Subsurface Hydrology
Earth Systems Science Major and Environmental Systems Graduate Program
ESS 112/ES 212 Subsurface Hydrology
Teamrat Ghezzehei
SE2 RM 374, Email: taghezzehei@ucmerced.edu
OFFICE HOUR: THURSDAY 1:00-2:00 (OR by appointment)
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Class format |
This course will include a combination of traditional lectures, problem-solving, and computational workshops. Attendance is important and you will be responsible for all aspects of the class meetings. |
Course Description |
Hydrologic and geologic factors controlling the occurrence and use of groundwater on regional and local scales. Physical, mathematical, geologic and engineering concepts fundamental to subsurface hydrologic processes. Introduction to ground-water flow and transport modeling, with emphasis on model construction and simulation. |
Course Goals |
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Learning Outcomes |
At the end of the course, students should be: [Graduate student-specific in brackets]
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Homework |
Approximately 6 homeworks—including traditional problems sets, computer modeling exercises, and written responses--will be given on approximately a weekly-to-biweekly basis and will be due on the date indicated on the assignment sheet. Late assignments will be downgraded 10% per day. Once the homework solution has been posted, then maximum available homework grade is 50%. It is important that you complete your homework assignments in a neat and orderly fashion. Your homework grade will be the percentage of problems attempted with reasonable effort and handed in on time, and on the presentation of the work. |
Exams |
There will be two midterm exam (1.5 hours). These exams will be closed book except for a summary sheet (8.5x11, both sides). A term project (see below) will take the place of a final examination. |
Student Projects |
At roughly the midpoint of the course, we will begin to work on term projects. All students are required to complete an independent project that involves solving a practical or research problem in subsurface hydrology. The project typically involves use of a computer model. ESS 112: Undergraduate students are expected to choose a topic from assigned list of problems and prepare a short plan of action. The plan (1-page, single-spaced and including 1 graph/image) is due in class on or before Thursday March 10. The final project report must be a professional-looking document, 10 single-spaced pages (including references at the end and embedded figures througout) document and should include introduction (what is it about and why do it?), explanation of the methods and data used (which ones? why these methods?), presentation of results and discussion (what did you find why is it significant?). Properly organized data files and computer model inputs and outputs must be submitted as electronic supplements to the report. ES 212: Graduate students can choose a topic that is related to their graduate thesis project. Students are required to write a project proposal describing a research hypothesis or problem they want to solve and their approach to doing so. The proposal should 3 single-spaced, including one figure and a maximum of 5 references. Students are encouraged, but not required, to include preliminary information such as data or preliminary modeling run. The proposal is due on Thursday March 10. The final report of the project must be written in the form of a journal article (15 single-spaced pages) including figures but not including references (no limit on the number of references). Properly organized data files and computer model inputs and outputs must be submitted as electronic supplements to the report. |
Grades |
Course grades will be weighted as follows: Problem sets 20%; Mid-term exams (2) 30%; Final project presentation 10%; Final project report 40%. |
Academic Honesty |
Academic integrity is the foundation of an academic community and without it none of the educational or research goals of the university can be achieved. All members of the university community are responsible for its academic integrity. Existing policies forbid cheating on examinations, plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty.
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