This 3-day course provides individuals who have little or no geophysical exploration experience with practical information to effectively design and supervise geophysical surveys during hazardous waste site investigations. These techniques can be used on Superfund or Brownfields sites or sites where decisions have to be made as to buried hazardous materials. The course focuses on plan design, types of equipment suitable for hazardous waste site characterization, equipment operation, procedures for safely collecting data, and the fundamentals of making simple interpretations of the data. It is intended for personnel responsible for inspections, site characterization, site investigations, and removal and remedial actions at Superfund and other potential hazardous sites.

The course is designed to be consistent with the EPA protocol and guidance documents entitled, Compendium of ERT Soil Sampling and Surface Geophysics Procedures, A Compendium of Superfund Field Operations Methods, and Data Quality Objectives Process for Superfund.

Topics that are discussed include field work plan development; procedures for the use of geophysical methods for field screening; procedures for collection of field data using magnetic, seismic, gravity, electromagnetic and resistivity instruments; geophysical borehole logging; ground-penetrating radar; and quality assurance considerations.
Instructional methods include lectures, group discussions, demonstrations, computer modeling of data, and outdoor field exercises with an emphasis on the hands-on use of geophysical equipment.

After completing the course, participants will be able to:

• Describe the various geophysical methods available for shallow environmental characterization.
• Describe the advantages and limitations of the magnetic, electromagnetic, seismic refraction, gravity, resistivity, borehole geophysics and ground-penetrating radar methods in environmental applications.
• Operate geophysical instrumentation under field conditions.
• Collect geophysical field data for use in resolving buried objects and determining geologic and hydrogeologic characteristics.
• Make an interpretation of simple geophysical field data to resolve buried objects and determine geologic characteristics.

The course is usually offered at a specially-constructed field site. The course includes three half-day outdoor exercises. Participants should dress for field work; the exercises are conducted regardless of weather.

In compliance with Executive Order 13589 - Promoting Efficient Spending, Section 5; the ERTP will not be regularly printing or providing students hard copies of the course manual. Students may obtain an electronic copy of the student manual for personal printing or e-reading at:

https://ertpvu.org/ClassroomCourseDetail.aspx?id=11

Note: Scientific calculators are recommended.
Continuing Education Units: 2.1

THIS COURSE IS NOT OPEN TO CONSULTANTS, CONTRACTORS, OR ANY PRIVATE ENTITIES.

*This course is offered free of charge to all registrants who are confirmed to attend.* 

IMPORTANT:  ERTP’s receipt of a Trainex course registration is a Registration Request, it is not a Guaranteed Enrollment in the Course. All ERTP training courses require applicant registration thru the Trainex system.  Last minute course arrivals without prior ERTP Trainex course registration approval is not permitted.  Before ERTP issues final approval to deliver any course and/or any EPA offices incurring expenses for the training event (including but not limited to EPA staff travel TA’s and/or ERTP training contractor expenses incurred), all EPA mandatory pre-approvals must all be met. The pre-approvals include (but are not limited to) the following:
Training location’s availability;
COVID status and/or other COVID Guidelines in effect for the location, as well as staff;

• Agency limitations, scrutiny, and approvals of ‘Conference Spending Requirements (known as the “5170”)’ for the specific training course(s) scheduled delivery timeframe;
• Weather (blizzard, hurricane, etc);
• Contractual number of available course training slots;
• EPA training location staff having priority registration over all other registrations; and/or
• Hosting site Training Coordinator approval.

In the event a course is subsequently postponed or canceled, or notification of registration cancellation is received, all EPA travel arrangements (airline/car rental/hotel) should be canceled in a timely manner. Registered students will receive a notification via email if/when a course is postponed and/or cancelled.

Notice:For in-person course deliveries, confirmed course registered participants must abide by all facility physical access requirements for the location (examples: check-in at the security gate, Federal ID, Government PIV/CAC cards, photo id’s, etc.).  If applicable for the course or location, restrictions may apply to non-citizens and acceptable identification may be required for facility entry.  Unless otherwise specified, ERTP TRAINING IS GENERALLY NOT OPEN TO INTERNATIONAL ATTENDEES, ACADEMIA, CONTRACTORS, CONSULTANTS OR OTHER PRIVATE ENTITIES.

Previous Events (click to view/hide)

Athens, GA Event Details   April 2, 2019 - April 4, 2019   Athens, GA Event Details   October 20, 2015 - October 22, 2015   Kalamazoo, MI Event Details   July 15, 2014 - July 17, 2014   Columbus, OH Event Details   June 14, 2011 - June 16, 2011   EPA REGION 5 - exact location not yet determined, Postponed - Event Details   June 9, 2009 - June 11, 2009   Kansas City, MO Event Details   October 17, 2007 - October 17, 2007   Port Orchard , WA Event Details   April 12, 2007 - April 12, 2007   Richmond, CA Event Details   April 10, 2007 - April 10, 2007   Columbus, OH Event Details   June 27, 2006 - June 29, 2006   Columbus, OH Cancelled - Event Details   June 28, 2005 - June 30, 2005   EPA REGION 5 - exact location not yet determined, Postponed - Event Details   July 27, 2004 - July 29, 2004   EPA REGION 5 - exact location not yet determined, Cancelled - Event Details   June 22, 2004 - June 24, 2004   Springfield, IL Event Details   May 6, 2004 - May 6, 2004