Martin O. Saar

Assistant Professor
and Gibson Chair of
Hydrogeology & Geofluids

Office: 612-625-7332
Lab: 612-625-3928
Fax: 612-625-3819
Email: saar@...
with "umn.edu" for "..."

Announcements

• Nov. 7, 2007: Martin Saar gives a talk at the University of Arizona in the Dept. of Hydrology and Water Resources.
• Nov. 27, 2007: Martin Saar gives a talk at the IREE (Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment) conference (Twin Cities) on Geothermal Energy. For talk click here.
• Dec. 10-14, 2007: Talks and poster presentations at AGU (San Francisco) by: Stuart Walsh, Jimmy Randolph, Ravi Appana, Judy Andrews, Karli Anderson, and Martin Saar.
• Jan. 17, 2008:Jimmy Randolph gives a talk at the MGS (Minnesota Geological Survey) CO2 sequestration meeting.
• Feb. 1, 2008: Martin Saar gives a talk in Aerospace Engineering, U. of Minnesota.
• Feb. 20, 2008: Martin Saar gives a talk at North Dakota State University.
• March 24, 2008: Martin Saar gives a talk at the Geological Society of Minnesota.
• April 4, 2008: Martin Saar gives a talk at the University of Wisconsin - Madison.
• April 24, 2008: Martin Saar gives a talk at Rice University.
• July 14 - Aug. 3, 2008: Martin Saar, Scott Alexander, and Jimmy Randolph teach Hydrogeology Field Camp.
• Sept. 1-12(?): Martin Saar and Jimmy Randolph: roundtable discussion on CO2 sequestration with PCOR.
• Sept. 17-18, 2008: Martin Saar and Jimmy Randolph at PCOR's annual CO2 sequestration meeting.
• Sept. 22-26, 2008: Scott Alexander goves a talk at the 11th sinkhole conference in Florida.
• Sept. 26-28, 2008: Martin Saar and Scott Alexander lead pumping test workshop for Hydrogeology Professionals.
• Oct. 17, 2008: Martin Saar gives a talk at the University of Hawaii.

Geofluids Research Group People

Prospective Students and Postdocs

Currently the Geofluids Research Group is quite full (see people). However, anybody interested in the kind of research we are doing, should feel free to contact me anyway to discuss possible openings and projects. We can also talk about your own project ideas. Students with strong math, physics and/or computing skills are encouraged to apply (how? - click here), including students of diverse educational training (e.g., majors in physics, math, engineering, and computer science). Ph.D. candidates/graduates with similar backgrounds are also encouraged to contact me and to apply here for a postdoc position.

Undergraduate students and summer internship (REU) students who would like to do a senior/honors thesis, a UROP project, or a summer internship project are of course also encouraged to contact me with their (preliminary) project ideas.

- Martin

General Research Approach and Some Specific Examples of Current Projects:

General Approach

We combine field work, lab experiments, analytical studies, and mostly computer simulations to solve fluid-mechanical problems in the geosciences. Thus, we analyze field data (heat flow, seismicity, ...) and the components as well as microstructures of rocks (e.g., pumice, basalt) and fluids (e.g., water, lava, suspensions) to construct conceptual, laboratory, and/or numerical models investigating geologic processes that act on scales much larger than the samples.

Coupled Heat, Groundwater, and Multiphase Fluid Flow:

Multiphase computer codes of coupled heat and groundwater transfer may be used to study heat advection and diffusion in volcanoes with implications for geothermal energy exploration and general groundwater resources.

Our interests lie in geothermal systems with high heat flow such as volcanoes in the Cascades (Pacific Northwest), Hawaii, Rhein-Graben (Germany), or the Taupo Volcanic zone in New Zealand.

Percolation Theory Applied to Volcanic Eruption Dynamics and Fluid Flow:

For more information, please click on Research and/or Publications.