GEOS-4430: Introduction to Hydrogeology 1

Fall, 2010
Dr. Tom Brikowski, brikowi@utdallas.edu

This course introduces the principles of fluid migration in the earth’s crust. Topics include
observation and quantification of the water cycle, including ground and surface water flow;
regional flow, flow nets, Darcy’s Law, well testing, water quality and contaminant transport.
The course is intended to provide the basic background required for study of or employ-
ment in hydrogeology, and in particular much of the background currently needed for the
ASBOG Professional Geologist Licensing Exam. GEOS 4430 fulfills one of the breadth re-
quirements for the B.S. Geology degree.

Class meets MW 1:30:2:45pm in FN 2.204 beginning Aug. 23rd, 1:30pm, UTD Call Number
1283 (GEOS 4430).

See also Gambling on Water in Las Vegas.

1 Course Organization
1.1 Organizational Meeting

The first class meeting (Aug.

23rd, 1:30pm) will be dedicated
to an organizational meeting, at
which time a general outline of Figure 1: A graphical overview of many of the topics
the class topics, and any desired covered in GEOS 4430. The groundwater cycle, after
changes in lab or lecture schedule UNEP3
will be discussed. The laboratory
portion of the class consists of two
1-day field trips to a local field
site to make hydrogeologic mea-
surements.

1.2 Syllabus

1.3 Textbook

The course textbook will be Applied Hydrogeology by C. W. Fetter (see Publisher’s Description).
The author’s textbook website has useful problem solutions and example material.
1
see this document online at http://www.utdallas.edu/~brikowi/Teaching/Hydrogeology
GEOS-4430: Introduction to Hydrogeology, Fall, 2010 2

Table 1: Course Syllabus.

Week Date Text Chapters Topic

0 Aug. 23 - Organizational Meeting
1 Aug. 30, Sep. 1 The Importance of Hydrogeology
1
2 Sept. 1, 3 2 Hydrologic Cycle: Measurement & Quantification
3 Sept. 8 2 Hydrologic Cycle (cont.)
4 Sept. 13, 15 2 Streamflow/Baseflow
5 Sept. 20, 22 3 Aquifer Properties
FT1 Sept. 25 Field Trip: Surface Water Measurements
6 Sept. 27, 29 3 Aquifer Properties (cont.)
7 Oct 4,6 4 Darcy’s Law, Principles of Flow
8 Oct.11, 13 4 Regional Groundwater Flow, Flow Nets
9 Oct. 18, 20 4 Flow Nets, Mid-Term
10 Oct. 25, 27 7-8 Well Hydraulics
11 Nov. 1, 3 9 No class (GSA)
FT2 Nov. 6 Field Trip: Groundwater Measurements
12 Nov. 8, 10 10 Unsaturated Flow, Water Quality/Water Chem-
istry
13 Nov. 15, 17 11 Water Quality/Water Chemistry (cont.)
14 Nov. 22, 24 11 Chemical Transport/Modeling
15 Nov. 29, Dec. Climate Change Hydrology
1
16 Dec. 6 - Intro. to Groundwater/Surfacewater Models
17 Dec. 10 11am Final Exam
GEOS-4430: Introduction to Hydrogeology, Fall, 2010 3

1.4 Grading

Course grades for undergraduates determined using the following weights: 60% homework,
20% midterm, 20% final. For graduates the following weights will be used: 50% homework,
15% midterm, 15% final, 20% research paper.

2 Online Resources
2.1 Lecture Notes

HTML versions of the lecture notes are available online via the following links. In general
these will only be accessible from a UTD IP address.

Week Topic
1 Introduction to Hydrogeology HTML PDF
2 Quantification of the Hydrologic Cycle HTML PDF
2.5 Precipitation (cont.) - PDF
3 Streamflow HTML PDF
4 Aquifer Properties HTML PDF
5 Darcy’s Law HTML PDF
6 Regional Flow/Flow Nets HTML PDF
7 Well Hydraulics HTML PDF
8 Water Chemistry HTML PDF
10 Reaction Modeling HTML PDF
11 Chemical Transport HTML PDF

2.2 Homework

HTML versions of the homework assignments are available online through the following links.
Note the online solutions to the odd-numbered problems have moved4 :

Week Topic
1 Water Balance5

2.3 Lab Notes

Find the lab notes here. You should bring a copy of the notes with you, I’d recommend
printing them 2 or 4 pages/sheet using Acroread “Page Setup” or “Printer Properties” dialog.
4
http://www.appliedhydrogeology.info/
GEOS-4430: Introduction to Hydrogeology, Fall, 2010 4

2.4 Textbook Software

For students who bought used textbooks, the software from the textbook CD-ROM is tem-
porarily available online6 . Download the appropriate ZIPfile, unpack it, move to the newly
created subdirectory, and run setup.exe. This should start the InstallShield setup for that
software package.

Note that update versions of the software are available at the following links:

• Aqtesolv7

2.5 Hydrology Employment

• information on Texas Professional Geologist registration8

References

6
./Homework/Software/
7
http://www.aqtesolv.com/demo.htm
8
../../EnvironProgram/Licensure/tx_licensure.html