Hantush, Mahdi S
Contents
Photograph[edit]
Dates[edit]
Mahdi S. Hantush 1921 (Iraq) - 1984 (USA)
Biography[edit]
Mahdi Hantush earned his first degree as a civil engineer from American University In Beirut, Lebanon. As a civil engineer Hantush began his professional career as an irrigation engineer in Iraq. This work provided him with practical experience and an appreciation for the problems involved in the development and management of water resources. He then moved to the United States where he obtained an MSc. in Irrigation Engineering at UC Berkeley in 1947. He followed this up with a doctorate in civil engineering at the University of Utah under C.E. Jacob. In 1954 Hantush received a call to the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology where he developed one of the first graduate programs in Groundwater Hydrology. He founded and headed the New Mexico Tech Hydrology Program for over a decade during which time it attracted students from all over the world.
In 1968 Hantush became the fourth recipient of the Geological Society of America’s O.E. Meinzer award in recognition of his leadership of the field of well hydraulics. New Mexico Tech has honored his memory by creating the "Mahdi Hantush Memorial Fellowship"
Hydrological Achievements[edit]
With his analytical work on leaky aquifers and well hydraulics, Mahdi Salih Hantush has earned a prominent place among practitioners of scientific hydrology. A civil engineer by training, he began his professional career as an irrigation engineer in his native Iraq. This work provided him with practical experience and an appreciation for the problems involved in the development and management of water resources.
Hantush possessed a brilliant analytical mind dedicated to the conceptualization of groundwater flow to wells. His goal and his life’s work was the mathematical investigation of the interaction of wells with groundwater flow under diverse boundary conditions, such as interaquifer leakage or unsteady state flow, and the formulation of sophisticated results in closed form so that they could be useful to the practicing groundwater engineer.
He was author of a classical treatise, “Hydraulics of Wells” in 1964 and numerous scientific papers. One of his most outstanding papers was “Preliminary Quantitative Study of the Roswell Groundwater Reservoir, New Mexico” (1957). This basin contains a complex system of leaky confined and phreatic aquifers that gave him the opportunity to apply his leaky aquifer theories and the methods he had developed for the analysis of pumping tests.
Reference Material[edit]
Wikipedia page for Mahdi S. Hantush
New Mexico Tech Memoriam for Mahdi S. Hantush
Major Publications[edit]
Hantush, M.S. and Jacob, C.E., 1954. Plane potential flow of ground water with linear leakage. Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union, 35(6), pp.917-936.
Hantush, M.S. and Jacob, C.E., 1955. Non‐steady radial flow in an infinite leaky aquifer. Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union, 36(1), pp.95-100.
Hantush, M.S., 1956. Analysis of data from pumping tests in leaky aquifers. Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union, 37(6), pp.702-714.
Hantush, M.S., 1959. Nonsteady flow to flowing wells in leaky aquifers. Journal of Geophysical Research, 64(8), pp.1043-1052.
Hantush, M.S., 1960. Modification of the theory of leaky aquifers. Journal of Geophysical Research, 65(11), pp.3713-3725.
Hantush, M.S., 1961. Aquifer tests on partially penetrating wells. Journal of the Hydraulics Division, 87(5), pp.171-195.
Hantush, M.S., 1962. Drawdown around a partially penetrating well. Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, 127(1), pp.268-283.
Hantush, M.S., 1962. Flow of ground water in sands of nonuniform thickness: 3. Flow to wells. Journal of Geophysical Research, 67(4), pp.1527-1534.
Hantush, M.S. and Papadopulos, I.S., 1962. Flow of ground water to collector wells. Journal of the Hydraulics Division, 88(5), pp.221-244.
Hantush, M.S., 1964. Hydraulics of wells. Advances in hydroscience, 1, pp.281-432.
Hantush, M.S., 1965. Wells near streams with semipervious beds. Journal of Geophysical Research, 70(12), pp.2829-2838.
Hantush, M.S., 1966. Analysis of data from pumping tests in anisotropic aquifers. Journal of Geophysical Research, 71(2), pp.421-426.
Hantush, M.S., 1966. Wells in homogeneous anisotropic aquifers. Water Resources Research, 2(2), pp.273-279.
Hantush, M.S. and Thomas, R.G., 1966. A method for analyzing a drawdown test in anisotropic aquifers. Water Resources Research, 2(2), pp.281-285.
Hantush, M.S., 1967. Flow to wells in aquifers separated by a semipervious layer. Journal of Geophysical Research, 72(6), pp.1709-1720.
Hantush, M.S., 1967. Growth and decay of groundwater‐mounds in response to uniform percolation. Water Resources Research, 3(1), pp.227-234.
Hantush, M.S., 1967. Flow of groundwater in relatively thick leaky aquifers. Water Resources Research, 3(2), pp.583-590.
Hantush, M.S., 1968. Unsteady movement of fresh water in thick unconfined saline aquifers. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 13(2), pp.40-60.
