EPA/600/C-10/004
September 2010
The Environmental Geophysics Web Site and Geophysical Decision Support System (GDSS):
Beta Version
APM # 198
Dale Werkema, Michael Jackson, and Danney Glaser
This product provides assistance to project managers, remedial project managers,
stakeholders, and anyone interested in on-site investigations or environmental geophysics. The
APM is the beta version of the new U.S. EPA Environmental Geophysics Web Site which
includes the Geophysical Decision Support System (GDSS). The Web Site includes an overview
and self guided tutorial into the most commonly used geophysical methods which are applied to
environmental problems. The geophysical methods described are not all inclusive, but provide a
good starting point for this beta version and provides a platform for future development. The
web site also includes a list of geophysical properties, a glossary of environmental geophysics
terms, and a list of environmental geophysics references.
The GDSS is a web based application designed to guide project managers in geophysical
applications for environmental problems. The GDSS includes several pages of questions
designed to collect user data regarding the objectives, needs, and physical site specifics from a
user. The GDSS uses this information to output results which suggest likely geophysical
applications to solve the user's particular objectives and relative to the site conditions. The
results also include links to the geophysical methods suggested and a reference list of published
relevant case histories, applications, lab studies, or any relevant paper per the results as
determined from the queries.
In order to ease adaptability and upgradability of the Web Site to ever changing scientific
advancements, a desktop application has been created which is used to update the GDSS
questions, the decision methodology, the glossary, the geophysical methods descriptions, and the
reference lists. The reference lists are updated via this desktop application and Reference
Manager (RM) software. This enables the GDSS to say updated to current publications as the
software manager updates RM. Also the logic behind the GDSS can be easily adapted to the
changing science. This application resides on Dale's desktop for his use in maintaining the
content of the Web Site and the GDSS.
The Web Site and GDSS can be reviewed internally at:
http://vl8ovhrttf752/Proiects/cmb/geophysics/
Externally, the web site can be found at:
http://maiais.com/qdss/aeophvsics/
Login: gdss
PW: geofiz
Once the ORD clearance is approved publishing of the Web Site will commence.

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