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Geophysical detection methods/GTDSS
Citation:
Werkema, D. Geophysical detection methods/GTDSS. Sustainable and Healthy Communities BOSC Subcommittee, OH, Cincinnati, November 02 - 04, 2016.
Impact/Purpose:
Poster presented at the Sustainable and Healthy Communities BOSC Subcommittee
Description:
This research seeks to partially meet OSWER’s research priority on groundwater characterization technologies and methodologies. Contamination may directly impact and limit water resources while influencing other routes of exposure, such as pathways to surface water bodies via groundwater-surface water interactions. Consequently, this effort is focused on the geophysical methods to characterize and monitor groundwater- surface water (GW/SW) interactions. These geophysical methods involve non-invasive, or very minimally invasive, surficial mapping of geophysical properties caused by, or affected by, this dynamic hydrogeological interface. The detection of temperature and electrical gradients between the groundwater and surface water enables rapid large area coverage of these interactions, guides the placement of remediation or capture systems before surface water bodies are impacted, can guide well placements, and monitor temporal variations as fluids move horizontally and vertically between this interface. The identification and monitoring of GW/SW interaction zones serves many of the Program Office needs where the understanding of subsurface processes (e.g., fate and transport and remediation effectiveness) is paramount to meeting their specific objectives.In addition to journal articles, this research will produce analytical software to assess GW/SW interactions from hydrogeophysical data (e.g., temperature and electrical resistivity) and develop a module for the Geophysical Toolbox Decision Support System (GTDSS) to guide the selection of geophysical methods and to design of surveys for effective application to GW/SW problems. The GTDSS provides users a geophysical pre- modeling tool with capabilities to enable selection of appropriate and effective geophysical methods to use at a site, given project goals and site conditions. The GTDSS functions within the Geophysical Decision Support System (GDSS) and EPA’s online Environmental Geophysics Textbook as described in SHC 3.61.1. Overall, the GTDSS is a downloadable geophysical pre-modeling tool that has applicability to a wide range of environmental issues. It is particularly suitable to problems where the objective is to understand the physical properties of the subsurface, both land and marine. These physical properties are the summation of the solid and liquid components of the earth, which include biogeochemical reactions and interactions. The understanding of the spatial and temporal distribution of these properties is vital to protect human health and the environment and the GTDSS provides quantitative results to guide such investigations.