Near Surface Geophysics - Hydrogeophysics Laboratory

General Information:

Cutting edge geophysical imaging tools and petrophysical analysis facilities are available within the Department of Geology and Geophysics, both housed under the umbrella of the Near Surface Geophysics - Hydrogeophysics Lab. The Near Surface Geophysics Instrumentation Center (UWNSG), house in the Bill Nye Warehouse, is one of the nation’s most comprehensive field geophysical instrumentation collections. The Paul Heller Hydrogeophysical Material Properties Lab in the S.H. Knight Geology Building Room 11 contains instrumentation dedicated to developing material property transform relationships and performing experimental analyses. The Hydrogeophysics Lab is affiliated with UW EPSCoR WyCEHG.

Near Surface Geophysics - Hydrogeophysics Personnel:

Dr. Andy Parsekian: aparseki@uwyo.edu | Dr. Brad Carr: bcarr1@uwyo.edu

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Near Surface Geophysics Instrumentation Center (UWNSG):

The UWNSG is a UW Dept. of Geology and Geophysics cost center that consists of near-surface, exploration, hydrogeophysical and geotechnical surface geophysical equipment (surface, marine, and borehole) and data analysis processing software. In addition to a wide array of geophysical instrumentation and software, the UWNSG has capabilities for subsurface push sampling/coring/drilling/in situ property measurements and monitor well installation with a Geoprobe® 7822.

The UWNSG provides the following services:

* Rental of geophysical, coring, surveying and related equipment to both academic and private sector researchers.

* Training in the use of the geophysical instrumentation and software.

* Field operation of instrumentation by center staff.

* Temporary rental of software licenses for data analysis.

* Data acquisition and analysis services.

The UWNSG houses a broad array of near-surface/hydrogeophysical/exploration and geotechnical geophysical instrumentation. Geophysical equipment and software capabilities include:

* Seismic Refraction, Reflection, Surface Wave and Passive Source

* 240 channel capability (10 Geometrics Geodes), truck and manual impact sources, 4.5Hz/10Hz/40Hz geophones, 2 – 24 channel borehole/marine hydrophone arrays

* Ground Penetrating Radar

* 3 – systems (Mala ProEx, S&S Noggin) with 100MHz/250MHz/500MHz and 800MHz antennae

* DC Resistivity/Induced Polarization/Self-Potential

* 6 – systems with ~ 56 electrode capability, 60 Non-Polarizable electrodes, 2 – 56 electrode borehole/marine cables, 10 KW High

Power transmitter and 28 High Power Nodes, 3.2 Km deployment capability (AGI SuperSting R8/IP/SP and MPT DAS-1)

* Electromagnetics (shallow and deep)

* Surface loop EM system (WalkTEM), 2 – handheld soil conductivity meters (DualEM and GEM2)

* Magnetics

* Proton Precession Base Station (G856) and Cesium Vapor Gradiometer (G858)

* Magnetotellurics

* CSAMT - Geometrics StrataGEM

* Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

* Surface (GMR) and Borehole (Javelin & Dart)

* Gravity

* CG-5 microgravimeter

* Borehole Geophysical Logging (slimhole)

* Mount Sopris Matrix 500 m winch, Caliper, Optical Televiewer, Acoustic Televiewer, Natural Gamma, Fluid Temperature/ Fluid Conductivity, Spectral Gamma, Impeller Flowmeter, Heat Pulse Flowmeter, Electromagnetic, Magnetic Susceptibility, Full Waveform Sonic (3 receiver), Resistivity (normal 8”,16”, 32”, 64”)/Induced Polarization and Self-Potential, and Fluid Sampler.

* Direct Push Sampling/Rotary Coring/Hollow Stem Augering/HPT-EC Direct Imaging

* Geoprobe 7822DT (80 to 200 ft. depth capability depending on the method)

Support equipment is also available including: pickup trucks, Survey grade RTK GPS, tape measures, stadia rods, tents, trailers, etc. Equipment pictures, equipment availability, equipment reservations & checkout, equipment and software training schedules and equipment and software usage costs may be obtained by directly contacting Dr. Brad Carr: bcarr1@uwyo.edu or going to the following links.

http://www.uwyo.edu/epscor/wycehg/research-facilities/finse/finse-equipment.html

http://www.uwyo.edu/epscor/wycehg/research-facilities/finse/finse-software.html

http://www.uwyo.edu/epscor/wycehg/research-facilities/finse/finse-equipment-checkout.html

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Paul Heller Hydrogeophysical Material Properties Lab

Electrical resistivity: AGI Super Sting R8/IP/SP resistivity meter is available including an ASTM standard soil test box, or arbitrarily sized columns and sample holders. In conjunction with gravimetric water content measurements, this equipment may be used to calibrate Archie’s type petrophysical transformations to convert measured electrical resistivity to porosity and saturation. These instruments may also be used to conduct 1D, 2D, or 3D lab experiments on field or synthetic samples.

Lab-scale Ground Penetrating Radar: A Malå Geoscience (Malå, Sweden) GPR control unit with shielded, separable 1.3 GHz antennas is available for use on rectangular sample monoliths approximately 30cm in each dimension or smaller, depending on physical properties. The instrument measures travel time of a transmitted electromagnetic pulse that can be converted to velocity (and relative dielectric permittivity) when distance across the sample is known. In conjunction with gravimetric water content measurements or probe measurements of dielectric permittivity, this GPR instrument can be used to calibrate empirical or physical models for saturation and porosity. This instrument can also be used in the lab for 2D or 3D tomography experiments.

Nuclear magnetic resonance: A Vista Clara (Mukilteo, WA) Corona NMR rock core analyzer is present that can accept either individual samples, or cores (in pass-through mode) ranging from smaller than 5 cm up to a maximum of 10 cm. This instrument is housed in a Faraday cage (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage) that suppresses external radio frequency interference, therefore providing a quiet environment that ensures optimal measurements conditions. NMR is the only geophysical method that is directly sensitive to water; this laboratory instrument produces volumetric water content data as well as the transverse relaxation time that indicates pore geometry. Combining these two parameters, hydraulic conductivity may be estimated.
Ancillary measurements: Sample-processing equipment is also available including a drying oven, sample holders, sieves, and bench space. Fluid and bulk conductivity probes as well as dielectric probes are also available.