GEOLOGY 551                                                    Intro to Hydrogeology

Thorbjarnarson                                                             Fall 2005

Week

Lecture

Lab

Book Sections

8/31

Introduction

Order Geotechnical Gages

Chapter 1

9/5

Labor Day – no class

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9/12

Water Budgets

Tale of Two Lakes

Tale of Two Lakes Module

9/19

Watersheds and Streams

San Diego Watershed – Precipitation, Evapotranspiration and Streamflow

Chapter 2

9/26

Properties of Aquifers

Sediment Description

Chapter 3

10/3

Fluid Mechanics, Hydraulic Head, Groundwater Flow

Hydraulic Head + Darcy’s Law

4.1 - 4.3, 4.5 - 4.6

10/10

Groundwater Flow, Flow Nets

Groundwater Flow, Potentiometric Maps and Contouring [Surfer]

4.7 - 4.14, Chpt. 7

10/17

Unsaturated Zone, Groundwater Geology

A Civil Action: Woburn, MA

2.1 thru 2.8,

2.10, Chpt. 6,

Chpt. 8

10/24

MIDTERM

 

 

10/31

Flow to Wells and Drawdown

Well Hydraulics [Download VB programs]

5.1 thru 5.4

11/7

Aquifer Pumping Tests

Curve Matching, Jacob Straight Line [Excel Matching]

5.5, 5.6.1, 5.8 thru 5.9

11/14

Water Chemistry + Organic Pollutants

Erin Brockovitch: Hinkley, CA; Organic Contaminants

9.1 thru 9.2,

9.10, 9.13 thru 9.14, 10.1 thru 10.3, 10.6, 10.7

11/21

No Class – work on Watershed and Aquifer Case Studies

 

 

11/28

Solute Transport

Solute Transport [VST]

10.4, 10.8

12/5

PRESENTATIONS

 

 

12/12

Final Exam

 

 

 

Schedule is tentative: Check class website at www.geology.sdsu.edu/classes/geol551

 

Office Hours:           M  4-5 PM, T,Th 9:30 – 10:30 AM

                                    GMCS-228F

                                    (619) 594-1392, thorbjar@geology.sdsu.edu

 

Textbook:           Applied Hydrogeology, C.W. Fetter (4th ed), Prentice Hall

And material on website

 

Geotechnical Gage: Required for sediment description lab and very useful for your future hydrogeological work.  Can be order from National Groundwater Association bookstore at  www.ngwa.org and click on bookstore link at top.  The item is called “A Field Guide for Logging Water-Well Boreholes”.  Cost is $12.50 plus shipping.

 

Class Content:  Details of each class can be found at the class website, www.geology.sdsu.edu/classes/geol551.  Including homework assignments and due dates.

 

Laboratories and Homework:   Final writeups for these assignments are expected to be neat and clear.  As the writeups include listing equations, use of a wordprocessor and computer printout is not required but would be appreciated.  Each problem should be summarized by listing known information, provide a sketch if applicable, show equations used and conversion factors (dimensional analysis!) and have the final answer with correct units highlighted or circled (or squared).

            For homeworks with multiple problems, I will only grade two to four of the problems (you will not know which ones).  Each problem will be graded based on the following criteria:

                        40% – Listed all equations and conversions

                        20% – proper plug-ins and conversions

40% – obtained correct answer with proper use of

 significant figures

            All homeworks are due either in class or under my office door by midnight on the Monday due date.  Make a copy of your homework for your files and for review.  NO LATE HOMEWORKS WILL BE ACCEPTED as homework solutions will be posted on the Tuesday after the due date.  Please review your solutions asap and see me if you have questions on your homework well in advance of exams.

 

Case Study & Presentation:  Each student will research a case study and give a presentation.  Students may work as a team (2-3 students) and research a particular watershed providing a summary of the watershed and its precipitation, evapotranspiration and streamflow patterns or individually and research a particular aquifer in the United States using the USGS Groundwater Atlas (http://capp.water.usgs.gov/gwa/gwa.html) and other sources.

 

Grade:           Laboratory, HW                                                                                           45%

[labs and homework will have differing point values depending on the content]

Case Study & Presentation & Class Participation                                    15%

                        Midterm Exam                                                                                              20%

                        Final Exam                                                                                                  20%