Module GEOL4151: HYDROGEOLOGY AND GEOMECHANICS IV

Department: Earth Sciences

GEOL4151: HYDROGEOLOGY AND GEOMECHANICS IV

Prerequisites

• GEOL2171 Water and Climate

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• GEOL4101 Petroleum Geoscience IV, GEOL4111 Environmental Geochemistry IV, GEOL4171 Paleobiology IV, GEOL4121 Tectonics and Deformation Processes IV, GEOL4161 Earth Structure and Dynamics IV, GEOL4131 Petroleum Geophysics IV, GEOL4141 Earth System and Climate IV, GEOL3291 Hydrogeology and Geomechanics.

Aims

• To provide students with a range of appropriate skills to start a career as a hydrogeologist and/or engineering geologist.
• To introduce a range of international case-studies to enable improved awareness of how focus of interest varies in different international settings.
• To provide students with state-of-the-art understanding concerning hydrogeology and geomechanics by integrating classical ideas with current staff research activities within the Department of Earth Sciences.
• To develop an advanced understanding concerning the movement of fluids in geological media.
• To develop an advanced understanding concerning the interaction of stress, strain and fluid movement in the subsurface.

Content

• Aquifers as geological systems.
• Aquifer characterisation techniques.
• Groundwater flow modelling.
• Stress, strain, shear and pressure.
• Fracture mechanics.
• Geotechnics.

Learning Outcomes

• To be able to develop hydrogeological conceptual models.
• To be able to plan and interpret aquifer characterisation studies.
• To develop an advanced understanding of the coupling between fluid flow and geomechanics.
• To be able to apply knowledge to basic geotechnical engineering problems.

• Will have acquired intellectual and practical skills in order to apply hydrogeological and geomechanical principles and methodologies to the solution of familiar and unfamiliar problems.

• Prepare, process, interpret and present data using appropriate qualitative and quantitative methods.
• Solve numerical problems using computer or non-computer techniques.
• Receive and respond to a variety of information sources.
• Consider received information critically, even that received from a perceived reliable source.
• Analyse conventionally accepted information based on independent thought.
• Communicate effectively to a variety of audiences in written and verbal forms.
• Put together a short but effective written review of a Hydrogeological or Geomechanic topic of the students choosing.
• Use internet and library resources effectively.
• Acquire skills necessary for self-managed lifelong learning including independent research, critical analysis, and time management.
• Identify and work towards targets for personal and academic development.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• The module is delivered through a mix of one-hour lectures and two-hour practical slots, supported by handouts and directed reading.
• The practicals form an important component of the module allowing "hands on" learning and experience.
• Summative assessment is made up of two practical assessments.
• Solve numerical problems using computer or non-computer techniques.
• Two timetabled meetings during Michaelmas and Epiphany terms (four total) designed specifically to promote advanced critical reasoning, scientific research, and scientific writing skills, and writing skills.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University