oa Mapping Hydrogeologic Properties Using Ground Penetrating Radar

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) images provide information about the location, scale<br>and geometry of subsurface heterogeneities. With well control or geologic intuition, this<br>information can be used by hydrogeologists to fix the location of boundaries in fluid flow<br>and contaminant transport models. While the location of boundaries is important, the<br>hydrogeologist also requires estimates of the physical properties within the boundaries, for<br>instance the hydraulic conductivity and porosity of different stratigraphic units. In essence,<br>what the hydrogeologist really wants are the input parameters to his or her model. If the<br>model is deterministic, these inputs are a discretized map of hydrogeologic properties. If<br>the model is stochastic, these inputs are geostatistical parameters such as the correlation<br>length, distribution, mean, variance and trend of hydrogeologic properties. With our goal<br>being to help the hydrogeologist, we are investigating the capabilities of GPR to map<br>hydrogeologic properties and characterize the heterogeneity of shallow aquifers.