2003 Seattle Annual Meeting (November 2–5, 2003)

Paper No. 71
Presentation Time: 8:00 AM-12:00 PM

INTEGRATED APPROACH TO THREE-DIMENSIONALLY MODELING AN AQUIFER IN ALASKA


KOPCZYNSKI, Sarah E.1, BIGL, Susan R.1, BAKER, Gregory S.2, DELANEY, Allan J.1, FINNEGAN, David C.1, HOLMES, Jamie V.1 and ANDREWS, Judith L.3, (1)Cold Regions Rsch and Engineering Lab, 72 Lyme Road, Hanover, NH 03755, (2)Dept. of Geology, Univ at Buffalo, 876 Natural Sciences Complex, Buffalo, NY 14260, (3)Black Hills State Univ (BHSU), Spearfish, SD 57799, sarahk@crrel.usace.army.mil

Ground water flow and contaminant migration pathways are complicated to infer in aquifers comprised of reworked glacial deposits creating a complex system of juxtaposed hydrogeological facies. The Poleline Road study site, located about two km south of Eagle River, AK, is situated in a topographically low channelised kame deposit surrounded by higher relief kames to the west, north and east, and a large wetland to the south and southwest. The hydrogeology is characterized by glacial deposits of Quaternary age creating a system of interfingering units on an undulating weathered bedrock surface mantling underlying more competent bedrock.

This investigation modeled the glacial deposits at the Poleline Road Disposal Area to provide a three-dimensional framework to assist with remediation decision-making. Site characterization data were acquired from near-surface seismic refraction tomography, DC resistivity surveys, ground penetrating radar profiles, deep borehole drilling, hydrological modeling, and water quality observations. These data were synthesized to develop a conceptual model of local geology in the context of regional record; the conceptual model was then used as the basis to develop a model of subsurface conditions by representing the data in three dimensions using EarthVision software.