Graphic showing the configuration of the bedrock base to the aquifer in the Spokane valley. The Washington/Idaho state line is at the top end of the graphic, and the Hillyard trough along the bottom end.
The Spokane aquifer system has been computer simulated by a number of researchers at Eastern Washington University, CH2M-Hill, and the Idaho Division of Environmental Quality. Since one can't directly observe the flow of ground water through the system, computer visualization is an important tool in understanding how the aquifer works.
Here are a few graphics related to this on-going work:
Graphic showing the configuration of the bedrock base to the aquifer
in the Spokane valley. The Washington/Idaho state line is at the
top end of the graphic, and the Hillyard trough along the bottom end.
Graphic showing the results of seismic reflection profiling of the
sediments filling the Spokane valley (essentially an "ultrasound" of the
subsurface). The ground surface is the horizontal line at the top
of the image, and each vertical column is an individual shot point that
are located at 100 foot spacings from one another along this transect.
The y-axis is graduated in 10 millisecond increments, which represents
the one-way travel time to a reflector in the subsurface.
Graphic showing a computer simulation of the Rathdrum Prairie portion
of the aquifer system. Green smudge indicates a plume of low-level
TCE contamination moving from Coeur d'Alene toward the state line (lower
left).
