PROGRAM 

This program is designed to provide M.S. and Ph.D. students with the technical knowledge required for evaluating and managing hydrogeologic problems and environmentally related processes. 

RESEARCH

The program focuses on the qualitative and quantitative assessment of surface and ground water resources and their vulnerability to pollution, aqueous and organic geochemistry, coastal and riparian processes, and climatic change.

The program is supported by seven specialized labs for research in hydrogeology, hydrology, hydrochemistry, soil mechanics,rock mechanics, geophysics, and computer applications.  Field equipment includes truck- and trailer- mounted drilling rigs, equipment for well logging and hydraulic tests, seismic refraction/reflection, gravimetry, magnetometry, electrical resistivity, VLF electromagnetics, flow meters, and automated sampling equipment.  Other facilities include labs for plasma spectrometry, liquid ion chromatography, AA spectrophotometry, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction.  Additional support is available through the associated Water Resources Research Institute and allied faculty in the Geography, Biology, Chemistry, and Mathematics Departments.

COURSES

Introductory Hydrogeology, Advanced Hydrogeology, Modeling in Hydrogeology, Contaminant Hydrogeology, Surface-water Hydrology, Environmental, Geochemistry , Hydrogeochemistry, Paleolimnology, Computer Simulation in Geology, Introduction to Soil Mechanics, Advanced Engineering Geology, Slope Stability, Stable Isotope, Geochemistry, Riparian Processes, Coastal Processes, Sedimentology, Clay Mineralogy, Instrumental Methods

FACULTY involved in Water Resources studies include: 

ERNEST H. CARLSON, Ph.D., McGill University, 1966. Exploration Geochemistry; Trace-Element Dispersion in Ground Water, Soils, and Stream Sediments. 
YORAM ECKSTEIN, Ph.D., Hebrew University, 1977. Hydrogeology and Ground Water Resources; Modeling Ground Water Flow; Solute Transport; Aquifer Contamination Studies.
JOSEPH D. ORTIZ, Ph.D., Oregon State University, 1995. Stable isotope geochemistry, stratigraphy, sedimentology, climatic change.
DONALD F. PALMER, Ph.D., Princeton University, 1968.  Geophysical Methods in Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology. 
ABDUL SHAKOOR, Ph.D., Purdue University, 1982.  Landfill Studies; Waste Disposal Problems; Engineering Geology; Geotechnical Site Characterization; Landslide and Subsidence Studies. 
ALISON J. SMITH, Ph.D., Brown University, 1991.  Limnology, Paleolimnology, Lacustrine-Ground water Interactions; Lacustrine Ostracodes as environmental and climatic indicators. 
NEIL A. WELLS, Ph.D.,  University of Michigan, 1984.  Geomorphology, Clastic Sedimentology, Sedimentary Environments, . 
DONNA L. WITTER, Ph.D. Oregon State University, 1995. Physical Oceanography, Remote Sensing, Ocean-Atmosphere Interactions