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Hurricane Ivan Helps Virginia Tech Student Study Sinkholes

Date:
November 12, 2004
Source:
Virginia Tech
Summary:
A Virginia Tech graduate student put a car battery and Hurricane Ivan to good use in his studies of sinkholes.
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Blacksburg, Va., November 2, 2004 -- A Virginia Tech graduate student put a car battery and Hurricane Ivan to good use in his studies of sinkholes.

Benjamin Schwartz, of Doe Hill, Va., Highland County, a Ph.D. student in geosciences in the College of Science, is using an innovative technique to characterize ground water movement in sinkholes. His goal is to recommend management strategies to reduce contamination of aquifers in regions that are rife with sinkholes. Hurricane Ivan's downpour in Southwest Virginia allowed him to measure changes in underground water during a short four-day period.

Schwartz will present his findings at the 116th national meeting of the Geological Society of America in Denver on Nov. 7 through 10.

Sinkholes generally form over limestone and dolomite. That rock dissolves and the earth on the surface subsides. Water from the sinkhole either seeps into the subsurface or runs in through a fissure or cave opening and rapidly enters the aquifer.

"People up and down the Shenandoah Valley get their water from aquifers," Schwartz said. "Often, these aquifers are contaminated. Sources of contamination include runoff from paved surfaces or because a good portion of Virginia's agricultural land is on karst terrain. There is little filtration between surface water and karst aquifers."

Karst is a term used for a landscape where water movement is underground because of the voids in the bedrock.

Schwartz is using six sinkholes on Virginia Tech's Kentland Farm along the New River in Montgomery County to measure how water and contaminants move within a sinkhole, that is, the hydrology and chemical transport in a sinkhole. He is looking at depth to bedrock (soil thickness), slope within the sinkhole, drainage area, and land use – such as wood land, crop land, or pasture ("Cattle love to stand in sinkholes.") to determine if such sinkhole characteristics indicate what is happening underground.

He is using a geophysical technique called electrical resistivity. Current is passed through the soil using a car battery attached to two electrodes embedded in the soil. By using an array of 25 embedded electrodes, and by changing the locations of the current electrodes, voltages can then be measured at different electrodes in the array. Nearly 200 measurements are taken using a single array. "If you know the voltage and current, you can calculate the resistance," Schwartz said.

Different degrees of electrical resistance allow him to identify water, rock, soil and voids to a depth of about 15 meters and create a model of the subsurface. Schwartz also may be able to determine the water's chemistry by the changes in electrical resistance measured in an aquifer. He explains that sitting or pooled water becomes saturated with minerals while fresh rainwater has a low dissolved mineral content. Fresh water conducts electricity poorly compared to water loaded with minerals.

Depressions in the bedrock surface also can store contaminants. When rain and runoff pour water through caverns and fissures, the contaminants are flushed out of the depressions and into the aquifer.

Schwartz took advantage of Hurricane Ivan to measure a rapid change in water movement under a sinkhole. "I went out before the hurricane and ran two transects (measurements from lines of electrodes) as a control. I left the electrodes in place then made four measurements as the storm moved through and afterward." He said he only actually got rained on once.

The resulting two-dimensional computer model showed the changes in water movement. "I saw that water was not sinking evenly or being taken up like a sponge, but that there are preferential flow paths."

Next, he will create a 3-D model by placing the electrodes in a grid, which will allow him to add the direction of water movement to his model. He combines the electrical resistivity measurements with a topographic map of the surface to create a 3-D model of the bedrock and land surfaces. But he won't have to wait for another hurricane. "If a rain event is predicted, I can take base line measurements then monitor the site. But another 3- to 4-inch rainfall would be nice."

Soon, to confirm his interpretations from this new use of electrical resistivity, Schwartz will drill a series of wells.

Schwartz will present the paper, "Hydrologic characterization of sinkholes in agricultural settings," at 2:15 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 7, in room 205 of the Colorado Convention Center. Co-authors are Madeline Schreiber, assistant professor of geosciences at Virginia Tech, and William Orndorff of the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage, Karst Project.

Orndorff earned his master's degree in geosciences from Virginia Tech. Schwartz earned his bachelor's degree in geology from Radford University. He is just beginning his Ph.D. program.

Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech has grown to become among the largest universities in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Today, Virginia Tech's eight colleges are dedicated to putting knowledge to work through teaching, research, and outreach activities and to fulfilling its vision to be among the top research universities in the nation. At its 2,600-acre main campus located in Blacksburg and other campus centers in Northern Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia Tech enrolls more than 28,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 180 academic degree programs.


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Materials provided by Virginia Tech. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Cite This Page:

Virginia Tech. "Hurricane Ivan Helps Virginia Tech Student Study Sinkholes." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 12 November 2004. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/11/041104010101.htm>.
Virginia Tech. (2004, November 12). Hurricane Ivan Helps Virginia Tech Student Study Sinkholes. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/11/041104010101.htm
Virginia Tech. "Hurricane Ivan Helps Virginia Tech Student Study Sinkholes." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/11/041104010101.htm (accessed March 28, 2024).

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