Duration
26h Th, 20h Pr, 1d FW
Number of credits
| Master in geography : climatology (120 ECTS) | 3 crédits |
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
French language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
The fundamentals of hydrogeology and groundwater are proposed in this course: - Introduction - Definitions: groundwater resources advantages and drawbacks, relative importance in the world, in Belgium, in Walloon region. - Hydrological cycle and water balance of a basin, groundwater reserves. - Confined, water table and perched aquifers: definitions and examples, importance of a clear geological understanding when defining hydrogeological conditions. - Hydrogeological parameters and groundwater flow equations: hydrostatic, porosities, hydraulic conductivity and Darcy's law, intrinsic permeability, generalisation, application, limitations, measurements on field, piezometric maps, application examples, transmissivity, steady state groundwater flow in saturated conditions, specific storage coefficient, transient flow in confined and water table aquifers. - Pumping tests and recovery: assumptions, interpretation methods in steady state and transient state, superposition principle, anisotropy, leakance, applications. - Hydrochemical state of groundwater. - Processes and equations describing th contaminant transport in groundwater by advection, diffusion, dispersion, adsorption/desorption, decay, immobile water effect. - Introduction to the use of isotopes and interpretation of results.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
At the end of the course, the student will have a strong basic knowledge about hydrogeology and groundwater flow problems. He will be able to: - understand and exploite theoretical and practical hydrogeological concepts; - calculate groundwater fluxes and flow directions; - interprete hydrogeological maps; - draw and interprete piezometric maps; - predict and detect local hydrogeological specificities of a study-site; - interprete pumping tests; - design on field measurement campaigns for groundwater quantity and quality; - interprete and report about hydrochemical groundwater quality data; - understand and interprete the main solute transport processes in groundwater. Exercices and practical courses are lead by an assistant helped by two student-instructors. They will help each student to develop his self-sufficient capacities on practical and real case studies. The not compulsory reading of reference books (in english) will allow additional documentation and understanding of scientific texts in this topic.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
The course requires a good knowledge of general geology and basic knowledges of hydraulics and mathematical and vectorial analysis.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
The course is composed of "ex-cathedra" lectures and directed exercises sessions. The exercises sessions are organised in direct relation with the topics covered by the theory lectures. Usually, two hours of lecture are followed by an exercices session of two hours (except for the first half-day of the semester). In addition, and in function of the availability in the student time schedule, a one day on field (or two half-days) will be organised for on field measurements and for visiting water company exploitation installations. The dates will be fixed together with the students.
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)
Face-to-face.
Recommended or required readings
A pdf copy of all transparents and partail notes are made available on E-Campus.This is only a summary of what was said and shown during the lectures. The following reference book is adviced: - Dassargues, A. 2018. Hydrogeology: groundwater science and engineering, Taylor & Francis CRC Press, 472p. In this book, the student will find more details and examples than collected during the lectures. The pdf copy of the transparents will be available in French and in English.
Assessment methods and criteria
A written exam is organised in January and in September sessions. With open questions, the evaluation is based mainly on understanding the concepts and processes, but it requires also memorisation. Indeed, a good knowledge and perfect command of the fundamentals are needed for preparing accurate and adequate answers. During the exercices sessions, different problems are submitted to the students for an individual resolution. A final report on these resolutions is required for the last exercises session of the semester. The evaluation of this exercises report provides 30% of the final exam mark.
Work placement(s)
Organizational remarks
The course will be given during the 1st semester: Monday am
Contacts
Alain Dassargues 04/3662376 Alain.Dassargues@ulg.ac.be Assistants: P.Orban@ulg.ac.be Pierre.Jamin@ulg.ac.be