A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO TEACHING THROUGH RESIDENTIAL WATER WELL SAMPLING: COMBINING STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY, AQUEOUS GEOCHEMISTRY AND HYDROGEOLOGY INTO A COHESIVE EXERCISE IN NORTHEASTERN PA

Students taking aqueous geochemistry, hydrogeology, and structural geology are often given problem sets involving subsurface features such as folds, bedding, or the water table, but have difficulty visualizing these abstract concepts. Faculty at Bloomsburg have observed that students also have trouble applying skills and knowledge acquired in one course to relevant problems across the curriculum. To address this deficiency, we have devised a pilot project involving a single field problem that requires skills from each specialty to solve, presenting an opportunity for students in each class to synthesize different types of data. The aqueous geochemistry class received permission from local homeowners to sample several wells in a single neighborhood drilled to different depths and in different bedrock units. Students in aqueous geochemistry conducted a fall 2012 sampling trip, collecting samples from three wells: one with no water treatment, a second post treatment, and a third with both pre- and post-treatment and analyzed them for standard water quality parameters as well as for selected metals, cations, anions. Students in structural geology used published structural and stratigraphic data, along with low-resolution data available from homeowners and from a state water well database to determine the orientation of beds and which bedrock units were being sampled. Students in the aqueous geochemistry class were responsible for preparing water quality reports including the structural data. In the future we will expand this dataset to a size such that students in hydrogeology can use the data to investigate how chemistry of natural waters varies across and within hydrologic units, and to construct flow nets for the sampled aquifers. This project benefits students by providing a practical, hands-on application of skills learned in each course as well as a chance to bring multiple specialties to bear on a single problem. Local residents benefit from a free test of selected water quality parameters.