I. Overview

The purpose of this course is to review the fundamental techniques of geophysical data collection and analysis. Emphasis will be on problems of interest to ground water science. Essentially this means that the scale of investigation is from meters to a few 10's of kilometers, and that the important physical parameters that we wish to determine are those related to ground water flow and contamination.

II. Texts

Required:

Reynolds, J. M., An Introduction to Applied and Environmental Geophysics, Wiley, 1997.

Suggested Reading:

Dobrin and Savit, Introduction to Geophysical Prospecting, Fourth Edition, McGraw-Hill, 1988.

This was the textbook for this course for several years. Nice text but very exploration oriented.

Telford, W.M., L.P. Geldart, R.E. Sheriff, and D.A. Keys, Applied Geophysics, Cambridge University Press, 1976.

This is an encyclopedia for various techniques. A bit difficult to read.

Dobrin, M., Introduction to Geophysical Prospecting, McGraw-Hill, 3rd Edition, 1973.

Somewhat outdated but a classic. Information is still accurate.

Grant, F.S., and G.F. West, Interpretation and Theory in Applied Geophysics.

This book goes a little deeper into the theory behind the kind of techniques we will discuss.

Stacy, F.D., Physics of the Earth, Wiley, 1977.

A general geophysical theory book that can be used to shore up your background if need be.

Other Reading:

Various articles and notes will be on reserve in the Geology Library on the ground floor of West Hall. You may read them in the Geology library but they are not to be removed from the library except to photocopy them using the photocopier in adjacent Geology Department headquarters. Some of the articles from scientific journals may also be available in the main library.

Electronic Communication:

An important form of communication for this course is the Applied Geophysics Web Site that will have pages with news relevant to the class such as updates on lectures, problem sets, exams, and various review materials. The page will be updated about once a week; more often if important items come up. The address of the website is http://gretchen.geo.rpi.edu/roecker/AppGeo98.html

I would also like to put together a class e-mail alias so that I can mail information to each of you. Please send your name and e-mail address to me at roecker@gretchen.geo.rpi.edu

III. Grades

Grades will be determined according to the following weights:

Late homeworks will be penalized by subtracting 20% of the total value per day (including holidays and weekends). Thus, any homework more than 4 days late gets no credit. Note that a "day" is considered over at 5PM. If your homework is not delivered to me or in my mailbox by that time is docked an extra day.

Missed exams/quizzes may be retaken only if the instructor is satisfied with the reasons given by a student for being absent from the exam/quiz. If a student has an unavoidable conflict of significance which he/she knows about in advance of an examination he/she MUST notify the instructor prior to the day of the exam. In cases of emergency (e.g., health problems) the student MUST provide sufficient evidence of the emergency (e.g., a note from a doctor) to the instructor before any action will be considered. Exams will be retaken only at the discretion of the instructor.

IV. Material Covered (More or less in order of appearance):

• Gravity

• Seismics

• Electrical Methods (SP,IP,MT,Resistivity)

• Magnetics

• Radar

• GPS

For more detailed information on what will be done when, consult the Course Schedule.

V. Notes:

1. This course consists of a few lectures on the theoretical background of each technique, some discussion of data collection and analysis, and finally a few case histories showing how these techniques have been applied to ground water and other subsurface imaging problems.

2. The term paper and presentation will involve a detailed investigation into how one of the methods discussed above is applied to addressing ground water or other subsurface imaging problems. Don't wait until the last minute to start on this! Depending on how organized the field trips become, this paper could be based on collection and reduction of your own data.

3. I would like to arrange day-long field trips on weekends (preferably Saturday) and to do this I need to know what commitments people already have. Please get your schedules to me ASAP.

VI. Regarding academic honesty:

"Student-teacher relationships are built on trust. For example, students must trust that teachers have made appropriate decisions about the structure and content of the courses they teach, and teachers must trust that the assignments which students turn in are theirs. Acts which violate this trust undermine the educational process.

The Rensselaer Handbook defines various forms of Academic Dishonesty and procedures for responding to them. All forms are violations of the trust between students and teachers. Students should familiarize themselves with this portion of the Rensselaer Handbook and should note that the penalties for plagiarism and other forms of cheating can be quite harsh.

What constitutes cheating? The Commission on Academic Integrity suggest the following wording: Collaborative or group work is permitted except when explicitly forbidden".

For purposes of this class: collaborative/group work is not permitted on homeworks, nor, (of course) on the tests. Collaborative effort is permitted in the collection and organization of material for the term paper/presentation, but the actual writing of the term paper and the presentation are expected to be done by individual students without collaboration. Collaborative effort generally is permitted as well in the collection and reduction of any data from field trips. If you have questions about homework or about the material in general, talk to the instructor.

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