Kevin M. Befus

Affiliation confirmed via AI analysis of OpenAlex, ORCID, and web sources.

High Impact

Researcher

University of Arkansas

Also affiliated: University of Wyoming (2017–2023); United States Geological Survey (2021–2024); National Park Service (2024); Woodwell Climate Research Center (2024); University of Colorado Boulder (2011); The University of Texas at Arlington (2024); Wyoming Department of Education (2017–2019); Centre de Géosciences (2023–2025); Wheaton College - Illinois (2007–2010); University of Tennessee at Knoxville (2021); The University of Texas at Austin (2012–2018)

Faculty Researcher

22 h-index 142 pubs 3,158 cited

Research Areas

Biomedical Subjects

Links

ORCID Lab Website

OverviewAI-generated summary

Kevin M. Befus's research focuses on hydrological processes, particularly groundwater dynamics and their interactions with surface water and coastal environments. He investigates the subsurface hydraulic properties of hillslope environments using hydrogeophysical inversion of time-lapse electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) data. His work also addresses the impacts of sea-level rise on coastal hazards, including projections of multiple climate-related coastal hazards for the U.S. Southeast Atlantic and the amplification of coastal groundwater hazards by shoreline barriers. Befus has also conducted numerical analyses of seepage faces and subaerial groundwater discharge near water bodies and on uplands, and evaluated coastal flood hazard adaptation strategies through integrated physical, economic, and demographic assessments.

His federally funded work includes a $359,210 award from the Department of the Army as a Co-PI for a project examining long-term feedbacks in managed settings with sea-level rise, focusing on trajectories of groundwater, surface water, and land elevations. Befus is recognized as a highly cited researcher, with a current h-index of 22 and over 3,125 citations across 141 publications. He actively collaborates with colleagues at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, including Clinton M. Wood and Mohammadyar Rahimi, with whom he has co-authored multiple publications. He maintains an active laboratory website to share his research.

Metrics

h-index: 22
Publications: 142
Citations: 3,158

Selected Publications

Ecogeomorphologic Response of a Tidally Restricted Salt Marsh to Tidal Restoration and Sea-Level Rise (2026)

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) DOI OpenAlex
Ecogeomorphologic Response of a Tidally Restricted Salt Marsh to Tidal Restoration and Sea-Level Rise (2026)

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) DOI OpenAlex
Ecogeomorphologic Response of a Tidally Restricted Salt Marsh to Tidal Restoration and Sea‐Level Rise (2026)

Water Resources Research DOI OpenAlex
The impact of sea-level and groundwater rise on indoor exposure to volatile organic compounds near contaminated sites in socially vulnerable communities in the San Francisco Bay Area (2026)

DRYAD 1 citation DOI OpenAlex
Sea-level and groundwater rise increase the potential for indoor exposure to volatile organic compounds near contaminated sites (2026)

Environmental Research Communications DOI OpenAlex
Assessing the Impact of Reservoir Management on Surrounding Groundwater: Causality, Modeling, and Future Hypothetical Scenarios (2026)

JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association DOI OpenAlex
Integration of ERT and Geotechnical Investigation for River Restoration: A Case Study of Dam Removal Site Characterization (2026)

Environmental Management 1 citation DOI OpenAlex
Seeing Below the Surface: Electrical Geophysics Applications in Dam Safety (2025)

GEOSTRATA Magazine DOI OpenAlex
Explainable machine learning surrogate modeling for exit gradient prediction in hydraulic structures using numerical simulations (2025)

Journal of Hydroinformatics 2 citations DOI OpenAlex
Over, Under, and Through: Hydrologic Connectivity and the Future of Coastal Landscape Salinization (2025)

Water Resources Research 5 citations DOI OpenAlex
Enhanced submarine groundwater discharge and freshening of a subterranean estuary from rain (2025)

Journal of Hydrology 3 citations DOI OpenAlex
Current trends and biases in groundwater modelling using the community-driven groundwater model portal (GroMoPo) (2025)

Hydrogeology Journal 6 citations DOI OpenAlex
Investigating Seepage through Earthen Dams Using Electrical Resistivity Tomography: Case Studies from Hindsville Lake Dam and Elmdale Lake Dam, Arkansas (2025)

2 citations DOI OpenAlex
Projections of multiple climate-related coastal hazards for the US Southeast Atlantic (2024)

Nature Climate Change 21 citations DOI OpenAlex
Hydrogeophysical inversion using a physics-based catchment model with hydrological and electromagnetic induction data (2024)

Journal of Hydrology 1 citation DOI OpenAlex