ESS 454 

 
 
The development of an understanding of the following topics and concepts is the expected outcome for student in this course: Overarching Goals: Understand the science basis for groundwater management Be sufficiently informed to be an environmentally aware citizen Improve quantitative skills that are generally useful in science and technology Know enough basic hydrogeology to Pass the “fundamentals of geology” licensing test Gain entry employment in the field leading to the hydrogeology certification Week One: Introduction and the Groundwater Budget • Master new vocabulary • Understand correct usage of “significant figures” in calculations • Be able to identify and use appropriate units in calculations • Understand the “Hydrologic Equation” • Understand the basic components of a water budget including precipitation, infiltration, run-off, ET, recharge, discharge, base flow, gaining and losing streams • Be familiar with the historical context of hydrogeology • Be able to separate overland flow, interflow, and base flow components from stream hydrographs • Be able to calculate annual recharge and discharge of an aquifer using stream hydrographs • Be able to critically evaluate regional groundwater sustainability issues on the basis of water budget arguments. Be familiar with several current examples regarding groundwater sustainability Week Two: Properties of Aquifers and Darcy’s Law • Master new vocabulary • Understand how geologic materials control hydrologic properties and how such characteristics and properties are described and determined • Understand the basic concepts associated with aquifers and be able to draw geologic cross-sections to illustrate these ideas • Understand the connection between energy, pressure, and forces acting on groundwater. • Be able to use Darcy’s Law to calculate water fluxes and to quantify permeameter properties. • Be able to describe, distinguish, and use in quantitative calculations both hydraulic conductivity and permeability • Understand the factors that control variations of hydraulic conductivity and permeability • Be able to calculate hydraulic gradients based on potentiometric surfaces • Understand the concepts of isotropy and homogeneity and understand the geologic factors that impact these concepts Understand the concept of aquifer elasticity and specific storage and be able to undertake quantitative analysis of aquifer properties Week Three: Quantification of Aquifer Flow • Master new vocabulary • Understand the connection between properties of geologic materials and the corresponding characteristics of an entire aquifer • Be able to adjust measured hydraulic heads to account for water with variable density • Understand how Darcy’s Law and conservation of water leads to the “diffusion equation” • Be able to quantitatively determine characteristic lengths or times based on “scaling” of the diffusion equation • Understand how to quantitatively calculate heads and water fluxes in unconfined aquifers • Be able to qualitatively and quantitatively estimate how flow lines are bent at interfaces between materials having different hydraulic conductivities • Know the appropriate boundary conditions of head and flux for various types of boundaries Be able to qualitatively estimate equipotential lines and flux lines using flownets Week Four: Hydraulic Characterization of Wells • Master new vocabulary • Understand concepts of ”steady flow” and “transient flow” and the geologic conditions that control flow • Be able to apply the diffusion equation in radial coordinates with radial flow • Understand (qualitatively and quantitatively) how water is produced from an aquifer to the well for both confined and unconfined aquifers • Understand how the Theis equation was derived and be able to use the well function to calculate draw-down as a function of time and distance • Be able to use non-dimensional variables to characterize the behavior of wells • Be able to identify when the Theim equation is appropriate and use it in quantitative calculations • Be able to use Theis and Jacob-Cooper matching curves to determine aquifer transmissivity and storativity • Be able to qualitatively show how draw-down curves are impacted by aquifer properties or recharge/discharge boundaries • Understand how aquifer properties are determined in slug tests and be able to undertake quantitative analysis of Hvorslev and Cooper-Papadapolus tests. • Be able to describe what controls flow from wells starting at early time and extending to long time intervals • Be able to describe quantitatively how draw-down behaves if nearby wells have overlapping cones of depression Be able to describe the behavior of draw down with either recharge or discharge boundaries Week Five: Local and Regional Aquifer Flow Systems • Master new vocabulary and geologic terms • Be able to construct qualitatively correct flownets for all cross-sectional examples given in Chapter 7 • Be able to identify areas of recharge and discharge and to be able to show how hydraulic heads varies with depth. • Understand the concepts of local vs regional flow and be able to identify it in flownets given in chapter 7 • Understand qualitatively how anisotropy of hydraulic conductivity impacts flow direction • Be able to undertake quantitative calculation of flow direction and fluxes in anisotropic situations • Be able to give examples that illustrate the principal of “dynamic equilibrium” in groundwater systems Understand principals associated with the interaction of groundwater with surface water Week Six: Geology of Groundwater • Be able to describe: o Recharge o Discharge o Geologic units (aquifers and aquitards) o Specific circumstances o Confined/unconfined o Unique geology o Societal issues • of the following regional groundwater systems: o Puget Sound Region o Basin and Range o Columbia River o High Plains (Ogallala) o Florida Be able to qualitatively and quantitatively determine the characteristic of the fresh-water salt-water interface in coastal aquifers Week Seven: Modeling of Groundwater Flow • Master new vocabularly • Understand reasons that motivate construction of groundwater models • Understand what is required and the steps used to construct a model • Understand why groundwater models are intrinsically non-uniqueness and always flawed • Understand how a mathematical finite difference model is constructed by consideration of fluxes into and out of a control volume. Understand how a mathematical derivative is descretized • Understand how a Finite Element method differs from a Finite Difference method • Understand the use of Elliptical (steady-state) and Parabolic (diffusion) solutions • Understand the process of validation, calibration, verification, sensitivity analysis, prediction in construction of a model • Understand how grids and nodes are set up to best represent a geologic situation • Understand how boundary conditions and initial conditions are applied • Understand the use of Dirichlet (specify head) and Neumann (specify flux) boundary conditions • Be able to read and evaluate a technical groundwater modeling report. Know the key sections and questions that need to be answered in the report. • Be familiar with a local example of a groundwater modeling report • Be able to use visualMODFLOW to create a simple groundwater model Be able to use MATLAB to construct 2-D flownets Week Eight: Groundwater Chemistry • Master new vocabularlty • Identify major (natural and pollutant) chemical species in groundwater o Sources? Typical concentrations? • Be able to define and use in calculation basic aqueous chemical concepts including: o Molality, mg/L, ppm,  ppb, equivalent weight, meq/L, chemical activity, activity coefficient,  ionic strength,  equilibrium constant, solubility product • Understand pH and Eh and typical  ranges for groundwater. o Be able to identify factors that control pH and Eh Be able to plot chemical concentrations on Piper and Stiff plots and describe the type of groundwater chemistry Be able to determine whether a chemical species is under or over saturated • Be familiar with carbonate equilibrium • Be familiar with stable and unstable isotopes and applications Be aware of water quality criteria Week Nine: Contaminant Transport • Master New vocabulary • Understand the concepts of dispersion and advection • Be able to quantify the rate of contaminant transport • In nonreactive systems (diffusivity, dispersion, advection) • With chemical interaction (adsorption, distribution coefficient, retardation) • Be able to use a plot of adsorption to determine a distribution coefficient and thus determine the retardation factor • Be able to describe the difference in the retardation process for organic and inorganic contaminants • Be able to describe what is meant by DNAPL, LNAPL, and aqueous contaminants. Be able to draw cross sections to illustrate their differing behavior • Be able to qualitatively describe and illustrate the spatial and temporal behavior of contaminant flow (one time or continuous) with or without chemical reactivity • Understand the nature of and societal issues associated with contamination from o Septic tanks, landfills, buried tanks, mines. o Be able to identify typical contaminants associated with different sources. • Be able to describe several basic tools of remediation of groundwater contamination Be able to quantitatively determine the needed characteristics of a well used to (1) capture contaminated groundwater and (2) establish protected areas around drinking water wells Be familiar with the the Seymour Recycling Superfund site: the hydrogeology, the nature and movement of contaminants, the steps taken for remediation, and the degree of success in reducing societal harm. Week Ten: Groundwater Management and Law, Professional Licensing • Master new vocabulary • Be able to discuss factors associated with sustainable use of groundwater resources • Be able to describe problems that have made use of the term “Safe Yield” problematic. • Be able to describe basic concepts that underlie laws pertaining to groundwater usage. Be familiar with Washington State law as it conforms to those concepts. • Be familiar with the basic requirements to obtain a license as a “Professional Geologist” with specialty endorsement in hydrogeology.

Learning Goals for Hydrogeology