Mark J. Abolins (Professor, Geosciences Department, Middle Tennessee State University), Kristie Linstead, Andrew Gibson, Meredeth Bryson, and Hannah Jones
PE Limited donates licenses
for their Midland Valley MOVE structural geology software (PE Limited, 2025) to universities for academic use. Although Midland Valley MOVE and similar software packages are typically used to investigate macroscale structure at depths commonly targeted in hydrocarbon exploration and development, these software packages can be used for a vari- ety of applications, including the investigation of near-surface structure for groundwater explo- ration (e.g., De Donatis et al., 2007) and construction. This Fall, Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) undergradu- ates will use Midland Valley MOVE software to investigate structures at depths of 17 to 81 m which is within the range typically targeted in groundwater exploration in carbonates within the U.S. (Degnan et al., 2021). These educational activities built on institutional experience with use of the software to analyze near- surface mesoscale folds at a construction site during Spring 2021.
Fig. 1. Elevation of top of Late Ordovician Tyrone Limestone. Structure contour map generated in MOVE. Contour interval: 1 m.
In 2021, four MTSU Geosciences master’s students (Andrew Gibson, Meredeth Bryson, Hannah Jones, and Kristie Linstead) used Midland Valley MOVE software to create structure contour maps (Fig. 1) and cross sections through mesoscale folds at depths less than 50 m beneath the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Chickamauga Lock construction site in Tennessee. The Chickamauga lock and dam were originally built on the Tennessee River in 1940, and lock replacement is in progress. To support the graduate student project, the Nashville District provided data from 145 boreholes within the 35 x 180 m lock.
One of the former master’s students, Andrew Gibson, works in the oil and gas industry as the Measurement While Drilling Coordinator for Total Directional Services, LLC, but the others work in other fields. Nonetheless, Kristie Linstead (Jacobs) and Hanah Jones (Consolidated Nuclear Security) acknowledge that com- puter literacy and sophisticated software play an important role in their sub-fields. Kristie notes that computer literacy is needed for many careers in remedial investigations. For example, Jones uses
www.aipg.org
OpenGround to create soil boring logs, groundwater sampling logs, and well construction diagrams. GIS is used to create heat maps to display plumes of contamination, and GIS is used to create cross sections to show well transects and HPT and slug testing logs to show permeability and groundwater reactivity.
References
De Donatis, M., Barilotti, A, Piccin, A., Gallerini, G., and Susini, S. (2007). Three-Dimensional Model of the Aquifers of the Lombardian Po Plain. Memorie descrittive della Carta Geologica d'Italia, V. 76, p. 125-136.
https://www.isprambiente.gov.it/contentfiles/00002600/2615- memdes-76-dedonatis.pdf.
Degnan, J.R., Kauffman, L.J., Erickson, M.L., Belitz, K., and Stackelberg, P.E. (2021). Depth of Groundwater Used for Drinking-Water Supplies in the United States. U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5069, Reston, 69 p. https://doi. org/10.3133/sir20215069.
PE Limited. (2025). MOVE Suite.
https://www.petex.com/pe-geology/ move-suite/ (accessed July 2025).
Jan.Feb.Mar 2026 • TPG 37
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