This course examines the nature and movement of groundwater in subsurface geologic materials. Students are introduced to the concepts and principles governing groundwater flow, as well as the geologic and hydraulic properties of groundwater aquifers. Surface-groundwater interactions are addressed within the context of the larger hydrologic cycle and water budgets on regional to site scales. Students learn how to quantify the three-dimensional movement of groundwater in the subsurface and use data derived from both their own hydrogeologic testing, industry reports and publicly available datasets to define aquifer characteristics (water chemistry, storage, flow rates, etc.). An introduction to basic hydrogeologic modeling and hydrogeologic software packages is provided.

Students must also register in the mandatory lab component of the course, GEOL 310L