2025 News Archive
Browse news and updates from 2025 at the Kentucky Geological Survey.
December
UK landslide research expands to Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati
The Kentucky Geological Survey (KGS) received a $182,961 grant from the U.S. Geological Survey to advance geological understanding and hazard preparedness for Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati. The project will produce landslide inventory maps and landslide susceptibility maps for the region that will benefit city planners, local governments and landowners.
Read ArticleNovember
CLIMBS Researchers Go Global in Finding Hazard Solutions through NSF’s CLaSH Initiative
Geologic hazards are complicated, connected, and continuous. While extreme precipitation events can cause catastrophic flooding, the intense precipitation can also induce widespread landslide activity. The landslide deposits can block small streams or send pulses of materials into rivers, exacerbating the destructiveness of the flood by changing the nature of the flow and providing larger debris that can impact infrastructure. Similarly, wildfire burns vegetation, making hillslopes more susceptible to landsliding during intense precipitation. The positive feedback between one hazard exacerbating the severity of another hazard is referred to as a hazard cascade. Understanding hazard cascades and their impacts on infrastructure and people is difficult, and exactly the type of challenge addressed through the National Science Foundation’s new CLaSH – Center for Land Surface Hazards (CLaSH). Kentucky researchers are playing a key role.
Read ArticleOctober
2025 Kentucky Geological Survey Geoscience Open House
On Tuesday October 28, 2025, 6-7:30 p.m., the Kentucky Geological Survey (KGS) will host its 25th annual Open House, inviting students, families, teachers, and earth-science enthusiasts to explore the many wonders of Kentucky’s geology. This long-running tradition offers a hands-on, engaging experience with the natural forces and materials that shape Kentucky.
Read ArticleSeptember
Kentucky Geological Survey receives nearly $340,000 from USGS to preserve vital oil and gas well records
The Kentucky Geological Survey (KGS) has been awarded $335,695 from the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program (NGGDPP) to improve access to and preservation of Kentucky’s oil and gas well records and samples. The new funding, matched by KGS for a total project investment of $671,390, supports a three-year effort that began on August 1, 2025.
Read ArticleFrom student to scientist: tackling flooding in Eastern Kentucky
Growing up in a military family meant frequent moves for Meredith Swallom. But one state eventually stood out... One area where Swallom is making a difference is in flood resilience research. In Eastern Kentucky, where steep terrain, changing land use and intense storms combine with devastating results, flooding is an urgent issue. After the catastrophic July 2022 flooding, Swallom built a detailed flood model to investigate how land changes and land use may have contributed to flooding, focusing her research on Letcher County, Kentucky.
Read ArticleA Silent Killer: Unmasking Radon’s Link to Lung Cancer
Lung cancer remains one of the leading causes of cancer-related death, yet many cases occur in people who have never smoked. One often-overlooked culprit is radon, a naturally occurring radioactive gas and the second leading cause of lung cancer. In this episode, Pharmacy Times® was joined by experts from the University of Kentucky. Stacy Stanifer, PhD, APRN, AOCNS, assistant professor, nurse scientist, and oncology clinical nurse specialist; Timothy Mullett, thoracic surgeon; Donna Robinson, geologist at the Kentucky Geological Survey and PhD student; and Jane Malone, national policy director at the American Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists, discuss the challenges of screening for radon-induced lung cancer, the interplay with smoking, and the gaps in current policy and public awareness. They highlight actionable steps listeners can take—from testing their homes to advocating for stronger protections—to help reduce radon-related risks. This conversation shines a light on a silent but preventable threat and underscores the importance of awareness, education, and action.
Read ArticleMay
Kentucky Geological Survey Landslides and Engineering Geology Team monitors landslides in the Commonwealth with an eye towards developing a weather-driven landslide forecasting model
Landslides have a significant impact on Kentucky, causing an estimated $10 to $20 million in damage annually and affecting roads, infrastructure, buildings, property, and private residences. In order to expand our research and get that information to interested stakeholders, the Kentucky Geological Survey (KGS) Landslide and Engineering Geology Team (1) supports state and local officials' responses to landslides, (2) learns from landslide events to inform landslide investigations and improve mitigation efforts, (3) evaluates hazard and reduces landslide risk, and (4) monitors and assesses slope response to a changing climate, working towards developing a weather-driven landslide forecasting model for the Commonwealth.
Read ArticleSarah Arpin Elected to National Speleological Society Board of Governors
We are proud to announce that Sarah Arpin, Geologist at the Kentucky Geological Survey (KGS), has been elected to the Board of Governors of the National Speleological Society (NSS). Founded in 1941, the NSS is the world's largest organization dedicated to the exploration, study, and conservation of caves and karst environments, with more than 10,000 members and over 250 local chapters, known as grottos, across the United States.
Read Article64th KGS Annual Seminar: Geology in the Modern World
We are excited to invite you to the 64th KGS Annual Seminar on Tuesday June 10. The combined morning session will be at the Jacobs Science Building on UK's campus and will highlight hydrogeology research and feature a moderated panel on the KY NSF EPSCoR CLIMBS initiative. The afternoon is split into two hands-on workshops: stay on campus and learn about using and implementing landslide data OR head to the Earth Analysis Research Library and learn new techniques for characterizing limestone aquifers.
Read ArticleApril
UK’s Meredith Swallom Wins Top Honors for Flood Research
Meredith Swallom, a 4th year PhD student supported under Project 2 of CLIMBS’ Paleo-Perspectives initiative, won top honors in the Lightning Talk competition at the 2025 John P. Wyatt, M.D. Environment and Health Symposium on April 22nd. Her talk, “Drainages, Dams, and Downpours: What Makes a Flood?”, explored how past and present landscape changes may have shaped the severity of flooding in Eastern Kentucky in July 2022. Swallom specifically examined the North Fork watershed of the Kentucky River, where natural topography and human infrastructure collide in complex ways. Her models incorporate legacy modifications such as mountaintop removal and channel narrowing, and contemporary interventions like bridges and road culverts, interact with extreme precipitation.
Read ArticleSP&M Lab Updates: Exciting Developments in Landslide Research and Flood Modelling
The Surface Processes & Modelling Laboratory (SP&M) at the Kentucky Geological Survey (KGS) is making significant strides in research and collaboration, including welcoming an esteemed international scholar, publishing research, and securing new funding. The SP&M Lab is funded by the NSF EPSCoR 'Climate Resilience through Multidisciplinary Big Data Learning, Prediction & Building Response Systems (CLIMBS)' award, which aims to advance Kentucky's climate resiliency through hazard assessment based on Kentucky-specific scientific research.
Read ArticleFebruary
KGS Unveils State-of-the-Art Lab for Flood Modeling Research
The Kentucky Geological Survey (KGS) opened a new computational lab on the third floor of the Mining and Mineral Resources Building in January 2025. The Surface Processes and Modelling Laboratory (SP&M Lab) was funded by the NSF EPSCoR ‘Climate Resilience through Multidisciplinary Big Data Learning, Prediction & Building Response Systems (CLIMBS)’ award, which aims to advance Kentucky’s climate resiliency through hazard assessment based on Kentucky-specific scientific research.
Read ArticleJanuary
KGS Monitoring Seismic Activity Across Kentucky and Surrounding States
Earthquakes affecting Kentucky are in the news again, following an uptick in activity in November and December in the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ) and another event in southeast Ohio. The NMSZ is a zone of seismic activity on a fault system which extends into four states, including the western part of Kentucky. Normally, there are two to four magnitude 3.0 earthquakes per year in the NMSZ. However, between November 3 and December 9, there were three magnitude 3.0 and greater events. Just afterward, on December 16, a magnitude 3.4 earthquake occurred in southeastern Ohio, a region that rarely experiences events of this size. Each of these recent earthquakes was felt near the epicenters, including in Kentucky.
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