Hydrostructural Methods in Bedrock Aquifer Characterization and Remedial Decision Making (405 mins.)

Reminder: Please bring the following to the seminar: pencil, eraser, calculator, scale, protractor, and scratch paper.

8:00:  Registration Opens

8:30 - 4:30:  Seminar, with morning refreshments and lunch provided.

Chester County Public Safety Training Campus

137 Modena Rd.

Coatesville, PA

Level:  Advanced

As in all groundwater systems, gravity-driven flow through bedrock formations occurs within a single integrated hydrologic potential field in which every particle of groundwater residing in connected pore spaces below the phreatic surface is affected by, and contributes to, the overall field potential. Flow in most bedrock aquifers occurs through a three-dimensional network of saturated, hydraulically connected planar discontinuities which typically occur in multiple, pervasive, non-randomly oriented sets, each set being possessed of a unique, statistically averaged, orientation. Therefore, bedrock formations generally contain discontinuities at several predominant strike directions, typically none of which are parallel to the groundwater flow vector. Consequently, groundwater flow along a field hydraulic gradient is sub-parallel to the strikes of all planes, providing for three-dimensional flow as dictated by the flow field.

Combining a refresher on the concepts and methods of structural geology with quantitative analysis of gravity-driven groundwater flow within and between discrete, connected, planar flow pathways, this full day, hands-on course provides the tools of both visualization and quantification of flow in three-dimensional space. Including a complete review of the methods of planar structural analysis, the course explores: the control of geologic structure on groundwater flow within individual fractures; anisotropic responses to aquifer testing and a comparison to field anisotropy; structurally-controlled deflection of tracers and/or contaminant plumes; the effects of the scale of observation on aquifer heterogeneity and anisotropy; migration of separate phase liquids and gases; the hydrologic effects of fault systems; groundwater flow within structural domains of differing, yet overlapping, scales of observation.