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1999 UZIG Meeting at the USGS Menlo Park Offices, January 13-15, 1999

A record number of people (69!) attended the 1999 Unsaturated Zone Interest Group (UZIG) Meeting at the USGS Western Regional Center, Building 3, in Menlo Park, CA. Attendees, who included personnel from Water Resources and Geologic Divisions of the USGS as well as USDA-ARS, DOE, Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL), Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL), Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL), the USDA Salinity Lab (USSL), and the Army Cold Regions Reseach Lab (CRREL) were treated to two days of enlightening seminars and lively discussion on January 13 and 14. A half-day field trip to the Santa Clara Valley Water District recharge ponds took place on January 15. Welcoming addresses were presented by Andrea Alpine, Acting Regional Director, USGS, WR; Peter Anttila, Assistant Regional Hydrologist, USGS-WRD, WR; and Steve Ingebritsen, Chief, Branch of Regional Research, USGS-WRD, WR. Scientific presentations were organized into six sessions. Session I addressed investigations near waste disposal sites and included talks by Lorrie Flint, Alan Flint, Dave Hudson, Dave Stonestrom, and John Nimmo. Phil Meyer of PNNL gave a talk on estimating uncertainty when site-specific data is limited. Session II dealt with hydraulic and transport properties. Rien van Genuchten of USSL made a presentation on hydraulic property characterization and estimation in support of predictive flow/transport modeling. Presentations were also made by Steve Grant of CRREL and Brian Andraski. Session III consisted of tours of USGS Menlo Park labs, poster presentations, and demonstrations of computer software. Session IV was devoted to talks on aquifer recharge. John Risley and Joe Hevesi both made presentations on the use of watershed models to estimate recharge in large basins. Al Rutledge talked about computerized hydrograph separation. Mike Fayer of PNNL and John Izbicki made presentations on studies in arid regions, and Art Baehr discussed work in southern New Jersey. In Session V Ken Hollett discussed recent activities of the USGS Office of Ground Water, and Bill Isherwood of LLNL described DOE's recent Vadose Zone Science Effort. The final session of talks, on liquid, gas, and chemical fluxes in the unsaturated zone, included presentations by Boris Faybishenko of LBNL, Dave Stannard, Hubert Morel-Seytoux, John Rogie, and Mark Reid. The group dinner on Thursday evening at the Su Hong restaurant provided an opportunity to relax and continue discussions. For the next nationwide UZIG meeting, it was agreed to shoot for the fall of 2000 as a target date. Albuquerque is a possible location. Thanks go to John Nimmo, Kim Perkins, Angus Lewis, and crew for efforts in organizing and running the highly successful meeting Thanks also to Peter Martin for arranging the field trip.

Presentations at the 1999 UZIG Meeting

Session I: UZ investigations and monitoring at or near waste disposal sites

          Analytical and numberical calculations of lateral diversion in the PTn 
		at Yucca Mountain.
              By Lorrie Flint

          Monitoring seepage into a mined opening below an unsaturated infiltrtion 
		experiment.
              By David Hudson.

          Calibration and application of heat dissipation sensors for monitoring 
		matric potential in soil and rock.
              By Alan Flint.

          The amargosa desert researh site (ADRS): an integrated sciences approach 
		to understanding hydrology and radionuclide midration in an arid 
		environment.
              By Dave Stonestrom.

          Evaluating risk assessments for waste buried in a geologically complex 
		unsaturated zone.
              By John Nimmo.

          Estimating uncertainty when site-specific data is limited.
              By Phil Meyer.
Session II: Hydraulic and other tranpsort properties

          Hydraulic property characterization and estimation in support of predictive 
		flow/transport modeling.
              By R. van Genuchten

          Effect of temperature on capillary-pressure saturation relations, extension 
		ot non-wetting phases other than air, to wider temperature ranges, and to 
		lower degrees of saturation.
              By Steve Grant

          Testing a full-range soil-water retention function in hydrologic modeling of 
		an arid site.
              By Brian Andraski

Session III: 2 Lab tours, computer modeling demonstration, and posters

          Infiltration and drainage project lab: cryodistillation apparatus and other 
		equipment for environmental tracer studies; slicing column apparatus; 
		two-pahse permeameter.
              By Dave Stonestrom

          Unsaturated zone flow project lab: centrifuge methods for unsaturated 
		hydraulic property measurements; laser scattering optical particle 
		size analyzer; water retention measurement by various methods.
              By John Nimmo

          Computer demonstration: Development of a visual interface for simulation 
		models (GUI for VS2DT).
              By Rick Healy

	POSTERS:

	Long-term monitoring of soil moisture using selected probes
		By Geoff Delin

	Modeling interception loss from a conifer forest on the Kitsayp Peninsula
		By Bill Bidlake

	Recharge fluxes through the vadose zone: point estimates interpreted from 
	centrifuge hydraulic property measurements of core samples from an ephemeral 
	stream channel, Middle Rio Grande Basin, New Mexico.
		By Angus Lewis

	The effect of small-scale structure on the moisture-retention curves of 
	sediments from two ephemeral washes, Upper Mojave River Basin, CA
		By Kari Winfield

	Seasonal cycles of CO2 in a soil sequence
		By Jorie Schulz

	Comparison of saturated hydraulic conductivities obtained by laboratory, field, 
	and optimization techniques and their effect on model results for an undisturbed 
	soil at an Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory test trench 
	area.
		By Michelle Denton

	Using streambe-temperature profile and computer model animation to estimate 
	streambed infiltration.
		By Rich Niswonger

	Drilling techniques for coring deep, unsaturated zone, unconsolidated 
	sediments in the Snake River Plain.
		By Joe Rousseau

	Ground-water risk assessment - Cyprus Mine tailings impoundment.
		By Mike Friedel
		
Session IV: Aquifer recharge

          Using the precipitation-runoff modeling system (PRMS) for estimating 
		ground-water recharge in the Willamette River Basin, Oregon.
              By John Risley

          Computerized hydrograph separation for estimating recharge.
              By Al Rutledge

          Estimating regional recharge using GIS and watershed models.
              By Joe Hevesi

          Estimating recharge rates for a radioactive waste disposal facility at the 
		Hanford site.
              By Mike Fayer

          Transition probability/Markov chain analysis of lithology of alluvial fan 
		deposits in the western part of the Mojave Desert, southern California.
              By John Izbicki

          Application of unit gradient approach to estimate recharge from core 
		samples in southern New Jersey.
              By Art Baehr

Session V: News and Updates

          Recent OGW activities.
              By Ken Hollett

          DOE's vadose zone science effort.
              By Bill Isherwood

Session VI: Unsaturated zone liquid, gas, and chemical fluxes

          A conceptual model of liquid flow and chemical transport in fractured basalt.
              By Boris Faybishenko

          Evapotranspiration from a creaosote bush community in the Amargosa Desert.
              By Dave Stannard

          Fourth (and final?) quasi-analytic reanalysis of the capillary barrier effect.
              By H. Morel-Seytoux

          Continuous monitoring of diffuse soil-CO2 degassing, Horeshoe Lake tree-kill 
		area, Mammoth Mountain, California: meteorological influences on 
		advective/diffusive gas transport in the unsaturated zone.
              By John Rogie

          Triggering landslides using variably-saturated hydrology: results from the
		USGS debris-flow flume.
              By Mark Reid

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Last modified: Mon Mar 1, 2013