MODERN CONTAMINANT HYDROLOGY - Calgary April 2026

 April 14-15, 2026, Calgary, Alberta

Thank you to each participant who attended the 2-day training course MODERN CONTAMINANT HYDROLOGY in Calgary.  

Thank you to MONTROSE ENVIRONMENTAL who hosted us in their outstanding training room.

You made the training experience fun for Tom and me, but more importantly, you made it inspiring. Professionalism abounds in Calgary and this event reflected that professionalism.  Tom and I appreciated all the discussions, the questions, and especially the personal connections made during the course.  Tom and I were both inspired by the pride people have in their work along with the mutual support and respect demonstrated between all of the participants.

You heard me say that that the mission of MIDWEST GEOSCIENCES GROUP is to simply help people in anyway we can.  It's a mission we don't take lightly, or for granted.  

Tom Sale and I appreciate the opportunity to meet the participants, engage in conversations, and share our humble insights. Thank you for the privilege to contribute to your inevitable success.

Don't squander great soil core samples.

Our habits can work with us or against us.

Walking along the soil core placed end-to-end allows us to read the store the sediments are telling.

We invest in drilling and capturing superb soil samples, but we can squander the opportunity for deciphering the subsurface if our habits don't allow us to Take the Mystery Out of the Subsurface.

Ask yourself, how can someone decipher the subsurface when they don't really get a chance to see the soil cores or they just heap them into a pile immediately after classifying them? 

PS: soil classification and soil identification is important, but it's just one ingredient for charactering and discerning Geology.   Soil classifications are not a substitute for stratigraphic units.

 

Ouch.

Sedimentary Sequence Super Heros in New Castle, Delaware

Environmental regulators have an important and noble job.  Not many missions are more important than ensuring the societal safety from hazards; and those hazards can arrive in many forms.

The team of professionals from the DELWARE DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL take the work seriously and they are already have a masterful understanding of the processes for TAKING THE MYSTERY OUT OF THE SUBSURFACE.

The get it.  They appreciate how sedimentary sequences are dependent on - and are a function of - depositional processes.  They appreciate how lithology (soil classifications) are an important ingredient of geology, but not a substitute for stratigraphy.   They appreciate good soil boring logs that translate the sedimentary sequence, not just differentiate aquifers and aquitards.

It was my honor to contribute to their success on April 1 by offering the classroom intensive training, TAKING THE MYSTERY OUT OF THE SUBSURFACE.   I tip my hat to each person who attended the training and hold them in the highest regard.   

The DNREC commands my highest level of respect.  They are guided by visionaries who lead the environmental industry with great care.  Michael Penzone is among those leaders and the entire team leads the way in environmental protection, and care.  What a great group of people.