Catherine Coxon - Associate Professor (Environmental Sciences)

Name: Dr. Catherine Coxon

Research Area

I carry out research on groundwater quality in rural areas.  Much of this work is focused on nitrate loss to groundwater from agricultural land, and I am also currently working on pesticides in Irish groundwaters.  I also study interactions between groundwater and surface water and wetland ecosystems, particularly nutrient transfers.  I work on phosphorus loss to surface waters by different hydrological pathways, and on groundwater dependent terrestrial ecosystems.  Much of this research ties in closely with implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive in Ireland.  I have a particular interest in karst hydrogeology, including karst water quality and groundwater - surface water interactions in karst regions.  This work includes research on turloughs (karstic temporary lakes) on the western Irish limestone lowlands.

Contact Details

Department of Geology / Centre for the Environment,
School of Natural Sciences,
Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
Email: cecoxon@tcd.ie Tel: + 353 1 8962235

Current Research and Research Opportunities

My current research projects include:

• Evaluation and interpretation of groundwater monitoring data and the implications for groundwater in Ireland (EPA STRIVE Programme) (with Katie Tedd, Research Fellow)
• Nitrogen attenuation along delivery pathways in agricultural catchments (Teagasc Walsh Fellowship) (with Eoin McAleer, Ph.D. student, co-supervised by Dr. Per-Erik Mellander, Teagasc)

Recently completed research projects include:

• Assessment of the vulnerability of groundwater to pesticide inputs from Irish agriculture (pesticide mobility case studies) (Dept. Agriculture & Food Research Stimulus Fund Programme / Teagasc) (Ph.D. thesis by Sarah McManus, co-supervised by Dr. Karl Richards, Teagasc)
• Environmental supporting conditions for groundwater dependent terrestrial ecosystems (EPA STRIVE Programme) (with Dr. Sarah Kimberley, Research Fellow)
• Hydrochemistry and algal communities of turloughs (karstic seasonal lakes) (part of interdisciplinary project on assessing the conservation status of turloughs; National Parks & Wildlife Service) (Ph.D thesis by Helder Cunha Pereira, co-supervised by Dr. Norman Allott)
• Evaluation of measures to reduce nitrate loss to groundwater from tillage land  (Teagasc Walsh Fellowship) (Ph.D. thesis by Alina Premrov, co-supervised by Dr. Karl Richards)

I am interested in supervising research students on topics related to my research interests;  future funded research positions will be advertised on this website.

Teaching

At Sophister level, I teach a course on groundwater quality which forms part of the GL3333 module taken by Junior Sophister Environmental Science students and of the GL4410 module taken by Senior Sophister Geology students.
I contribute to the M.Sc. course in Environmental Science:  I teach the Hydrology and Groundwater Quality module (ES7043) and also contribute to M.Sc. induction week and the supervision of M.Sc. desk studies and dissertation projects.

Publications and Research output

A selection of recent publications is provided below.

- Articles and book chapters

McManus, S-L., Coxon, C.E., Richards, K.G. & Danaher, M. (2013, in press)  Quantitative solid phase microextraction – gas chromatography mass spectrometry analysis of the herbicides lindane, heptachlor and two heptachlor transformation products in groundwater.  Journal of Chromatography A, in press.

Minet, E., Coxon, C.E., Goodhue, R., Richards, K.G., Kalin, R.M. & Meier-Augenstein, W. (2012) Evaluating the utility of 15N and 18O isotope abundance analyses to identify nitrate sources: a soil zone study.   Water Research, 46: 3723-3736.

Premrov, A., Coxon, C.E., Hackett, R., Kirwan, L. & Richards, K.G. (2012)  Effects of over-winter green cover on groundwater nitrate and dissolved organic carbon concentrations beneath tillage land.  Science of the Total Environment, 438: 144-153.

Tedd, K., Misstear, B., Coxon, C., Daly, D. & Hunter Williams, N. (2012)  Hydrogeological insights from groundwater level hydrographs in southeast Ireland.  Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 45: 19-30.

Coxon, C. (2011)  Agriculture and karst.  In van Beynen, P.E. (ed.) Karst Management, Springer, Dordrecht, 103-138.

Cunha Pereira, H., Allott, N., Coxon, C., Naughton, O., Johnston, P. & Gill, L. (2011)  Phytoplankton of turloughs (seasonal karstic Irish lakes).  Journal of Plankton Research, 33(3): 385-403.

Minet, E., Goodhue, R., Coxon, C., Kalin, R. & Meier-Augenstein, W. (2011)  Simplifying and improving the extraction of nitrate from freshwater for stable isotope analyses.  J. Environ. Monit., 13: 2062-2066 (DOI:10.1039/C1EM10289C).

Cunha Pereira, H., Allott, N. & Coxon, C. (2010)  Are seasonal lakes as productive as permanent lakes? A case study from Ireland.  Canadian Journal of Fisheries & Aquatic Sciences, 67(8): 1291-1302.

Premrov, A., Schulte, R.P.O., Coxon, C.E., Hackett, R. &  Richards, K.G. (2010)  Predicting soil moisture conditions for Irish arable free draining soil.  Irish Journal of Agricultural and Food Research. 49(2):  99-113.

Fenton, O., Coxon, C.E., Haria, A.H., Horan, B., Humphreys, J., Johnson, P., Murphy, P., Necpalova, M., Premrov, A. & Richards, K.G. (2009)  Variations in travel time for N loading to groundwaters in four case studies in Ireland: Implications for policy makers and regulators.  Tearmann: Irish journal of agri-environmental research, 7: 129-142.

Kilroy, G., Coxon, C., Daly, D., O’Connor, A., Dunne, F., Johnston, P., Ryan, J., Moe, H. & Craig, M. (2009)  Monitoring the environmental supporting conditions of groundwater dependent terrestrial ecosystems in Ireland.  In Quevauviller, P., Fouillac, A-M., Grath, J. & Ward, R. (eds.) Groundwater Monitoring, Wiley, Chichester, pp. 245-258.

Premrov, A., Coxon, C.E., Hackett, R., Brennan, D., Sills, P. & Richards, K.G. (2009)  Over-winter green cover in a spring barley system:  role in exporting dissolved organic carbon to shallow groundwater and implications for denitrification.  In Grignani, C., Acutis, M., Zavattaro, L., Bechini, L, Bertora, C., Marino Gallina, P. & Sacco, D. (eds.) Proceedings of the 16th Nitrogen Workshop – Connecting Different Scales of Nitrogen use in Agriculture, 28th June – 1st July 2009, Turin, Italy, pp. 11-12.

Premrov, A., Coxon, C.E., Hackett, R. and Richards, K. (2009) Estimating travel-time of nitrate from tillage land to shallow groundwater and towards a river using bromide tracer. In: Bruthans, J., Kovar, K. & Nachtnebel, P. (eds.), HydroEco 2009, Proceedings 2nd International Multidisciplinary Conference on Hydrology and Ecology: Ecosystems Interfacing with Groundwater and Surface Water, 20-23 April 2009, Vienna, Austria, pp. 111-116.

Hooker, K., Coxon, C., Hackett, R., Kirwan, L, O’Keeffe, E. & Richards, K. (2008)  Evaluation of cover crops and reduced cultivation for reducing nitrate leaching in Ireland.  Journal of Environmental Quality, 37, 138-145.

Premrov, A., Coxon, C., Fenton, O., Hackett, R. & Richards, K. (2008)  Hydrogeological investigations to establish an experimental site on minimisation of nitrate leaching losses from tillage land.  In Moles, R. (ed.), Proceedings of the 17th Irish Environmental Researchers’ Colloquium, Environ07, Environmental Sciences Association of Ireland and University of Limerick, 12-15.

Kilroy, G., Coxon, C., Daly, D., O’Connor, A., Dunne, F., Johnston, P., Ryan, J., Moe, H. & Craig, M. (2007)  A geohydrological basis for assessing risk, monitoring requirements and ecological sensitivity for groundwater dependent wetlands for management purposes under the Water Framework Directive.  In Ribeiro, L., Chambel, A. & Condesso de Melo, M.T. (eds.), Proceedings XXXV Congress of the International Association of Hydrogeologists, Groundwater and Ecosystems, Lisbon, Portugal.  AIH-GP, Portugal. (ISBN 978-989-95297-3-1).  CD format, 11pp.

Premrov, A., Coxon, C., Hackett, R. & Richards, K. (2007)  Initial studies of nutrient occurrence in the saturated and unsaturated zones of a sand and gravel aquifer under tillage farming in the Barrow catchment, South-Eastern River Basin District, Ireland.  In Ribeiro, L., Chambel, A. & Condesso de Melo, M.T. (eds.), Proceedings XXXV Congress of the International Association of Hydrogeologists, Groundwater and Ecosystems, Lisbon, Portugal.  AIH-GP, Portugal. (ISBN 978-989-95297-3-1).  CD format, 11pp.

Premrov, A., Coxon, C., Hackett, R. & Richards, K. (2007)  Establishment of a field site to investigate nitrate losses from spring barley production systems.  In Bosch, A., Teira, M.R. & Villar, J.M. (eds.) Towards a better efficiency in N use.  Editorial Milenio, Leida, Spain, 357-361.

Styles, D. & Coxon, C. (2007)  Meteorological and management influences on seasonal variation in phosphorus fractions extracted from soils in western Ireland.  Geoderma, 142, 152-164.