10.2190/6BC1-HPX3-FBVD-UANR 6BC1HPX3FBVDUANR 1 Geophysical Methods Applied to Community Planning 1 16 20020509 20020509 20020509 20020509 6BC1HPX3FBVDUANR.pdf http://baywood.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=6BC1HPX3FBVDUANR 1 Dennis S. Hodge Ernest T. Selig Parker E. Calkin State University of New York at Buffalo This paper describes geological and geophysical methods which have been used in the initial stages of planning and development for a new community in suburban Buffalo. It will adjoin the campus under construction for the State University of New York. Information drawn by the authors from regional glacial geologic studies plus geophysical traverses over the site have provided architects with rapidly acquired yet reliable data on drift stratigraphy, depth to bedrock, ground water, and drainage conditions preparatory to more expensive, detailed engineering studies. Shallow seismic refraction profiles, which show bedrock 10 to 50 feet below the surface, were supplemented by over 80,000 linear feet of resistivity profiling designed to give qualitative data on the form of the overburden/rock interface. Taken together with scattered shallow borings, these data allow differentiation of areas most suitable for industrial sites, family dwellings, lakes, and green spaces. Furthermore, the data emphasize the poor drainage situation with which engineers will have to deal and the lack of aquifers in the overburden for lake or industrial water supplies. Such inexpensive preliminary studies undertaken in future urban development can greatly aid in management of the land resources. D. W. Fisher, <i>Correlation of the Silurian rocks in New York State.</i> Map and chart series, No. 1, New York State Museum and Science Service, 1960. P. E. Calkin, Strand lines and chronology of the glacial Great Lakes in northwestern New York, <i>Ohio J. Sci.</i> 70: 78-96, 1970. E. M. Kindle and F. B. Taylor, <i>Description of the Niagara quadrangle.</i> US. Geol. Survey Atlas Folio 190, 1913. J. P. D'Agostino, <i>Lake Tonawanda: History and development. M. A. thesis.</i> State University of New York at Buffalo, 1958. A. M. La Sala, Jr., <i>Ground-water resources of the Erie-Niagara basin, New York.</i> Basin Planning Rept. ENB-3, State of New York, Conservation Dept., Water Resources Comm., 1968.