Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
B
TOOLS AND METHODS OF
HYDROGEOLOGY
Hydrogeology can be considered at any scale:
￿ at the regional scale, in the general search for understanding of the
regional groundwater distribution and available resources;
￿ at the local scale, to respond to a specifi c need for a new resource or
in the context of a development or civil engineering project;
￿ at the point scale, to resolve a specifi c problem or an unforeseen
diffi culty (construction site, drainage, strengthening an instability).
Hydrogeology can concern itself with all of the aquifers in a region,
whether they be totally independent or interconnected in a more or less
complex fashion. It can also be concerned only with certain well-defi nied
aquifer layers, deep, shallow, or very shallow (cover or slope aquifer).
The goal of a hydrogeologic study is to provide a good regional
understanding of the natural context, and to defi ne the limits of the
hydrogeologic structures and systems under consideration, then to precisely
examine the problem while synthesizing and critically examining the
various data collected, while still taking care to integrate them logically
into the natural context previously described.
The approach is therefore mainly progressive, and evolves in successive
phases, from the general to the specifi c. It aims to refi ne working hypotheses
and to select the most plausible ones as more information comes to light. It
can even, in certain cases, continue until the completion of the project and
benefi t from the fi nal verifi cations allowing for its total adaptation to real
conditions, revealed by the construction.
Whatever its degree of fi nality, the investigation is undertaken following
the same procedure, even if disparities or adaptations are necessary to take
into account the scale of the project, characteristics unique to its setting, and
the goals of the study. The methods to be used combine classical geologic
tools with entirely hydrogeologic investigations. The direction of research
is generally determined by the following succession of goals:
 
 
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