A Method for Installing Piezometers in Large Cobble Bed Rivers |
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| Authors: | David R Geist Mark C Joy David R Lee Tom Gonser |
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| Institution: | David R. Geist; received a B.S. and an M.S. in biology from Eastern Washington University, and is presently completing a Ph.D. in fisheries from Oregon State University. His Ph.D. research investigates the relationship between fall chinook salmon spawning and ground water-surface water interactions in the hyporheic zone. He is a senior research scientist in the Ecology Group at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (P.O. Box 999, MS K6-85, Richland, WA, 99352, e-mail: dr_geist@pnt.gov). Mark C. Joy; received a B.S. in chemistry and environmental science from Ferrum College in 1994, and is presently completing an M.S. in biology from Tennessee Technological University. He is a research assistant at the Center for the Management, Utilization and Protection of Water Resources, TTU (P.O. Box 5063 Pennebaker Hall, Cookeville, TN, 38505, e-mail: mjoy@multipro.com). David R. Lee; received a B.S. and an M.S. from the University of North Dakota, and a Ph.D. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He is a hydrologist with the Chalk River Laboratories (Environmental Research Branch, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., Stn. 51 A, Chalk River, Ontario, KOJ1JO, e-mail: leed@aed.ca), and an adjunct professor with the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Waterloo. Tom Gonser; received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Freiburg in Germany. His Ph.D. research was on the biology of mayflies (Ephemeroptera) from southern Chile. He is now a senior scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (CH-6047 Kastanienbaum, Switzerland, e-mail: gonser@eawag.ch). |
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| Abstract: | An impact drive point method is described for emplacing piezometers in a cobble river bottom where this has previously been difficult without the use of drilling rigs. To force the drive point piezometers through coble, the vibrational impact of an air-powered hammer was carried directly to the drive point by the use of an internal drive rod. After insertion to depth, the drive rod was removed from the lower portion of the piezometer and a standpipe was added to extend the piezometer above the river level. Piezometers installed in this way have permitted water quality analysis and dynamic measurement of vertical potentials in cobble sediments ranging in size from 2.5 to >30 cm and the method has been successfully used in the Columbia River, USA, and Töss River, Switzerland. This innovative method provides information on the hydrodynamics of pore water in highly permeable, cobble deposits that are common in high-energy river and lake bottoms. Piezometers installed using the internal drive rod method facilitate the assessment of the temporal and spatial dynamics of recharge and discharge at the ground water/surface water interface and analyses of the ecological connectivity between the hyporheic zone and surface water of rivers and streams. This information will lead to improved management decisions related to our nation's ground water and surface water supplies. |
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