HR: 1135h
AN: H22A-01    [Abstracts]
TI: Langbein Lecture: Benchmarks in Hydrogeology in the 20th Century—Unexpected Payoffs
AU: * Anderson, M P
EM: andy@geology.wisc.edu
AF: University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1215 West Dayton Street, Madison, WI 53726, United States
AB: The theory of groundwater flow was largely developed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, starting with the fundamental contribution by Darcy (1856) and continuing with work by Dupuit (1863), Forchheimer (1886), Theim (1870), Slichter (1899), Meinzer (1928), Theis (1935), Jacob (1940), Hubbert (1940), and others. A significant advance during the 20th century was development of the theory for transient analysis of groundwater flow including a quantitative description of the process governing release of groundwater from storage. Other contributions in the 20th century included regional flow system analysis, development of techniques for parameter estimation (e.g., pumping tests and inverse modeling), insights into the processes of groundwater discharge to lakes, rivers (e.g., the hyporheic zone), and the ocean (e.g., submarine groundwater discharge or SGD), and insights into processes related to solute transport (dispersion, chemical reactions). The study of benchmark papers shows that occasionally there is a truly new and original idea that emerges well formed in a single paper. More often, however, the appearance of a benchmark paper is preceded by a series of papers in which successive researchers build upon previous work. Eventually someone puts it all together, adds the keystone, and publishes a breakthrough (benchmark) paper. Sometimes the published work has unexpected payoffs. In this lecture, I will focus on three benchmark papers published during the 20th century, each of which found application beyond their intended purpose. (1) Barenblatt, Zheltov and Kochina (1960) introduced the concept and mathematics of the dual porosity medium for application to fractured rock. While the method is still used to quantify flow through fractured rock, the dual porosity approach has also found application in quantifying contaminant transport in heterogeneous mixtures of sand and silt/clay. (2) Stallman (1965) presented an analytical solution to the one-dimensional, transient heat flow equation and showed how it could be used to estimate groundwater velocity. Over 20 years later, Stallman's methodology was used to characterize groundwater interaction with streams. (3) The method of slug test analysis introduced by Cooper, Bredehoeft and Papadopulos (1967) was intended to estimate aquifer parameters in traditional problems in well hydraulics. The method is now widely used in site characterization in contaminant investigations where it is used to estimate site scale spatial variations in heterogeneity.
DE: 1719 Hydrology
DE: 1829 Groundwater hydrology
DE: 1830 Groundwater/surface water interaction
DE: 1847 Modeling
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting