Groundwater Science

Meet the Author

Charles R. Fitts is a professor emeritus at the University of Southern Maine. He has a doctorate in Civil Engineering from the University of Minnesota and is the author of groundwater modeling software including TWODAN, SOLUTRANS, and ANAQSIM (analytic aquifer simulator).

Chapter 3

• Video animation showing the geometry of the fresh water lens under the outer part of Cape Cod:

  pamet_cross_section.avi opens in new tab/window

  (courtesy of Dr. Charlie McLane, McLane Environmental, LLC)

• Video of a numerical model of a cross section through the coastal dune aquifer near Amsterdam, Netherlands. The simulation shows transient variable density flow and the fresh/salt interface responding to pumping of shallow wells:

  AmsterdamDunes.avi opens in new tab/window

  (courtesy of Dr. Theo Olsthoorn, Delft University of Technology). From the presentation: Olsthoorn, T.N. (2010) Upconing and related downstream long-term salinization and head phenomena in the Amsterdam Water Supply dunes. Proceedings of SWIM21, 21st Salt Water Intrusion Meeting. (Azores, Portugal, June 21-26 2010. p199.)

Chapter 4

• Split spoon sampling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo64QIE4hr4 opens in new tab/window

• Mud rotary drilling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ6J1FHwhlU opens in new tab/window

• Jetting a hole, installing a shallow well point in sand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIhaPlEjTP8 opens in new tab/window

• Air rotary drilling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPV3_PXvQnc opens in new tab/window

• Direct-push probe advancing casing through sand with percussion hammer:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zhHAyFMWss opens in new tab/window

• Thin-walled tube (Shelby tube) sampling:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HWi6iZKciU opens in new tab/window

• Hollow-stem auger drilling, then remove plug bit, then drive a split-spoon sample (standard penetration test, SPT):

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fml7LWA809U opens in new tab/window

• Animation of seismic refraction:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_q5RuDCe1A opens in new tab/window

• Ranney horizontal collector well:

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llmQtRO8jRc opens in new tab/window

• Video inside a wound stainless well screen:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4-rMJkax7Y opens in new tab/window

• Video inside a stamped louvered steel well screen of a producing gas well. Shows gas seeping into well:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PDw_VnJCm8 opens in new tab/window

• Borehole video that spirals up or down the hole showing borehole walls. About 1 min in, it shows a fracture in the fine-grained sedimentary rock, and flow from the borehole into the fracture carrying fine sediment:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9k-rAeFHi0 opens in new tab/window

Chapter 5

• Iceland basalt springs:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMvPaGWB1Ns opens in new tab/window

• Periodic spring near Afton, WY:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWrH70LMpqw opens in new tab/window

• Springs causing boiling, soft, fine sand in a creek bed, Wisconsin:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEXi-nDuy58 opens in new tab/window

• Video from one spot one a stream at low flow (baseflow) conditions and during storm runoff:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQWEa_fbU54 opens in new tab/window

• Permafrost exposed in a time-lapse film of coastal erosion in Northern Alaska. Coastal erosion is now widespread with less ice cover and rising sea level:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14Zk4YeEB4Y opens in new tab/window

Chapter 6

• AnAqSimEDU software (analytic aquifer simulator, educational version), available at this URL:

  http://www.fittsgeosolutions.com/groundwater-science-textbook/ opens in new tab/window

• AnAqSimEDU model input files for models discussed in this chapter:

  • Uniform recharge with circular boundary condition:

    UniRechargeCircle.anaq opens in new tab/window

  • Uniform recharge with ellipse boundary condition:

    UniRechargeEllipse.anaq opens in new tab/window

  • Uniform recharge with polygon boundary condition:

    UniRechargePolygon.anaq opens in new tab/window

  • Uniform recharge with ellipse boundary condition, example 7.3:

    UniRechargeEllipseExample.anaq opens in new tab/window

  • Capture zone with a well in uniform flow, as in Fig 7.12:

    CaptureZone.anaq opens in new tab/window

  • Three wells plus image wells for a linear constant head boundary, as in Fig 7.18:

    MultiImage.anaq opens in new tab/window

  • Three wells plus image wells for a circular constant head boundary, as in Fig 7.23:

    MultiImageCircle.anaq opens in new tab/window

  • Isotropic flow net as shown in Figure 7.27:

    DamFlowNet.anaq opens in new tab/window

  • Anisotropic flow net as shown in Figure 7.30:

    DamFlowNetAniso.anaq opens in new tab/window

Chapter 7

• Liquefaction, cracking and jetting of water from deeper liquefied layers, during March 2011 Japan Earthquake:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn3oAvmZY8k opens in new tab/window

• Landslides, including ones caused by increased pore water pressure as reservoirs fill (Three Gorges, Grand Coolee):

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrV4uCVwmfk opens in new tab/window

• Slope failure in sensitive clay right at the coast in Port Chibatao, Brazil 2010. Started by excavation at toe of slope:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv2_kItRG-E opens in new tab/window

• The rapid intentional drawdown of the reservoir behind Condit dam after explosives open a hole through the dam. Rapid drop in the water level in the reservoir started many landslides in saturated weak muds, which retained high pore pressures, but lost pressure of reservoir water on the toe of slopes (segment begins about 1.5 minutes into the video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4LxMHmw3Z-U opens in new tab/window

Chapter 8

• Spreadsheets for analyzing slug tests and pumping tests:

  http://www.fittsgeosolutions.com/groundwaterscience.html opens in new tab/window

Chapter 9

• AnAqSimEDU software (analytic aquifer simulator, educational version), available at this URL:

  http://www.fittsgeosolutions.com/groundwater-science-textbook/ opens in new tab/window

• Animations and visualizations of several 3D groundwater models, showing capture zones, velocities, pathlines in heterogeneous aquifers, and fresh/salt interface migration:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ9oebKD1yE opens in new tab/window

• Walter and Leblanc (2007) USGS report on the finite difference flow models discussed in section 9.2.3 : WalterLeBlanc_USGSsir2007-5257.pdf opens in new tab/window

• Problem 11 USGS Report on MODFLOW evapotranspiration module: USGS-OFR-00-466.pdf opens in new tab/window

Chapter 11

• Video of simulation of advection and dispersion through a heterogeneous media. Figure 11.35 is a still shot of the end of this simulation:

  DispersionHighRes_Igor.avi opens in new tab/window

  (courtesy of Dr. Igor Jankovic, University at Buffalo). The simulation is described in this paper: Jankovic, I., A.Fiori, and G. Dagan. 2003. Flow and transport in highly heterogeneous formations: 3. Numerical simulations and comparison with theoretical results. Water Resources Research, 39(9), 1270, doi:10.1029/2002WR001721.

• Time-lapse video of solute transport tank experiment in sand with clay lenses and diffusion-limited transport (discussed in section 11.7.1):

  back_diffusion.wmv opens in new tab/window

  (courtesy of Dr. Tom Sale and Lee Ann Donor, Colorado State University).

Chapter 12

• Spreadsheets for analyzing one-dimensional heat flow in groundwater, available at this URL:

  http://www.fittsgeosolutions.com/groundwater-science-textbook/ opens in new tab/window

• Grand geyser erupting, Yellowstone National Park:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7fR-hqcw2w opens in new tab/window

• Old Faithful geyser erupting, Yellowstone National Park:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyyH_15PabA opens in new tab/window

• Strokkur Geysir, Iceland erupting:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6SQX_7qTEU opens in new tab/window

• Sea floor hydrothermal vents:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFHtVRKoaUM opens in new tab/window

• Color map of showing the current and future planned geothermal electric generating capacities in the US:

  map_geothermal_capacity.jpg opens in new tab/window

  (National Renewable Energy Lab, 2009)

• Color map showing the locations of identified natural hydrothermal sites and the distribution of favorable conditions for future EGS development:

  geothermal_resource2009-final.jpg opens in new tab/window

  (National Renewable Energy Lab, 2010)