MGWA Fall 2012 Conference
and the 57th Midwest Ground Water Conference
Groundwater Opportunities and Conflicts in the 21st Century: Economy to Ecology
October 1-2, 2012, 8am - 4:30pm
October 3, 2012 Field Trip
Earle Brown Conference Center, Brooklyn Center, MN
Conference Program
Field Trip Guidebook
Field Trip
Groundwater in an Urban Setting: A Hydrogeologic and Historical Tour of the Twin Cities
- St. Anthony Falls, Downtown Minneapolis and the
University of Minnesota’s world-renowned hydraulic research facility
situated on the only natural waterfall on the Mississippi River and
located at the center of the area’s earliest industrial development;
introduction to the bedrock geology and hydrogeology of the Twin Cities
Metropolitan Area;
- University of Minnesota Underground Library Archives, constructed
by excavation of the soft St. Peter Sandstone underneath a Platteville
Limestone cap, design of the site was impacted by groundwater
contamination within the Platteville. A horizontal containment well
within the Platteville has been added upgradient of the site.
- White Bear Lake, a major Twin Cities Area
recreational lake which recently has been intensely studied for the
effects of climate and increased municipal pumping on lake levels Lunch
will accompany a lakeside presentation and discussion;
- Afton multiport well installation near Afton
investigating the conduit and confining characteristics of the St.
Lawrence Formation the world’s first designated aquitardifer;
- Breccia pipes of Woodbury, a city with no natural
regional surface drainage, showing the effects of hypogenic karst on the
large-scale management of stormwater;
- Camp Coldwater Spring, near Minnehaha Falls and
historic Fort Snelling, to discuss changes in groundwater flow in an
urban setting from pre-development times until the present.
- Drive-by discussions about regional-scale contaminant plumes
— the largest areas of groundwater contamination in the Twin Cities
metropolitan area, originating from the Twin Cities Army Ammunition
Plant in Arden Hills, and perfluorochemical (PFC) disposal sites in
Washington County.
University of Minnesota Underground Library Archives
- White Bear Lake groundwater study
Minnesota DNR groundwater level monitoring well at White Bear Lake
Well construction cuttings showing aquifer materials
Dancing Waters stormwater retention pond
Camp Coldwater Spring