The National Ground Water Assn. (NGWA) is offering the course, “Aquifer Test Analysis in Fractured Rock: Emphasis on Nonstandard Approaches/Interpretations,” on April 15 in Denver.
It follows NGWA’s 2010 Ground Water Summit and the 2010 Ground Water Protection Council Spring Meeting, also in Denver.
This course provides an overview of the complexities of fractured rock along with standard and novel approaches of developing hydrogeologic conceptual models of groundwater flow and the estimation of aquifer properties through aquifer testing in various fractured rock environments.
Aquifer testing is widely used as a tool in subsurface hydrogeologic characterization. The interpretation of fluid pressure responses can assist in the identification of conceptual models of aquifer heterogeneity and boundary conditions, and the estimation of formation properties that control fluid movement. Standard methods of interpreting aquifer tests that are based on simplified conceptual models of groundwater flow are still being employed today, primarily because of their ease in application. For certain conditions and objectives, standard methods of interpreting aquifer tests provide an acceptable means of identifying aquifer properties in complex geologic settings, such as fractured rock aquifers.
In this course:
• Learn the selective conditions where standard aquifer testing methods can be applied in the interpretation of fluid pressure responses in complex geologic settings;
• Learn how to analyze fluid pressure responses in geologically complexly fractured-rock aquifers that do not lend themselves to interpretations with standard aquifer testing methods;
• See how the interpretation of aquifer testing in fractured rock needs to be integrated with geologic understanding and other characterization methods, such as surface and borehole geophysics and geochemistry;
• See how results and interpretations from aquifer testing in igneous and metamorphic rock and sedimentary formations will be presented and analyzed; and
• Receive an overview on how to estimate hydraulic properties of bedrock aquifers over regional flow dimensions.
In addition, selected field techniques that are beneficial in characterizing fractured rock aquifers in conjunction with aquifer testing will be discussed.
This course is best suited to:
• Hydrologists, geologists, and engineers in the regulatory and private sectors, who will be introduced to a multidisciplinary approach of characterizing groundwater flow and chemical transport in fractured rock aquifers that is applicable to meeting project objectives for groundwater availability, groundwater vulnerability, the fate of contaminants, the remediation of contaminated groundwater, and the design of engineered structures in fractured rock environments; and
• Project managers responsible for designing or evaluating projects where the characterization of fractured rock is integral in meeting project objectives.
This is an intermediate level course that assumes attendees have a basic knowledge of the principles of groundwater hydrology.
Source: NGWA
