Please join the AHS Flagstaff chapter on November 15, 6:00 PM, for a talk by Tim Titus, USGS Astrogeology Division, on using naturally occurring muons to track the occurrence of groundwater in fractured basalts.
When: Monday, November 15, 6:00–7:00 PM (Arizona time)
Place: This will be an online meeting.
Cost: Free for AHS members, $10 for non-members, $5 for student non-members
RSVP: Register here. The Zoom invitation will be provided in your registration confirmation. This event is limited to 100 attendees. For security reasons, we ask that you do not share the Zoom link. Thank you.
Abstract: From the Stars to Your Tap: How Cosmic Ray Surveys Can Be Applied to Local Hydrology
Authors: Titus, Prettyman, Cushing, & Williams
From the ancient past of Egypt to the future of Flagstaff, the theory and practical applications of muon tomography will be explored. The source of muons (or heavy electrons) is ubiquitous, as they are generated by cosmic rays interacting with our atmosphere. As such, the entire sky is a source. Muons can be used to probe thick dense material, similar to how x-rays are used to “image” one’s bones and teeth. This approach has been used to find hidden chambers in the Egyptian pyramids. We have applied this same approach to surveying the overburden of Lava River Cave (LRC), located near Flagstaff, AZ. We acquired two days of muon observations as a proof of concept to characterize the changing amount of water contained within the overburden due to rainwater percolation.
In the future, we plan to conduct detailed cosmic ray surveys over the course of a year within the LRC to fully characterize the overburden porosity and determine percolation rates from both precipitation and snowmelt. These values could then potentially be applied to percolation models that utilize estimates of basaltic porosity and percolation rates within the San Francisco Peaks to better constrain recharge rates, e.g., the perched aquifer in the Inner Basin, one of the municipal water sources for Flagstaff. In short, this presentation will transit from the starry heavens above to the depths of a local cave and back to higher elevations. We will connect Egyptian archaeology to how we can achieve a better understanding of the future of our drinking water.