On-Demand Webinars

HYDROGEOLOGY OF AQUITARDS AND LOW-PERMEABILITY MATERIALS: Part 1:
Analysis of Aquitard Integrity

We face a common problem: how many times have you learned of a shallow groundwater contamination problem and heard someone say "We don't have to worry about the deep aquifer, it is protected by an overlying aquitard"?

How many times have you seen cross sections showing that downward migration of contaminants stops at a clay or shale layer? Have you ever really investigated these aquitards? How do you know they are effective barriers to contaminant movement?

Aquitards are critically important for understanding groundwater protection, drinking water supplies, and contaminant movement. Although aquitards may seem to make up only minor parts of hydrostratigraphic sequences they commonly control the overall groundwater flow system by influencing recharge, discharge, vertical head distributions, groundwater flow paths, and contaminant migration. During this 2-part webinar series, you will:

• Discover the unique hydraulic properties of low-permeability units.
  
  
• Learn about recent advances for testing aquitard integrity and apply it to your monitoring or ground water supply protection program.
  
  
• Avoid common mistakes related to characterizing ground water movement and contaminant pathways in low-permeability units.
  

Both unconsolidated and bedrock aquitards share inherent low hydraulic conductivities, but approaches and field methods for characterizing each type can be completely different. This 2-part webinar series will unravel the complexity of aquitards and their hydrogeologic and hydraulic relationships.

Applications:

• Hydrogeologic Characterization
• Environmental Site Investigation
• Remediation
• Water Supply
• Engineering Design

Highlights from Part One include:

• Aquifers and Aquitards: the importance of aquitards in all groundwater projects
• Definitions and basic categories of aquitards
• Hydrostratigraphic relationships and hydrogeologic context
• Definitions of aquitard integrity
• Keys to aquitard evaluation
• Defining the water table in low-permeability settings
• Do's and Don't's of monitoring aquitards
• How aquitards control groundwater flow system

Highlights from Part Two include:

• Summary of aquitard hydraulics
• Vertical vs. horizontal gradients: deciphering relationships
• How aquitards refract groundwater flow lines
• Diagnostic plots of hydraulic head profiles
• Relationships between hydraulic gradients, hydraulic conductivity, and groundwater flow rates
• Effects of transient conditions
• Evidence for (and against) perched conditions
• Example problem

Protect yourself, your company and your clients by learning how to assess which parts of the formation control aquitard integrity. The simple key to these concepts is correctly evaluating aquitard integrity.

Discover these hydrogeologic tools that are found no where else on the web.