Gheorghe Ponta

Originally from Romania, Gheorghe Ponta is a geologist, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He earned a Geology degree from the University of Bucharest, Romania (www.unibuc.ro). After graduating, he worked at the Geological and Geophysical Prospecting Company (I.G.P.S.M.S.) Bucharest, Romania, for five years, and Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Bucharest, Romania (www.igr.ro), for ten years. He performed hydrogeologic assessments of thermal and karst water reservoirs including watershed management and hydrogeologic characterization of karstic springs. In addition, Gheorghe Ponta was project manager for the National Hydrogeological Mapping Program in Karst Areas.

Between 1993 and 2014, Gheorghe Ponta worked with PELA GeoEnvironmental (www.pela.com) in geologic and environmental consulting. Mr. Ponta has served as project manager at PELA for ground-water investigations and water supply studies. He has provided specialized support for environmental investigations in karst terrain in United States (Alabama, California, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Texas, Mississippi, and Tennessee), Honduras, and Thailand. He has been responsible for evaluation and characterization of karstic terrain and how its unique features affect geotechnical and hydrogeologic conditions. In 2014 he joined the Geological Survey of Alabama working in the Groundwater Assessment Program (www.gsa.state.al.us).

In 1969 he began caving at "Liliacul" Arad Grotto. Between 1972 and 1993 he was a member of "Focul Viu" Bucuresti Grotto. After moving to United Stated, he joined National Speleological Society (www.caves.org) and Birmingham Grotto (www.bhamgrotto.org).