EARTH 439Flow and Transport Through Fractured Rocks

Fractures are ubiquitous in geologic media and important in disciplines such as physical and contaminant hydrogeology, geotechnical engineering, civil and environmental engineering, and petroleum engineering among other areas. Despite the importance of fractures, its characterization and predictions of groundwater flow and contaminant transport are fraught with significant difficulties. Students are taught to deal with fractures in hydrogeology, to conceptualize them, and to build reliable models for predicting groundwater flow and contaminant transport.