Revised F23 Module 5 Groundwater Lab
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Central State University *
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2200
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Geography
Date
Feb 20, 2024
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docx
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12
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Activity 5.1: Well Problem Purpose: Understanding how groundwater systems work is important for helping people figure out where to put their wells. Directions - Use the Activity 5.1 Well Problem Cross-Section & Map You own all of the land in the picture. You need to drill a well for water for your house. You do not want to take the water directly from the river because the river water is not as clean as the groundwater. 1. Examine the picture of the cross-section below. Label the following features: A. Unconfined aquifer(s) B. Confined aquifer(s) C. Confining layer(s) Remember, it costs about $9 per foot to drill a well. So, you don't want to have to spend too much money, but you also
want to make sure you have enough water for your house. 2. Decide where would be the best place to drill the well so that you will have water all year long. Draw in your well. Be sure to show how deep your well should go. 3. Justify your well location below. Why you chose to put it where you did? Why you drew it as deep as you did? _____________________________________________________________________________________________
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_____________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. If you decide to change your answer, draw in a second well in a different color
from the first well (do not erase your first well). Be sure to use a key to identify which well was your first well and which well was your second well. 5. Justify your change below. Explain why you changed your well location and why the new location is better. ______________________________________________________________________________________________
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Activity 5.1 Well Problem Cross-Section & Map 2
Activity 5.2: What Does It Look Like Under Lansing? Well Log Cross – Section (Pages 3-8)
Directions 1. Locate Well #1 on the Ingham Cross Section Sheet 2. Read Driller's Report for Well #1 3. Fill in the Well Log for Well #1 on the Ingham County Cross Section, using the information in the Driller's Report and the correct symbols from the key. 4. Mark the top of the water table with a small triangle 5. Repeat steps 1 - 3 for Wells #2 & #3. 6. Connect units across the wells. Be sure to fill in the units with the correct symbols from the key. Key: Symbol Sediment or Rock Type Relative Permeability Coarse Sand Permeable Fine Sand Permeable Gravel Very Permeable Sandstone Because the sand is cemented together as hard rock, this layer is less permeable than just sand, but it
is still more permeable than clay or shale Shale This is a very fine-grained rock. It is impermeable Limestone This rock has lots of cracks in it that hold water and is about as permeable as
sandstone Clay Impermeable 3
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7. On the Cross Section, Label the Sands and Gravels "Glacial Aquifer". Label the Grand River and Saginaw Sandstone "Saginaw Aquifer". Label the Bayport Limestone "Parma Bayport Aquifer". Label the Marshall Sandstone "Marshall Aquifer". Questions These questions refer to the cross section you just completed. 1. How many aquifers are under Lansing? ________ 2. List the unconfined aquifers. List the confined aquifers. Unconfined: ____________________________________________________ Confined:________________________________________________________ 3. How does the water get into the Glacial Aquifer? How does the water get into the Saginaw Aquifer? 4. How are the Grand River and the Red Cedar River connected to the groundwater system? 5. If you were drilling a well for your own house in the same location as Well #3, how deep would you go? Why? Remember, it costs about $9/foot to drill a well. 6. How have your ideas changed about what it looks like under Lansing? Activity 5.2 Driller's Records 4
Well #1 Formation Water Level 20 feet
Thickness
of Stratum Depth to
Bottom of
Stratum Glacial Coarse Sand (Glacial Aquifer) 50 ft 50 ft Glacial Fine Sand (Glacial Aquifer) 50 ft 100 ft Glacial Gravel (Glacial Aquifer) 200 ft 300 ft Grand River & Saginaw Sandstone (Saginaw Aquifer) 100 ft 400 ft Saginaw Confining Shale 50 ft 450 ft Bayport Limestone (Parma-
Bayport Aquifer) 100 ft 550 ft Michigan Confining Shale 50 ft 600 ft Marshall Sandstone (Marshall Aquifer) End 5
Well #2 Formation Water Level 15 feet
Thickness
of Stratum Depth to
Bottom of
Stratum Glacial Coarse Sand (Glacial Aquifer) 200 ft 200 ft Glacial Gravel (Glacial Aquifer) 200 ft 400 ft Grand River & Saginaw Sandstone(Saginaw Aquifer) 100 ft 500 ft Saginaw Confining Shale 50 ft 550 ft Bayport Limestone (Parma-
Bayport Aquifer) 150 ft 700 ft Michigan Confining Shale 50 ft 750 ft Marshall Sandstone (Marshall Aquifer) End 6
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Well #3 Formation Water Level 20 feet
Thickness
of Stratum Depth to
Bottom of
Stratum Glacial Coarse Sand (Glacial Aquifer) 50 ft 50 ft Glacial Clay (Glacial Aquifer) 50 ft 100 ft Glacial Gravel (Glacial Aquifer) 50 ft 150 ft Grand River & Saginaw Sandstone(Saginaw Aquifer 300 ft 450 ft Saginaw Confining Shale 50 ft 500 ft Bayport Limestone (Parma-
Bayport Aquifer) 100 ft 600 ft Michigan Confining Shale 50 ft 650 ft Marshall Sandstone (Marshall Aquifer) End 7
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Ingham County Cross Section
Activity 5.3: Follow the Water (Use the Activity 5.2 Cross Section from Page 8)
Purpose: Your cross-section is another type of model, built from data obtained from wells. You can use it to help understand how water travels through groundwater systems. This becomes important if you need to be able to predict where pollution might go underground. Directions 1. Imagine that you drop some colored dye into the water system. 2. Using a colored pencil, trace the pathway that some colored dye might take through the water system if it started at point Z. Consider run-off, permeable layers, aquifers, wells, and impermeable layers. 3. In the space below, explain the pathway that your colored dye took and why. _______________________________________________________________________________________________
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Activity 5.4: Surface Water or Groundwater? Which is Better? (Pages 10-11)
Purpose
: You have seen that Lansing gets its water from underground. However, not every town or city gets its water from groundwater. Why does Lansing get its water from groundwater and other cities take their water from lakes and rivers? Directions: 1. Read the following. 10
Lansing Lansing and the surrounding areas get their water supply from the groundwater. The Lansing Board of Water and Light has several large well fields with a total of 128 wells that pull water from the Saginaw Aquifer. The Saginaw aquifer is about 400 feet deep and is not in direct contact with the Earth’s surface. Lansing pumps nearly 20 million gallons of water from the Saginaw aquifer per day. The quality of the water in the Saginaw Aquifer is generally very good. However, the aquifer is vulnerable to contamination from activities on the surface. There is some pollution in the aquifer that resulted from spills of chemicals at the Motorwheel Plant in Lansing. The Lansing Board of Water and Light is using some of its wells to pull the contaminated water out of the ground and prevent it from moving towards the drinking water wells. So far, the Board of Water and Light has been able to keep the pollution from the Motorwheel Plant from affecting the drinking water. The water from the wells is pumped to a water conditioning plant where it is treated for drinking. The Board of Water and Light does not have to do much to the water to make it drinkable. It removes some of the naturally-
occuring minerals that make the water hard (hardness makes it difficult for soap to lather in the shower and leaves rings in sinks and spots on drinking glasses). Chlorine is added to disinfect the water and fluoride is added to protect
your teeth. Then the water is distributed through the city water system to homes and businesses. Grand Rapids The City of Grand Rapids and its surrounding suburbs get their drinking water from Lake Michigan. Lake Michigan is about 35 miles away from Grand Rapids. Using a system of transmission pipelines, the water is pumped to Grand Rapids. Grand Rapids has over 1200 miles of pipeline to bring the water from Lake Michigan and distribute
it to all of the people in the city. Water from Lake Michigan is treated in the Lake Michigan Filtration Plant. The water in Lake Michigan is some of the highest quality surface water in the world. However, it is still vulnerable to pollution from the cities on the lake and run-off from rivers. In the Lake Michigan Filtration Plant, the water is clarified, fluoridated, and chlorinated. During clarification, any floating solids in the water are removed. Fluoride is added to protect teeth, and chlorine is added to disinfect the water. Then the water is distributed through the city water system to homes and businesses. 2. Make a list of the pros (positive reasons) and cons (negative reasons) for using groundwater for drinking water supplies. Groundwater Pros Groundwater Cons Reason Reason 11
1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 3. Make a list of the pros (positive reasons) and cons (negative reasons) for using surface water for drinking water supplies. Surface Water Pros Surface Water Cons Reason Reason 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 4. Why do you think Lansing uses groundwater and Grand Rapids uses surface water for drinking water supplies? Be sure to give reasons for your answers. ______________________________________________________________________________________
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