Vanessa Garayburu, an earth scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, presents "The River’s Liver - Exploring the Hidden World and Work of the Hyporheic Zone" during the Cowiche Canyon Conservancy - Yakima Valley College 2023 Winter Talk Series.
Rivers are fundamental to global biogeochemical cycles. The area below the river, known as the hyporheic zone, is home to a high diversity of very active microbes that can generate greenhouse gasses and help filter river water by removing contaminants, similar to the role a human’s liver plays. At Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Garayburu-Carusu seeks to understand mechanisms and drivers of hyporheic zone activity across multiple scales with the goal of integrating them into global scale models to predict the behavior of our changing planet.
The annual Winter Talk Series explores current issues related to the Yakima Valley region’s environment and ecosystems and features guest lecturers who are subject matter experts in a variety of disciplines. Learn more about Yakima Valley College at www.yvcc.edu/.