INVESTIGATING ARID ZONE HYDROLOGIC SYSTEMS AT THE LOCAL RIPARIAN TO REGIONAL BEDROCK SCALE:
MULTIDISCIPLINARY INSTRUCTION THROUGH DATA ANALYSIS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI’S BRANSON FIELD CAMP
Abstract
During the past four years at the Branson Field Laboratory, we have developed projects that integrate a broad
range of hydrologic, hydrogeologic, and geochemical skills with field mapping and shallow subsurface analysis. Our
educational philosophy is to introduce our students to a broad range of skills and methods within the context of
continually changing discovery. Each year's work is conditioned on the results of the previous year's results;
students are involved in new inquiry-based research every year.
The study area, a riparian wetland research area managed by The Nature Conservancy of Wyoming, is located in
scenic Red Canyon, near Lander, Wyoming. The canyon is drained by the now underfit Red Canyon Creek. Five
alluvial units adjacent to the creek include four Pleistocene cut terraces through Triassic redbeds and one Holocene
fill terrace. The creek has a series of beaver dams within tight meanders. The study project involves four segments
of data collection and analysis: 1) mapping of the alluvial terraces, 2) installing and monitoring shallow test wells
using a Geoprobe®, 3) conducting in-stream tracer tests, and 4) obtaining shallow seismic refraction profiles.
Students and faculty participate in an integrated effort to characterize hydrologic relationships within a well
defined stretch of Red Canyon Creek. In two of the meanders, borings into fine-grained floodplain deposits are
collected and analyzed, and piezometers or water table wells are installed. Stratigraphic data, water levels in
piezometers and wells, and all-day in-stream tracer testing have identified a wetland hyporheic zone with short-term
flow paths to and from the water table and the stream. Seismic refraction profiles suggest that there are buried stream
channels and point bars beneath the surficial silt that may produce locally complex short-term flow paths. Next year
we will use high resolution seismic reflection profiles and selected new monitoring wells to test this hypothesis.
Student Level & Background
• Students who participate in the course:
are typically juniors or seniors working
toward a BS degree in the geological sciences
• Pre-requisites for the course include:
Historical Geology, Sedimentology, and
Structural Geology.
• Project background provided onsite:
By the time the students start the project, they
have already completed projects on the
stratigraphy and sedimentology of the
Mesozoic rock units that occur at the site, and
they have mapped folded and faulted rock
Mesozoic rock units in adjacent areas.
• Project lectures provided onsite:
Since the course has no course pre-requisites
in hydrogeology or geophysics, all techniques
and background in these areas are provided
through onsite lectures and demonstrations.
Project Learning Objectives
• Our main project objective:
To help students learn about the relationships
between surface water and groundwater in the
hyporheic zone by collecting and analyzing
data from multiple sources.
• Associated objectives include:
-- Helping students understand the importance
of integrating multiple techniques and datasets
to address a general problem.
-- Teaching students how to collect and analyze
data using a wide variety of techniques that
bear on a problem.
-- Teaching students to work effectively as a
group (The students work in a single threeperson group for the entire 5-day project.)
the Wind River Mountains in Wyoming. The property is owned and
managed by The Nature Conservancy
Red Canyon Creek
project site
Project Components & Data Collection
Seismic refraction profile adjacent
to Red Canyon Creek
Mapping stream terraces
adjacent to Red Canyon Creek
•Evaluating soil profiles
•Determining the relative
topographic relationships among
the terraces
•Correlating seismic models with
Geoprobe core logs
Wind River
Mountains
Project Components & Data Collection
Shallow well boring and construction using
Geoprobe® direct-push boring and collection tools
•Well site data collected by the students
- logs of the recovered cores
- water levels in each well
- bail and slug test data for hydraulic conductivity
Field chemical data from water samples collected
from each of the bored wells
Data Analysis and Reports
S
5576
5574
5572
•pH in ground water and stream water
•Specific conductance
•Ferrous iron
•Dissolved oxygen
0
5
5576
5571.8
55705570.9
10
15
MW-7/P-6
20
MW-8/P-7
25
30
35
40
MW-5/MW-6/P-1
50
45
P-9
MW-9/P-8
P-10
5570.65
5570.50
5570.22
5570.69
5568
S&G
5566
5570.46
5564
5570.5
5570.7
5570.67
5570.53
5570.07
5570.3
Silt with S and G
5570.18
5570.05
5570
Surface flow data from to determine discharge
using three different techniques
•Degree of dilution of tracer
•Concentration curve integration
•Channel velocity/Area measurements
The Final Group Report includes sections on:
N
55
Sandy silt
+ sand
5568
P-5
N
Monitoring Well
Piezometer
S-1
5569
P-4
B’
B
5570
A’ P-9
30 meters
*Dept. of Geological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO,
65211 (e-mail to bauerr@missouri.edu)
**Dept. of Earth Sciences, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244
*** Dept. of Geography, Northern Iowa University, Cedar Fall, IA 50614
The Project Area – is in the Red Canyon on the southeastern margin of
Red Canyon
Creek
Robert Bauer*, Donald Siegel**, Laura Lautz**, Dennis
Dahms***, Eric Sandvol*, James Luepke* and Len Payne*
S-2P-2
5571.5
5571
P-3
5572
S-4
Dam
A
DS+JM 6-28-02
30 meters
Surficial Geology - Describing the surficial terrace map units and how they
are related to the creek, (includes a map).
Surface water hydrology - Describing results of the stream data analysis,
including a determination of whether discharge increases or decreases down
the stream and whether the measurements agree. The students must
determine whether the stream loses or gains water based on their
streamflow measurements. The report includes plots of dye tracing results,
stream cross section, and calculations of discharge
Groundwater hydrology - Describing the water table, including a water
table map at Red Canyon Creek with flow lines, and a determination of
whether the stream is losing or gaining ground water. The report must
indicate whether the groundwater data agree with conclusions based on
streamflow measurements. The report includes calculations for hydraulic
conductivity, and a calculation of how much groundwater is moving per
year (in cubic feet/yr) to or from the creek along the creek stretch from the
dam to the first downstream bend.
Surficial Geochemistry – Including a determination of whether the
groundwater adjacent to Red Canyon Creek is anoxic or oxic, and an
evaluation of what major minerals are dissolving to create the kind of
waters in the stream and in the ground. The report includes Stiff diagrams
to demonstrate this point.
Seismic Refraction – Including a model for the subsurface along the seismic
profile
Each year’s work is conditioned on the results of the previous year; the
students are involved in new inquiry-based research every year.