TEACHING HYDROGEOLOGY IN THE 21ST CENTURY: RESOURCES DEMONSTRATING THE INTERFACE BETWEEN HYDROGEOLOGY AND OTHER SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL DISCIPLINES

The field of hydrogeology has a rich and ongoing history of contributions to the solution of problems in many scientific and social disciplines.  For example, hydrogeology has brought greater understanding to the many processes in the Earth's crust that involve ground and surface waters, such as sedimentary diagenesis, the formation of hydrothermal mineral deposits, the shaping of landforms, the deformation of rock, metamorphism, magma generation, and the transport of hydrocarbons.  Hydrogeology has a prominent role in many societal issues, such as the development of water resources, protection of the environment, and the shaping of laws and public policy.  Students can gain a deeper appreciation of the broad relevance of hydrogeology and can become better equipped to apply it if problems from other disciplines that can be solved using hydrogeologic principles can be integrated into hydrogeology courses.  To help accomplish this, a working group consisting of the authors of the present communication was organized at the On the Cutting Edge:  Teaching Hydrogeology in the 21^st Century workshop held July 23-28, 2005 to develop and collect effective teaching resources that could be shared with other hydrogeology instructors.  The resources are accessible for download from the Teaching Hydrogeology website at “http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/hydrogeo/index.html”.  The resources being collected consist of (1) calculations that can be performed by hand, using a spreadsheet, or a simple computer program, (2) laboratory and field exercises, (3) lecture presentations, (4) data sets, and (5) case studies.  Contributions from people outside of the working group are also welcomed and can be uploaded at the website above or by contacting one of the working group members.