INTERDISCIPLINARY HYDROGEOLOGICAL, GEOCHEMICAL, AND GEOPHYSICAL STUDY AT THE UNDERGRADUATE LEVEL

Binghamton University's campus watershed has been turned into a readily accessible field laboratory for students interested in environmental geology. The undergraduates are studying the campus watershed from hydrogeological, geochemical, and geophysical perspectives. This interdisciplinary study area was initiated after creation of an "Environmental Geology" curriculum and was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation's Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE-9950491). The objectives for focusing our "environmental geology" courses on examination of the campus watershed were to provide opportunities for 1) active learning outside of the classroom, 2) students to work with state of the art field equipment, 3) promoting student interest by having them gather and analyze their own "real world" data, and 4) promoting interdisciplinary thinking about the environment. Five wells have been installed on campus for study of groundwater levels, aquifer properties, and sampling for geochemical analysis. Equipment for monitoring stream flow, weather, and atmospheric quality has also been installed on campus. Hydrology students have measured rainfall, evaporation, surface water and groundwater levels, and tested aquifer properties. Geochemistry students contrasted the composition of rainfall, surface water, and groundwater on campus. Their data were combined with hydrologic data to develop chemical loadings at the watershed outlet and to assess the impact of campus activities on environmental quality. Geophysics students targeted the well locations for investigation using seismic refraction, electrical resistivity, and gravity methods. The investigations were conducted prior to well installation to predict depth to bedrock and the water table. The wells in turn provided a direct means for examining the accuracy of the different geophysical methods and for aiding in interpretation of data collected elsewhere on campus. A website has been created to document the project: (www.geol.binghamton.edu/faculty/salvage/NPhome.html). Future efforts will be to foster additional interdisciplinary earth systems undergraduate research projects on an ongoing basis within the campus watershed.