University of Iowa · SEES:4800
Environmental Geophysics
See beneath the surface without digging. Nine near-surface methods, taught through interactive simulators, hands-on activities, and Colab notebooks.
🧭 Interactive Course Guide 📚 Browse Modules 🎓 Active-Learning Lessons 🧪 Classroom Labs 🌾 APLL Field Data ✅ Practice Lab
Instructor: Dr. Hang Chen · School of Earth, Environment, and Sustainability
Environmental geophysics investigates the subsurface by measuring physical fields at or near the ground surface. This course covers the theory and practice of the major near-surface methods, with applications to groundwater exploration, contamination mapping, archaeological investigation, geohazard assessment, and mineral resource exploration. Field exercises, interactive simulators, and case studies connect each method to real problems.
Course Modules
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What each method can see, and how depth of investigation trades against resolution.
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Density contrasts, data reduction from drift to Bouguer, and anomaly interpretation.
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Rock magnetism, anomaly shape, upward continuation, and depth estimation.
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Elasticity, wave propagation, and refraction travel-time interpretation.
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Resistivity of rocks, survey arrays, ERT, self-potential, and induced polarization.
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Induction principles, FDEM and TEM systems, and 1D forward modeling, with Magnetotellurics and Deep EM as the deep-sounding extension.
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Radar wave propagation, dielectric properties, and radargram interpretation.
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Wireline logging principles and integrated log interpretation.
Textbook and Prerequisites
- Reference text: Reynolds, J. M. (2011). An Introduction to Applied and Environmental Geophysics (2nd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.
- Prerequisites: introductory geology or physics.
- Full reading list, including method references and hydrogeophysics papers, is on the References page.
From Classroom to Research
The methods in this course are the same ones used to monitor groundwater and image the critical zone in current research. Explore real course and research observations at the Ashton Prairie Living Laboratory (APLL) data hub, then reproduce the quality-control workflow in its Colab notebook. Several modules also link to PyHydroGeophysX, an open-source Python package developed in Dr. Chen's group that connects hydrological models to ERT, seismic, and electromagnetic measurements.
How This Site Works
Every module page offers four kinds of material:
| Section | What You Get |
|---|---|
| 🖥️ Interactive lectures | Self-contained simulators and guided explainers that run in your browser |
| 🧪 Activities | Hands-on exercises with data reduction and interpretation tasks |
| 🧰 Classroom labs | Current course workflows with synthetic datasets and client-style deliverables |
| ⚡ Demos | Quick single-concept tools for building intuition |
| 🚀 Notebooks and data | Downloadable datasets and Colab-ready Python notebooks |
| ✅ Practice | Field missions and feedback-rich concept checks for undergraduate and graduate learners |
No installation is needed for the lectures, activities, and demos. The notebooks run in Google Colab from any browser.