SOIL ??? - Agricultural and Environmental Geophysics (special topics | next opportunity: Fall 2010)

Near-surface geophysics (also hydrogeophysics) uses physical principles to non-invasively study characteristics and properties of the earth for applications ranging from precision agriculture to hydrologic site assessment, archeology and environmental investigations. This course will give an introduction to state-of-the-art near-surface geophysical techniques, and aims to provide students with a solid foundation of the methodological and practical principles of geophysical surveys.
The shallow subsurface (first 5 meters) is an extremely critical zone that yields much of our resources, and supports our agriculture and ecosystems. The near-surface geophysics discipline has emerged in recent years, and has applied geophysical methods---historically tied to hydrocarbon and mineral exploration---to environmental problems providing quantitative information about subsurface hydro-physical parameters and processes. Of the numerous techniques, electromagnetic and electrical methods are most often used, and consequently, we will put much emphasis on ground penetrating radar (GPR), electromagnetic imaging (EMI), and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), and further provide fundamentals of shallow seismic, gravimetric and magnetic prospecting.

The course will consist of two parts. Lectures will provide a conceptual understanding of the theory and methods used in near-surface geophysics, and a field-based case study will apply these concepts using integrated geophysical data sets that will be processed and interpreted to introduce the student to practical procedures and challenges in near-surface geophysics.

SOIL 415 - Soil and Environmental Physics (alternate years | next opportunity: Fall 2011)

This course is an introduction to some of the most interesting properties and processes in soils explored through the eyes of physics. We will discover soils as a vessel constituting a diverse mix of solid particles, organic and inorganic matter, gases, and water. Understanding and characterizing these constituents, we will learn how water centrally frames fundamental interactions that shape environmental, hydrological and agricultural problems. We start with the principal descriptive properties whose measurements have for long occupied what is called soil-water physics. These properties, originally motivated by agricultural questions, are now the basis for environmental studies encompassing what is more broadly referred to as the vadose zone (i.e., above the ground water table), and tie soil-water physics with adjoining spheres. We will look at interactions of soil-water physical processes with some of the key trends and concerns relating to environmental change and sustainable development: plant-soil interactions, the transport and retention of water, as well as contaminants and greenhouse gases. We study all of this from a physical perspective (is there any other?), borrowing heavily from the applied physics's of related disciplines, and using styles of quantitative problem solving and analysis most broadly applicable in whatever your chosen field may be. Our progress will be by means of lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on laboratories, as well as analysis, calculation and scientific-writing assignments.

Come follow in the footsteps of Edgar Buckingham, Lorenzo Richards, Don Kirkham and John Philip, and study the physics of the soil!

::Syllabus 2009 [pdf]
::Schedule 2009 [pdf]