About me

Water carries information about the environments through which it moves.

I study groundwater systems as natural recorders of Earth-system processes, using environmental tracers, hydrogeochemistry, and long-term observations to understand how water responds to climate variability, tectonic activity, and environmental change.

My research spans scales from fault-zone aquifers to large river basins and seeks to reveal the hidden connections among groundwater, surface water, landscapes, and the dynamic Earth.

Academic and Research Experience

  1. Postdoctoral Fellow

    Department of Earth Sciences, Stellenbosch University, South Africa

    July 2026 - Present

  2. Institute Postdoctoral Fellow (IPDF)

    Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Kharagpur, India

    April 2026 - June 2026

  3. Senior Research Fellow (SRF-Extended)

    Centre for Sustainable Water Research, IIT Guwahati, India

    Sep 2025 - Mar 2026

  4. Visiting Student Researcher

    Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, USA

    Sep 2022 - May 2023

  5. Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D.)

    Earth System Science and Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Guwahati, India

    Jul 2019 - Feb 2026

  6. Master of Technology (M. Tech.)

    Earth System Science and Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Guwahati, India

    Jul 2016 – Jul 2018

  7. Bachelor of Technology (B. Tech.)

    Department of Civil Engineering, Uttaranchal Institute of Technology, Dehradun, India

    Jul 2012 – Jul 2016
Daniel lewis
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Daniel lewis

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Research

My research integrates hydrogeology, hydrogeochemistry, isotope hydrology, environmental tracers, and long-term environmental monitoring to investigate groundwater systems across a range of hydrogeological settings and spatial scales.

Research Interests

    • Groundwater Systems and Aquifer Dynamics
    • Earthquake Hydrology and Fault-Zone Hydrogeology
    • Groundwater–Surface Water Interactions
    • Hydrogeochemistry, Isotope Hydrology, and Environmental Tracers
    • Groundwater Storage, Recharge, and Flow Systems
    • Climate Variability, Hydroclimatic Extremes, and Groundwater Resilience
    • Basin-Scale Hydrology and Hydrochemical Organization
    • Long-Term Environmental Monitoring and Observational Hydrology

Current Research Themes

  1. Earthquake Hydrology and Fault-Zone Processes

    Understanding how earthquakes influence groundwater flow, permeability, hydrochemistry, and aquifer connectivity.

  2. Groundwater–Surface Water Interactions in River Basins

    Investigating recharge pathways, hydrological connectivity, and hydrochemical organization across large river systems.

  3. Environmental Tracers and Groundwater Flow Systems

    Using stable isotopes, radon, and hydrochemical tracers to constrain groundwater origins, flow pathways, residence times, and mixing processes.

  4. Climate Variability and Groundwater Resilience

    Examining groundwater storage, recharge dynamics, and aquifer responses to hydroclimatic variability and extreme events.

  5. Long-Term Groundwater Monitoring

    Developing monitoring frameworks that integrate hydraulic, hydrochemical, isotopic, and environmental observations to understand groundwater-system dynamics.

Publications

Journal (Published)

  1. Water Geochemistry and Stable Isotope Changes Record Groundwater Mixing After a Regional Earthquake in Northeast India

    Sourav Kumar, Michael Manga, Archana M Nair, Abhishek Dixit, Chandan Mahanta

    Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems

    Access Here

  2. A Climate Zone Perspective on Spatiotemporal Variations in GRACE Derived Groundwater Storage (GWS) in India

    Sourav Kumar, Ande Bhuvaneswari Devi, Dhritilekha Deka, Archana M Nair

    Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing

    Access Here

Journal (Under Review)

  1. Basin-Scale Organization of Groundwater and Surface Water Under Monsoonal Forcing: Hydrochemical and Isotopic Insights from the Brahmaputra River Basin, Northeast India

    Sourav Kumar, Madhusmita Nanda, Abhishek Dixit, Archana M Nair, Michael Manga

    Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies

    Under Review

Book Chapter

  1. Mineralogical and Elemental Composition in Sediments of Upper Siang River Basin, Northeastern India

    Abhishek Dixit, Sandip Sampat Sathe, Chandan Mahanta, Sourav Kumar, Sumantra Chaudhuri

    Arsenic in the Environment: Bridging Science to Practice for Sustainable Development As2021

    Access Here

Conference

  1. Hydrogeochemical Assessment of the Water Resources in the Brahmaputra River Basin, Northeast India

    Sourav Kumar, Michael Manga, Abhishek Dixit, Madhusmita Nanda, Suresh A. Kartha and Archana M Nair

    AGU Fall Meeting 2024

    Access Here

  2. Hydrogeochemical Changes in Response to Multiple Earthquakes in Northeast India

    Sourav Kumar, Abhishek Dixit, Archana M Nair, Chandan Mahanta, Ananya Bardhan

    AGU Fall Meeting 2021

    Access Here

  3. Application of Grain-Size End-Member Modelling in Bed Sediments of the Brahmaputra River

    Abhishek Dixit, Sourav Kumar, Chandan Mahanta, Sumantra Chaudhari, Manish Singh Rana

    AGU Fall Meeting 2021

    Access Here

  4. A Study on Spatio-Temporal Variability in Groundwater Storage of India Using GRACE Data

    Ande Bhuvaneswari Devi, Sourav Kumar, Archana M Nair

    AGU Fall Meeting 2019

    Access Here

Achievements

Awards & Fellowships

  1. Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, Stellenbosch University (2026–2027)

  2. Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship (IPDF), IIT Kharagpur (2026–2029)

  3. Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowship, 2022–23

  4. Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) Fellowship, Government of India (2016–2018; 2019–2024)

Honors & Distinctions

  1. Guest Speaker, Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP) Seminar Series, University of California, Santa Cruz (2023)

  2. Selected Participant, Fulbright Enrichment Seminar, Washington, DC (2023)

  3. Invited Research Participant, Brahmaputra River Expedition, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India (2021)

  4. Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE), Civil Engineering (2016)

Positions of Responsibility

  1. Captain, Cricket Team, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (2017-21; 2024-25)

  2. Welfare Secretary, Lohit Hostel, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (2021-22)

  3. General Secretary (In-charge), Sports Board, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (2021)

  4. General Secretary, Lohit Hostel, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (2017-18)

CV