streams
EMPLOYMENT
1987-1989 Hydrologist, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Detroit Lakes, Minnesota
1989-1992 Research Engineer, University of Colorado, Center for Advanced Decision Support in Water and Environmental Systems (CADSWES), Boulder, Colorado
1992-Present Research Hydrologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado
MISC.
Associate Editor, Water Resources Research, 2006–2014
Member, American Geophysical Union
Member, Society for Freshwater Science
Science and Products
Principal locations of major-ion, trace-element, nitrate, and Escherichia coli loading to Emigration Creek, Salt Lake County, Utah, October 2005
Housing development and recreational activity in Emigration Canyon have increased substantially since 1980, perhaps causing an observed decrease in water quality of this northern Utah stream located near Salt Lake City. To identify reaches of the stream that contribute to water-quality degradation, a tracer-injection and synoptic-sampling study...
Kimball, Briant A.; Runkel, Robert L.; Walton-Day, Katherine Ground- and surface-water chemistry of Handcart Gulch, Park County, Colorado, 2003-2006
As part of a multidisciplinary project to determine the processes that control ground-water chemistry and flow in mineralized alpine environments, ground- and surface-water samples from Handcart Gulch, Colorado were collected for analysis of inorganic solutes and water and dissolved sulfate stable isotopes in selected samples. The primary aim of...
Verplanck, Philip L.; Manning, Andrew H.; Kimball, Briant A.; McCleskey, R. Blaine; Runkel, Robert L.; Caine, Jonathan S.; Adams, Monique; Gemery-Hill, Pamela A.; Fey, David L. Principal locations of metal loading from flood-plain tailings, Lower Silver Creek, Utah, April 2004
Because of the historical deposition of mill tailings in flood plains, the process of determining total maximum daily loads for streams in an area like the Park City mining district of Utah is complicated. Understanding the locations of metal loading to Silver Creek and the relative importance of these locations is necessary to make science-based...
Kimball, Briant A.; Runkel, Robert L.; Walton-Day, Katherine
A simulation-based approach for estimating premining water quality: Red Mountain Creek, Colorado
Regulatory agencies are often charged with the task of setting site-specific numeric water quality standards for impaired streams. This task is particularly difficult for streams draining highly mineralized watersheds with past mining activity. Baseline water quality data obtained prior to mining are often non-existent and application of generic...
Runkel, Robert L.; Kimball, Briant A; Walton-Day, Katherine; Verplanck, Philip L. Formation of mixed Al-Fe colloidal sorbent and dissolved-colloidal partitioning of Cu and Zn in the Cement Creek - Animas River Confluence, Silverton, Colorado
Transport and chemical transformations of dissolved and colloidal Al, Fe, Cu and Zn were studied by detailed sampling in the mixing zone downstream from the confluence of Cement Creek (pH 4.1) with the Animas River (pH 7.6). Complete mixing resulted in circumneutral pH in the downstream reach of the 1300 m study area. All four metals were...
Schemel, Laurence E.; Kimball, Briant A.; Runkel, Robert L.; Cox, Marisa H. Quantification of changes in metal loading from storm runoff, Merse River (Tuscany, Italy)
The Merse River in Tuscany is affected by mine drainage and the weathering of mine wastes along several kilometres of its catchment. The metal loading to the stream was quantified by defining detailed profiles of discharge and concentration, using tracer-dilution and synoptic-sampling techniques. During the course of a field experiment to evaluate...
Kimball, Briant A.; Bianchi, F.; Walton-Day, Katherine; Runkel, Robert L.; Nannucci, M.; Salvadori, A. Toward a transport-based analysis of nutrient spiraling and uptake in streams
Nutrient addition experiments are designed to study the cycling of nutrients in stream ecosystems where hydrologic and nonhydrologic processes determine nutrient fate. Because of the importance of hydrologic processes in stream ecosystems, a conceptual model known as nutrient spiraling is frequently employed. A central part of the nutrient...
Runkel, Robert L. Quantification of mass loading to Strawberry Creek near the Gilt Edge mine, Lawrence County, South Dakota, June 2003
Although remedial actions have taken place at the Gilt Edge mine in the Black Hills of South Dakota, questions remain about a possible hydrologic connection along shear zones between some of the pit lakes at the mine site and Strawberry Creek. Spatially detailed chemical sampling of stream and inflow sites occurred during low-flow conditions in...
Kimball, Briant A.; Runkel, Robert L.; Walton-Day, Katherine; Williamson, Joyce E. Questa baseline and pre-mining ground-water quality investigation. 23. Quantification of mass loading from mined and unmined areas along the Red River, New Mexico
Along the course of the Red River, between the town of Red River, New Mexico, and the U.S. Geological Survey streamflow-gaging station near Questa, New Mexico, there are several catchments that contain hydrothermally altered bedrock. Some of these alteration zones have been mined and others have not, presenting an opportunity to evaluate...
Kimball, Briant A.; Nordstrom, D. Kirk; Runkel, Robert L.; Vincent, Kirk R.; Verplanck, Phillip L. Hyporheic exchange and fulvic acid redox reactions in an alpine stream/wetland ecosystem, Colorado front range
The influence of hyporheic zone interactions on the redox state of fulvic acids and other redox active species was investigated in an alpine stream and adjacent wetland, which is a more reducing environment. A tracer injection experiment using bromide (Br-) was conducted in the stream system. Simulations with a transport model showed that rates of...
Miller, Matthew P.; McKnight, Diane M.; Cory, R.M.; Williams, Mark W.; Runkel, Robert L. Mass loading of selected major and trace elements in Lake Fork Creek near Leadville, Colorado, September-October 2001
A mass-loading study of Lake Fork Creek of the Arkansas River between Sugarloaf Dam and the mouth was completed in September-October 2001 to help ascertain the following: (1) variation of pH and aqueous constituent concentrations (calcium, sulfate, alkalinity, aluminum, cadmium, copper, iron, manganese, lead, and zinc) and their relation to...
Walton-Day, Katherine; Flynn, Jennifer L.; Kimball, Briant A.; Runkel, Robert L. Questa baseline and pre-mining ground-water quality investigation. 12. Geochemical and reactive-transport modeling based on tracer injection-synoptic sampling studies for the Red River, New Mexico, 2001-2002
Reactive-transport processes in the Red River, downstream from the town of Red River in north-central New Mexico, were simulated using the OTEQ reactive-transport model. The simulations were calibrated using physical and chemical data from synoptic studies conducted during low-flow conditions in August 2001 and during March/April 2002. Discharge...
Ball, James W.; Runkel, Robert L.; Nordstrom, D. Kirk