Science and Engineering Faculty

PhD Confirmation of Candidature

*School: Earth, Environment & Biological Sciences (EEBS)

*Discipline: Sustainable Environments

Date: 05/04/2018
Time: 1:00 p.m.

Venue: *Block, Level *, Room *, *Campus

Speaker:

Rezaul Karim

Supervisors:

Principal Supervisor: Dr. Lucy Reading

Associate Supervisor: Professor Les Dawes

Review Panel:

Chair of the Panel: Dr. Lucy Reading

Member – Associate: Professor Les Dawes

Member – EEBS - Dr David Rowlings

Member – Outside of the School – Dr Prasanna Egodawatta

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 Title:

Investigation of nutrient and pesticide transport

through the vadose zone under sugarcane in the Wet
Tropics
ABSTRACT
Over the past 150 years, the catchments adjacent to the world’s largest coral reef
ecosystem, the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), have been drastically changed, primarily
for farming development and municipal settlement. As a result, numerous studies
have detected increased loads of agrochemicals e.g. fertilizers and pesticides being
transported to the GBR via runoff. Yet, there is also potential for nutrients and
pesticides to be transported to the GBR via groundwater and only a few studies have
focussed on groundwater pathways.

This project will investigate the fate of nutrients and pesticides that leach through the
vadose zone under a sugarcane field in the Wet Tropics. This investigation will
involve the application of a vadose zone monitoring system (VMS) which has not
previously been installed in Australia or in Wet Tropical environments. Using this
VMS system, the temporal and spatial distribution of nutrients and pesticides in the
vadose zone will be studied. The information obtained from the VMS will be
combined with information obtained from soil samples and nearby bores in order to
assess lag times between agrochemical application and groundwater contamination.
Finally, a mathematical model will be constructed to simulate the physical and
chemical processes occurring in the vadose zone.

SPEAKER BACKGROUND (Optional)

Mr. Rezaul Karim is a Doctoral student at School of Earth, Environmental &

Biological Sciences (EEBS), Science & Engineering Faculty (SEF), Queensland
University of Technology (QUT), Australia. He is also working as an assistant
professor (presently on study leave) at the department of Environmental Science and
Technology, Jessore University of Science and Technology, Bangladesh.