PRINCIPLES OF HYDROGEOLOGY (ESCI 337)
Laboratory Explorations on Water Flow
Dr. Laura Sanders
GENERAL GUIDELINES
Discover and articulate the general principles that describe the movement of
water and the factors that affect its movement.
Quantify where you can.
Draw diagrams or make graphs to illustrate important points. (Graphs need not
have precise measurements or scales—just show general trends.)
Use your imagination and creativity! Can you alter the exploration a little to
discover something new?
If you decide you want to use other materials, or you have an idea for improving
the experiment, please ask, as we have a whole lab at our disposal.
Clean up after you finish so that the next group will be able to work.
Be prepared to present your results.
Have fun!
BUCKET-TO-BUCKET TRANSFER
YOUR JOB: Find a way to transfer water from a higher bucket to a lower bucket.
Some questions: What causes the water to move? How fast does it move, and is
there a way to make it move faster or slower? How much faster, or how much
slower? Quantify it!
THE RULES:
1) Don’t pour the water.
2) Don’t put a hole in either bucket.
DRAINING WORK
YOUR JOB: Start with dry sediment, and saturate it. (Don’t let the water pond on
the top.) Now, find a way to drain the water from the sediment. How much water
drains, compared to how much you added? How much water drains, compared to
how much sediment you started with? (A hint: measure the amount of sediment
before you start, rather than after.) Would you get the same results for any kind of
sediment? Quantify it!
THE RULES: Please don’t mix wet sediment with dry sediment. Put wet sediment
in a separate container. Also, please don’t mix different sizes of sediments.
