Basic principles of Hydrogeology

Instructor Name: Kaleab A .

 Introduction to the concepts of Groundwater and Groundwater

hydrology

Groundwater in the hydrologic cycle

Occurrence of groundwater
Zones of underground water
Origin of groundwater
 Precipitation
Definition and factors that affect precipitation
Mechanisms of precipitation
Measuring precipitation
Aerial rainfall measurement
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 Introduction
Hydrology vs Hydrogeology
Hydrology is the study of water (atmospheric water, surface
water and groundwater). It deals with the occurrence,
circulation/movement, distribution and composition of
water on, above and below the earth’s surface
Based on occurrence , two interrelated subdivisions; surface
water and subsurface water
Surface water: Mainly oceans, lakes, rivers, ponds, etc,…..
surface hydrology
Subsurface water: mainly groundwater and soil moisture
Groundwater hydrology mainly deals with the saturated
subsurface water=Hydrogeology
• Hydrogeology is thus the study of groundwater with particular
emphasis given to its occurrence, chemistry, and mode of
movement in relation to the Geological environment
• Hydrogeology encompasses the interrelationships of
geologic materials & processes with groundwater
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• Groundwater is water that occurs in the saturated
zone below the earth’s surface,,,, with variable
thickness and depth
Cracks, Karsts, and pores in the existing rocks
and unconsolidated materials make up a large
underground reservoir where part of precipitation is
stored.
Groundwater is an important source of water supply
throughout the world

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 Groundwater in the Hydrologic cycle

The Hydrologic cycle is the natural system

consisting of the endless circulation of water
between the hydrosphere, the atmosphere,
lithosphere and biosphere
Water exists in triple phase only in our planet
Solar radiation is the deriving force behind
the hydrologic cycle

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•

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Precipitation is any form of water that falls on
the surface
Evaporation is the transfer of water towards
the atmosphere from open water bodies and
intercepted water
Transpiration the water in plants is transferred
as water vapor
Infiltration is the process of entry of water into
the ground from rainfall, snow melt etc
Percolation, is the process of water entry into
the saturated zone
Surface runoff is the flow of water over the
land surface
Groundwater flow is the flow of water in the
ground, below the saturated zone 6
 Global distribution of water
• A huge quantity of water is distributed on earth
(km3) ( %)

 sea water 1,321,890,000 97.2 % salty

 atmospheric water 13,000 0.001 fresh
 Ice 29,190,000 2.15 fresh
 surface water 230,000 0.017 fresh, salty
 soil moisture 68,000 0.005 fresh, salty
 groundwater 8,595,000 0.632 fresh, salty

 Water in general is erratically distributed in space and time

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Distribution of Water:
• Total Volume –1400 million km3
 Oceans –97.2%
 Land –2.8%
 Atmosphere –0.001%
• Land –2.8% , out of which
 Glaciers and ice caps –77.4%
 Groundwater –22.1%
 Surface fresh water –0.4%
 Soil moisture –0.2%
Note: out of consumable fresh
water
groundwater makes 98%.
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Residence time of water in various reservoirs
Reservoir Average Residence Time
Glaciers 20 to 100 years
Seasonal Snow 2 to 6 months
Cover
Soil Moisture 1 to 2 months
Groundwater: 100 to 200 years
Shallow
Groundwater: Deep 10,000 years
Lakes 50 to 100 years
Rivers 2 to 6 months
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Occurrence of Groundwater
Rainfall that percolates below the ground surface
passes through the voids of the rocks and joins the
water table
The possibility of occurrence of groundwater
mainly depends upon two geological factors: i.e.,
(i) the porosity of the rocks and sediments; and
(ii) permeability of the rocks and sediments
Porosity,,,is a quantitative measurement of the
interstices or voids present in a rock and/or
sediment
Permeability,,, is the ability of a rock or
unconsolidated sediment to transmit or pass water
through itself
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 Zones of underground water
Below the earth’s surface, water is found to exist in different
forms in different regions
With respect to depth, 1) Zone of rock fracture; and
2) Zone of rock flowage
Zone of rock flowage,,,,, the rocks undergo permanent
deformation ,,, Water present in this zone is known as
internal water.,,,, Interstices are probably absent
Zone of rock fracture,,, It is a zone in the upper part of the
lithosphere in which rocks are under stresses that is less
than their elastic limit ,,,,Interstices exist

• The zone of rock fracture can be further subdivided into two

zones. These are:
(i) zone of saturation, and
(ii) zone of aeration.
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 Zone of Saturation (Also called phreatic zone)
• In the zone of saturation, water exists within the
interstices, and is known as groundwater.
 The pore spaces are fully filled with water. Water in this
zone is under hydrostatic pressure.
 Water table represents the top of the zone of saturation.

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Zone of Aeration(also called vadose or unsaturated zone)

• Zone of aeration is the region between the ground

surface and the water table where soil and/or rock
pores are partially filled with air and partially filled
with fluid.
• Water exists in this zone by molecular attraction and
moves under the influence of gravity.
• This zone is also divided into three sub zones
depending upon the number of interstices present.
• (i) Capillary zone (or Capillary Fringe) (ii)
Intermediate zone; and (iii) Soil zone.

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Origin of Groundwater
Most is meteoric water,, a result of atmospheric
precipitation ,, . It is the main source of water to
wells and springs
The other types of water are connate (fossil )
water, juvenile or magmatic water and
metamorphic water.
Juvenile water /new water/, is the one introduced
into the hydrosphere for the first time.
Magmatic water is mainly of juvenile origin derived
from either deep-seated magma or may be of
shallow volcanic origin.
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Connate water is the remnant of ancient water retained
in the aquifers and is not in the hydraulic continuity with
the present-day hydrological cycle.
Metamorphic water or rejuvenated water is the term
used for water derived from hydrous minerals like clays,
micas, etc., due to the process of metamorphism.
The various genetic types of water can be distinguished,
to some extent, on the basis of hydrochemical and
isotopic data

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The Hydrologic cycle and its
components,
1. Precipitation

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what is hydrologic cycle? And what drives it?
If solar radiation is the basis for evaporation and formation of
precipitation, understanding the atmosphere and its different
layers is very important

The atmosphere

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 Concept of water balance
It represents the total loss or gain of water in a given
system(could be a reservoir, aquifer, river basin, etc) over
a period of time.
The concept is also aerially restricted in a specific
place(drainage basin, catchment area, watershed etc)

Based on the principle of mass conservation, that the

volume of water fed to a catchment in a certain time period equals
the volume of water that is discharged out of the catchment in the
same time period, considering also any changes in storage. The size of
the catchment is arbitrary.

Input = Output ± Changes in storage

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 Catchment Area

The area of land draining into a stream

or a water course at a given location is
known as catchment area.
Also called drainage area or drainage
basin or a watershed (USA).

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 Water Budget Equation
From the continuity equation for water, i.e.
Mass inflow - mass outflow = change in mass storage,
a water budget of a catchment for a time interval Δt is
written as
P–R–G–E-T=ΔS
Where
P = precipitation,
R = surface runoff,
G = net ground water flow out of the catchment,
E = evaporation,
T = transpiration and
Δ S = change in storage.

All terms in the equation may have the dimensions of

volume or depth over the catchment area.
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Example # 1
A lake had a water surface elevation of 103.2 m above
datum at the beginning of certain month. In that month
the lake received an average inflow of 6.0 m3/sec from
surface runoff sources. In the same period the outflow
from the lake had an average value of 6.5 m3/sec.
Further, in that month, the lake received a rainfall of
145 mm and the evaporation from the lack surface
was estimated as 6.10 cm.
Write the water budget equation for the lake and
calculate water surface elevation of the lake at the
end of the month. The average lake surface area can
be taken as 5000 ha. Assume that there is no
contribution to or from the ground water storage.

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 Precipitation
Definition and factors that affect precipitation
Mechanisms of precipitation
Measuring precipitation
Aerial rainfall measurement(depth area
analysis)

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 Precipitation is any form of water(solid or liquid) that
falls on the surface of the earth from the atmosphere.
Precipitation is the basic input to the hydrology .

 Factors determining precipitation or the amount of atmospheric moisture over a region

 Climate
 Geography
 Ocean surfaces is the chief source of moisture for precipitation 24
Forms of precipitation

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 Rain
 Rain is the most common type of
precipitation in our atmosphere. Rain
is when liquid droplets fall to the
surface of the Earth.
 There are two different forms of rain,
either in the form of
 showers
 drizzles
 Showers are heavy, large drops of rain
and usually only last a period of time. Light
 Drizzles however usually last longer I = 2.5mm/hr
and are made up of smaller droplets
of water. Moderate
I = 2.8-7.6mm/hr
 Rain can either be formed as ice
crystals melt or it can be smaller water Heavy
droplets. I > 7.6 mm/hr 26
 Snow
• Snow is the second most common precipitation.
• Snow forms when water vapor turns directly
into ice without ever passing through a liquid
state. This happens as water condenses around
an ice crystal.

Density of freshly fallen snow

varies between 125-500mm of
snow required to equal 25mm of
liquid water

Average density (specific gravity)

= 0.1

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 Hail
 Hail is created when moisture and wind are together. When
this starts to happen wind gusts start to pick up the ice crystals
pushing them up high into the clouds. As they start to fall down
again they continue to grow in size. A wind gust might catch the
hail stone again which will push it back up into the cloud. This
whole process gets repeated several times before the hail stone
becomes so big that it is too heavy for the wind to carry so it
must fall towards Earth.

Shapes of hail particles

1. Spherical
2. Conical
3. Irregular

Diameter range 5 to 125 mm

Specific gravity = 0.8

Average density (specific gravity) = 0.1

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 Fog
 There is really no different between fog and the
clouds that are high in the sky. In simple terms fog is;
a cloud that has formed near the surface of the
Earth.

• There are four main types of fog,

• radiation fog
• advection fog
• upslope fog
• evaporation fog

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 Dew
• The small drops of water which can be found on
cool surfaces like grass in the morning.
• This is the result of atmospheric vapor condensing
on the surface in the colder night air.
• Dew Point is the temperature in which
condensation starts to take place or when dew is
created.

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 Mist / Drizzle
 Mist is a bunch of small droplets of water which are in
the air. This occurs with cold air when it is above a warm
surface, for example water.
 Fog and mist are very similar, the only difference is their
visibility.
 If you cannot see 1 kilometer or less you know you're dealing
with fog.
 You can see visuals through mist and it is more haze looking
than a thicker substance.

Diameter range between 0.1 and

0.5 mm/hr

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Factors that affect amount and
distribution of precipitation

Climatic factors (temp, wind speed, sunshine,

humidity)
Latitude
Vegetation cover
Orographic influence
Distance from the coast line

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Conditions for the occurrence of ppt
Moisture is always present in the atmosphere, even on the cloudless
day. Saturation however does not necessarily lead to precipitation.

A humid air must be cooled

Condensation nuclei must be present
Droplets must be coarse to form rain drops
The rain drops must be of sufficient size to
reach the earth

???? so why do the rains and the mad( lunatics) run to the cities?

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 Necessary mechanism to form
Precipitation are

1. Lifting mechanism to cool the air

2. Formation of cloud elements
(Droplets/Ice crystals)
3. Growth of cloud elements
4. Sufficient accumulation of cloud elements

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 Mechanisms of ppt

The Lifting mechanism gives the three main types of

Precipitation.

1. Cyclonic ppt/stratiform ppt (frontal and non

frontal)
It is associated with the passage of cyclones or
pressure difference
Frontal ppt is formed by the lifting up of warm
air over a cold air
Non frontal ppt-from horizontal convergence
of air masses
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• Frontal precipitation results when the leading edge(
front) of a warm air mass meets a cool air mass. The
warmer air mass is forced up over the cool air. As it
rises the warm air cools, moisture in the air
condenses, clouds and precipitation results.

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2. convective ppt
Is caused by the upward movement of the air
warmer than the surrounding air
Convectional precipitation results from the heating of
the earth's surface that causes air to rise rapidly. As the
air rises, it cools and moisture condenses into clouds
and precipitation
Common in tropics…it forms shower of high
intensity over a short duration

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3. orographic ppt-
is due to the lifting of air over a
mountainous barriers.
It results when warm moist air of the ocean is
forced to rise by large mountains. As the air
rises it cools, moisture in the air condenses
and clouds and precipitation result on the
windward side of the mountain while the
leeward side receives very little.
Wind ward/lee ward (rain shadow)
zone
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 Measurement of Precipitation
What do we really need to measure??
• 1. Amount of precipitation
• 2. Duration of precipitation
• 3. Intensity of precipitation
• 4. Arial extent of precipitation

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 Measurement Methods
 Measurement of precipitation (Rain and Snow)
can be done by various devices. These
measuring devices and techniques are;
 Rain Gauges
 Snow Gauges
 Radars
 Satellites
 etc
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 Precipitation is commonly measured by rain
gauges
It Is measured on the basis of the vertical depth of
water equivalent which would accumulate on a level
surface
Ways of measuring ppt
Point measurement (uses recording and non
recording rain gauges),,,,,Tipping buckets, float
gauging and weighing gauges

aerial measurement (depth-area analysis)

Arithmetic method
Thyson polygon method
Isohytal method 44
 Types of rain gages
There are two main types of rain gages
which are used to measure the
precipitation. These are;
• 1. Non recording rain gages
• 2. Recording rain gages

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Non recording rain gauges
• It is a rain gage which does not provide the
distribution of amount of precipitation in a day. It
simply gives the amount of precipitation after
24 hours (daily precipitation).

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 Recording rain gauges
• These rain gauges are also called integrating
rain gauges since they record cumulative
rainfall. In addition to the total amount of rainfall
at a station, it gives the times of onset and
cessation of rains (thereby gives the duration of
rainfall events)
Types of recording Rain gauges
1. Float type rain gages
2. Tipping bucket type rain gages
3. Weighing type rain gages
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 1. Tipping bucket gauges
• A tipping bucket rain gauge is used for measurement
of rainfall. It measures the rainfall with a least count
of 1 mm and gives out one electrical pulse for every
millimeter of rainfall

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 2. Weighing type gauges
 It consists of a storage bin, which is weighed to record the
mass. It weighs rain or snow which falls into a bucket, set
on a platform with a spring or level balance. The increasing
weight of the bucket and its contents are recorded on a
chart. The record shows accumulation of precipitation.

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 3. Float recording gauges
 The rise of float with increasing catch of rainfall is
recorded. Some gauges must be emptied manually while
others are emptied automatically using self starting
siphons. In most gauges oil or mercury is the float and is
placed in the receiver, but in some cases the receiver rests
on oil or mercury and the float measures the rise of oil or
mercury displaced by the increasing weight of the receiver
as the rainfall catch freezes.

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Averaging/interpolating precipitation data over an area

1. Arithmetic method
For an arithmetic average the precipitation data of the rain
gauges within a defined area are added up and devided by the
number of rain gauges. The arithmetic mean can only be applied
if the rain-gauge network is of relatively uniform density and if
the area has no pronounced relief.

Uniformity and flatness of terrain?

1 n
P   Pi 1 3
2

n i 1 4 7

P = Average precipitation over a region 5

6
(mm)
Pi = Precipitation in gauge i (mm)
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n = Number of rain gauges
2. Thiessen polygon method
To adjust for a non-uniform gauge distribution, the Thiessen method uses a weighting factor
for each rain gauge. The factor is based on the size of the area within the drainage basin that
is closest to a given rain gauge. These areas are irregular polygons. First, the rain-gauge
network is drawn on a map of the drainage basin. Adjacent stations are connected by a
network of lines between the closest stations. A perpendicular line is then drawn at the
midpoint of each line connecting two stations, and extensions of the perpendicular bisectors
are used to draw polygons around each station. The area of each polygon is measured, and
the weighted average for each station’s precipitation is used to find the regionalized RF. For
mountainous basins or basins with unequal relief, the Thiessen method is inacurate.

n
 PiAi
P  i 1
n
 Ai
i 1
P = Average prec. over a region (mm)
Pi = Precipitation in gauge i (mm)
A = Area of the region
3. Isohyetal method
If the rain-gauge network is not uniform, also the Isohetal method can be applied.
First, a precipitation contour map with lines of equal rainfall (isohyets) has to be
drawn. In drawing isohyets such factors as the known influence of topography on
precipitation can be taken into account. The area bounded by adjacent isohyets is
measured with a planimeter or a computer digitizer, and the average depth of
precipitation over the area is the mean of the bounding isohyets. The regionalized
RF is the weighted average based on the relative size of each isohyetal area.

n
 PiAi
P  i 1
n
 Ai
i 1

P = Average prec. over a region (mm)

Pi = Precipitation alloted to each area i (mm),,,,,=I1+I2/2
A = Area of the region 54