Jasper Griffioen

Research area

Jasper Griffioen is active in three research fields:

1. Reactive transport of nutrients and pollutants in aqueous, terrestrial systems
2. Risks and sustainability of anthropogenic activities for groundwater and soil
3. Environmental geochemical and hydrological characterization of the subsurface

Traditionally, he studied soil and groundwater contamination from agricultural and urban activities. This was broadened with research on the impacts of geo-energy related activities, where he addresses both the potential of green technologies (aquifer thermal energy storage, hydrogen storage, and also enhanced olivine weathering) and the environmental risks of either these technologies or traditional ones (natural gas production).

Further, he started research on the geochemical control on clay deformation, which is a research theme on the rise. Preferably, he combines field characterization and assessment campaigns with modelling studies. The research projects are not only performed in the Netherlands but also in developing countries as Bangladesh, Uganda and Nepal.

Recent results

Griffioen spends a substantial part of his time at UU to teaching. He coordinated the course Water Quality Management for the MSc program Water Science & Management. He also co-taught the course Integrated Water and Soil Management in the bachelor program Global Sustainability Science.

Further, he supervised 4 MSc students with their thesis. Griffioen supervises six PhD students and three more will start in Spring 2022. Griffioen is PI of the NWO NWA-ORC project SAVE THE TIGER! SAVE THE GRASSLANDS! SAVE THE WATER! that started in september 2021.

The proposal Changing the fate of the Hindon river by evaluating the impact of agriculture on the water balance - Developing a template for a cleaner Ganga river got granted from the Merian Fund cooperation India program of the Dutch Research Council NWO. The project will start in Spring 2022. His expert opinion was consulted in contacts with four ministries: BZK, EZK, LNV and I&W. He was member of various advisory boards that dealt with environmental management of soil and water.

PhD supervision

• Feroz Islam (Physical boundary conditions for dynamic polder management to reach sustainable livelihoods applied to Bangladesh)
• Alejandra Morera Chavarria (Sediment geochemistry of reactive Fe-minerals in Dutch marine and fluviatile Quaternary sediments)
• Martin van der Weiden (Ecohydrogeochemical evolution of reclaimed salt marshes)
• Mojtaba Zaresefat (Origin of and controls on naturally high nutrient concentrations in the coastal lowlands of the Netherlands)
• Bente Lexmond (Combined geomechanical and geochemical understanding of clay deformation in Holocene subsurface sequences)
• Martijn van Leer (Hydraulic conductivity of aquitards in the Dutch shallow subsoil at varying resolutions)
• Mayuri Phukan (Ecohydrology of the Karnali megafan (Nepal) as related to the conservation of the tiger habitat in Bardia National Park)
• Pranisha Pokhrel (Impacts of climate and land use change on the hydrological cycle of the Karnali basin in the Himalaya)
• Frank van Broekhoven (Cleaning the Ganges: River basin understanding of the Hindon subcatchment)

Top publications

• Kivits, T., Broers, H.P., Beeltje, H., van Vliet, M. & Griffioen, J. (2018). Presence and fate of veterinary antibiotics in age-dated groundwater in areas with intensive livestock farming. Env. Poll. (241), 988-998.
• Schout, G., Hartog, N, Hassanizadeh, S.M. & Griffioen, J. (2018). The impact of an historic gas well blowout on the current methane chemistry in a shallow groundwater system. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci (115/2), 296-301.
• Van der Grift, B., Behrends, T., Osté, L.A., Schot, P.P., Wassen, M.J. & Griffioen, J. (2016). Fe hydroxyphosphate precipitation and Fe(II) oxidation kinetics upon aeration of Fe(II) and phosphate-containing synthetic and natural solutions. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta (186), 71-90.