INVESTIGATING ARID ZONE HYDROLOGIC SYSTEMS AT THE LOCAL RIPARIAN TO REGIONAL BEDROCK SCALE: MULTIDISCIPLINARY INSTRUCTION THROUGH DATA ANALYSIS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI

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INVESTIGATING ARID ZONE HYDROLOGIC SYSTEMS AT
THE LOCAL RIPARIAN TO REGIONAL BEDROCK SCALE
MULTIDISCIPLINARY INSTRUCTION THROUGH DATA
ANALYSIS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURIS BRANSON
FIELD CAMP
Robert Bauer, Donald Siegel, Laura Lautz,
Dennis Dahms, Eric Sandvol, James Luepke and
Len Payne Dept. of Geological Sciences,
University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211
(e-mail to bauerr_at_missouri.edu) Dept. of Earth
Sciences, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
13244 Dept. of Geography, Northern Iowa
University, Cedar Fall, IA 50614
The Project Area is in the Red Canyon on the
southeastern margin of the Wind River Mountains
in Wyoming. The property is owned and managed by
The Nature Conservancy
Project Components Data Collection

• Seismic refraction profile adjacent to Red Canyon
  Creek
• Correlating seismic models with Geoprobe core logs

• Mapping stream terraces adjacent to Red Canyon
  Creek
• Evaluating soil profiles
• Determining the relative topographic
  relationships among the terraces

Red Canyon Creek project site
Abstract
Wind River Mountains
During the past four years at the Branson Field
Laboratory, we have developed projects that
integrate a broad range of hydrologic,
hydrogeologic, and geochemical skills with field
mapping and shallow subsurface analysis. Our
educational philosophy is to introduce our
students to a broad range of skills and methods
within the context of continually changing
discovery. Each year's work is conditioned on
the results of the previous year's results
students are involved in new inquiry-based
research every year. The study area, a
riparian wetland research area managed by The
Nature Conservancy of Wyoming, is located in
scenic Red Canyon, near Lander, Wyoming. The
canyon is drained by the now underfit Red Canyon
Creek. Five alluvial units adjacent to the creek
include four Pleistocene cut terraces through
Triassic redbeds and one Holocene fill terrace.
The creek has a series of beaver dams within
tight meanders. The study project involves four
segments of data collection and analysis 1)
mapping of the alluvial terraces, 2) installing
and monitoring shallow test wells using a
Geoprobe, 3) conducting in-stream tracer tests,
and 4) obtaining shallow seismic refraction
profiles. Students and faculty participate in
an integrated effort to characterize hydrologic
relationships within a well defined stretch of
Red Canyon Creek. In two of the meanders,
borings into fine-grained floodplain deposits are
collected and analyzed, and piezometers or water
table wells are installed. Stratigraphic data,
water levels in piezometers and wells, and
all-day in-stream tracer testing have identified
a wetland hyporheic zone with short-term flow
paths to and from the water table and the stream.
Seismic refraction profiles suggest that there
are buried stream channels and point bars beneath
the surficial silt that may produce locally
complex short-term flow paths. Next year we will
use high resolution seismic reflection profiles
and selected new monitoring wells to test this
hypothesis.
Project Components Data Collection

• Shallow well boring and construction using
  Geoprobe direct-push boring and collection tools
• Well site data collected by the students -
  logs of the recovered cores - water levels
  in each well - bail and slug test data for
  hydraulic conductivity

Data Analysis and Reports
The Final Group Report includes sections
on Surficial Geology - Describing the surficial
terrace map units and how they are related to the
creek, (includes a map). Surface water hydrology
- Describing results of the stream data analysis,
including a determination of whether discharge
increases or decreases down the stream and
whether the measurements agree. The students must
determine whether the stream loses or gains
water based on their streamflow measurements. The
report includes plots of dye tracing results,
stream cross section, and calculations of
discharge Groundwater hydrology - Describing the
water table, including a water table map at Red
Canyon Creek with flow lines, and a determination
of whether the stream is losing or gaining ground
water. The report must indicate whether the
groundwater data agree with conclusions based on
streamflow measurements. The report includes
calculations for hydraulic conductivity, and a
calculation of how much groundwater is moving per
year (in cubic feet/yr) to or from the creek
along the creek stretch from the dam to the first
downstream bend. Surficial Geochemistry
Including a determination of whether the
groundwater adjacent to Red Canyon Creek is
anoxic or oxic, and an evaluation of what major
minerals are dissolving to create the kind of
waters in the stream and in the ground. The
report includes Stiff diagrams to demonstrate
this point. Seismic Refraction Including a
model for the subsurface along the seismic
profile Each years work is conditioned on the
results of the previous year the students are
involved in new inquiry-based research every year.
Project Learning Objectives
Student Level Background

• Field chemical data from water samples collected
  from each of the bored wells
• pH in ground water and stream water
• Specific conductance
• Ferrous iron
• Dissolved oxygen

• Our main project objectiveTo help students
  learn about the relationships between surface
  water and groundwater in the hyporheic zone by
  collecting and analyzing data from multiple
  sources.
• Associated objectives include
• -- Helping students understand the importance of
  integrating multiple techniques and datasets to
  address a general problem.
• -- Teaching students how to collect and analyze
  data using a wide variety of techniques that bear
  on a problem.
• -- Teaching students to work effectively as a
  group (The students work in a single three-person
  group for the entire 5-day project.)

• Students who participate in the course are
  typically juniors or seniors working toward a BS
  degree in the geological sciences
• Pre-requisites for the course include
  Historical Geology, Sedimentology, and Structural
  Geology.
• Project background provided onsiteBy the time
  the students start the project, they have already
  completed projects on the stratigraphy and
  sedimentology of the Mesozoic rock units that
  occur at the site, and they have mapped folded
  and faulted rock Mesozoic rock units in adjacent
  areas.
• Project lectures provided onsite Since the
  course has no course pre-requisites in
  hydrogeology or geophysics, all techniques and
  background in these areas are provided through
  onsite lectures and demonstrations.

• Surface flow data from to determine discharge
  using three different techniques
• Degree of dilution of tracer
• Concentration curve integration
• Channel velocity/Area measurements