Dr. Richelle Allen-King
Associate Professor

Program Director
Groundwater Systems
State of Washington Water Research Center

Phone:  (509) 335-1180
FAX:  (509) 335-7816
e-mail:  allenkng@wsu.edu

EDUCATION

• PhD (1991) University of Waterloo

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

National Research Council Water Science and Technology Board Member, Science Advisory Board Member, Washington Department of Ecology; Associate Editor for Groundwater.

RESEARCH

My main research interests are understanding and integrating the basic processes which control the fate and transport of compounds in groundwater. Our current understanding of these processes, or lack thereof, limits our ability to predict natural fate and to plan and conduct appropriate remediation of contaminated sites.

 Most of my current research has to do with sorption and/or transformation of organic contaminants, including chlorinated solvents, hydrocarb ons, and pesticides, in sand aquifers and clay aquitards.  I am also interested in the effect of spatial variability of geologic medium on transport, and in use of numerical modelling of transport to integrate the processes described above. 

In addition to field investigation, my research includes a large component of laboratory experiments using gas chromatography for analysis of the organic compounds of interest. Analyses of sediments and water can also include: grain size, mineralogy, surface area and fraction organic carbon content; and major cations and anions, and TOC/DOC.

TEACHING

• Ground Water
• Advanced Topics in Hydrogeology
• Organic Contaminant Fate and Transport
• Water and the Earth
• Contaminant Hydrogeology

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

1. Allen-King, R.M., B.B. Butler., and B. Reichert, 1995, Fate of the herbicide glufosinate-ammonium in ground water. J. Contamin. Hydrol., 18:161-179.
2. Allen-King, R.M., R.W. Gillham, J.F. Barker, and E.A. Sudicky, 1996, Fate of dissolved toluene during steady infiltration through unsaturated soil. 2. Biodegradation under nutrient-limited conditions. J. Environ Qual., 25:287-295.
3. Allen-King, R.M., L.D. McKay, and M.R. Trudell, 1997, Organic-carbon dominated trichloroethene sorption in a clay-rich glacial deposit. Ground Water, 35:124-130.
4. Allen-King, R.M., R.M. Halket, D.R. Gaylord, and M.R.L. Robin, 1998, Characterizing the heterogeneity and correlation of PCE sorption and hydraulic conductivity using a facies-based approach. Water Recour. Res., 34:385-396
5. Burris, D.R., R.M. Allen-King, V.S. Manoranjan, T.J. Campbell, G.A. Loraine, and B. Deng, 1998, Chlorinated ethene reduction by cast iron: sorption and mass transfer. J. Environ. Engin., 124:1012-1019
6. Binger, C.A., J.P. Martin, R.M. Allen-King and M. Fowler, in press, Variability of chlorinated solvent sorption associated with oxidative we