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From Portland, Maine, to San Diego, California, a group of 23 undergraduate and graduate students representing 20 institutions from the United States, Mexico, and Ireland attended SAGE 1999. After the lecture program, students worked on two separate but related projects. The first was a continuation of work begun last year involving imaging of subsurface sedimentary units and buried faults in the Rio Grande rift near Santa Fe, New Mexico. New data from 1999 were integrated with data from 1998, providing students with the opportunity to merge their data into a broader picture. The techniques used for this project were seismic refraction/ reflection (using a Vibroseis source), gravity, and electromagnetics methods. This project was undertaken in coordination with the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer and the Santa Fe County hydrologist. The research goal, in part, was to help constrain hydrologic models in the water-starved and rapidly developing area south of Santa Fe. Students, many of whom have an interest in hydrological applications in geophysics, acquired experience with an important applied problem.

Secondly, a small-scale survey, using seismic refraction, ground-penetrating radar, total-field magnetics, and electrical resistivity was undertaken to study a buried and capped waste-disposal trench at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. This study completed a project on which SAGE worked several years previously. Preliminary results were provided to the Environmental Restoration project at Los Alamos, which is actively investigating this site for possible remediation. The SAGE investigation helped established the feasibility of using geophysical techniques for environmental applications, providing students with experience in a field in which many are likely to be employed. As in previous years, many of the SAGE students declared an interest in environmental geophysics.

Prof. John Ferguson of the University of Texas, Dallas (center), one of the SAGE faculty, and students from SAGE 1998 install geophones at a Materials Disposal Area at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The geophones (objects with spikes attached to cables) receive seismic signal generated by a slide-hammer seismic source and transmit the signals to a computer located nearby. Initial data processing occurs on site. Geophones were inserted through a paved surface, which required chopping small holes through the pavement using a pickaxe. The plank (not standard equipment) was used to drive the geophones into the ground. Although the site was surveyed for radioactivity and found safe before work began, booties and gloves were required as an added precaution against contamination. A radiation Technician was present on site at all times during the field work, and monitored for radioactivity. SAGE has found that seismic refraction techniques are extremely useful for locating buried waste trenches and for precisely determining the dimensions and cap thicknesses

Students Attending SAGE 1999