HYGE 220 :Hydrology

and Hydrogeology
Lesson 5: Groundwater

E.C. Mabedi, Department of Earth Sciences

Lesson Outcomes
By the completion of this lesson students are expected to demonstrate an
understanding of the following:
•Occurrence of groundwater
•Aquifer types
•Aquifer properties
Introduction
▪Water found within the saturated zone beneath the surface is called
groundwater
▪The science that studies the occurrence, distribution, quality and flow of
groundwater is known as hydrogeology
▪Groundwater is an important resource as it makes up 22% of the earth
fresh water second only to glaciers and icecaps
▪Most groundwater resources provide fresh water requiring little or no
treatment before usage making it readily available source for domestic,
agricultural and industrial use.
▪Groundwater is obtained from the subsurface by use of wells boreholes
and natural springs.
Hydrological cycle
 A significant portion of water in the hydrological
cycle is groundwater

This water accumulates as water from

Cont’d precipitation and snow melt infiltrate and
percolate into soils resulting in filly saturated
subsurface formations.

This water then flows within the subsurface or

into rivers as base flow
Occurrence of groundwater
▪The rock formations in which groundwater is found are called Aquifers.
▪For a geologic formation to qualify as an aquifer it must store and transmit
significant amounts of water that allows for the groundwater resources to be
developed.
▪This “significant amount of water” varies based on the type o geologic formation
and groundwater demand.
▪Different types of geologic formations bear water. and can be grouped into:
1. Unconsolidated sediments
2. Fractured rocks
3. Weathered rooks
▪These formations can store water due to the presence of interconnected voids
within the rock.
Groundwater in weathered, fractured and unconsolidated sediments.
Cont’d
▪The amount of water that an aquifer holds depends on its porosity that is
either primary or secondary porosity.
▪Primary porosity is found in sedimentary rocks where the voids and rocks
are formed at the same time for example in sand stones
▪Secondary porosity is where voids in the geologic formation are formed
after the rock is formed for instance fractures in granites and chemical
weathering of limestone.
Aquifer terminology.
▪Aquifer: water bearing geologic
formation that can store and
transmit water in significant
quantities
▪Aquitard: geologic formation of
low permeability
▪Aquifuge: an impermeable geologic
formation with no permeability.
▪Aquitard and aquifuge are often
confining layers.
Types of aquifers
▪Aquifers are categorized into four main types:
1. Unconfined aquifers
2. Confined aquifers
3. Leaky aquifers
4. Perched aquifers
Cont’d
UNCONFINED AQUIFER CONFINED AQUIFER
▪This aquifer is overlain and underlain by
▪Is one that is not overlain by any confining confining layers. The water within the aquifer
layer but has a confining layer at the bottom. is therefore held under pressure higher than
It is normally exposed to the atmosphere and atmospheric pressure. It is also known as an
its upper portion is partly saturated with artesian aquifer.
water.
▪Natural springs are a result of vertical
▪The upper surface of saturation is called fractures tapping from confined aquifers as
water table. It is also known as a phreatic such water flows to the surface without
aquifer. pumping
▪The imaginary level up to which the water
will rise if the aquifer was not confines is
called piezometric surface. And is always
above the upper confining unit as well as the
ground surface.
Cont’d
LEAKY AQUIFER PERCHED AQUIFER

▪In nature, confining layers are not hundred ▪A special case of an unconfined aquifer.
per cent impervious. An aquifer which is Occurs when an impervious layer of limited
overlain or underlain by a semi- pervious lateral extension is located porous and
layer (aquitard) through which vertical permeable soil/rock.
leakage takes place due to head difference is
called leaky aquifer or semi-confined aquifer. ▪Infiltration of rainwater into the area above
the impervious layers forms a perched aquifer
▪The permeability of the semi-confining layer and the top layer is called a perched water
is usually very small as compared to the table.
permeability of the main aquifer. Hence
water which seeps vertically through the ▪ these aquifers are short lived as water usually
semi-confining layer is diverted internally to quickly drain from it.
proceed horizontally in the main aquifer.
Different types of aquifers
Aquifer Properties
▪Hydrogeologic characteristic of that determine the ability of a geologic formation to store
and transmit water.
▪These depend on the geologic composition of the aquifer,
▪Storage properties include:
1. Porosity
2. Effective porosity,
3. Specific retention,
4. Specific yield,
5. Storage coefficient,
6. Specific storage.
▪ Fluid transmission aquifer properties include:
1. Intrinsic permeability
2. Hydraulic conductivity,
3. Transmissivity.
Porosity
▪This the is ration of the volume of voids to that of the total volume of the
rock/soil
▪Mathematically presented as:
𝑉𝑣
𝑛=
𝑣𝑡
▪The porosity of any rock depends on sorting of grain sizes and how they
are packed
Effective porosity
▪Effective Porosity’ is defined as the portion of void space in a porous
material through which fluid (liquid or gas) can flow. As not all voids
within the rock allow water to flow through.
▪It is mathematically expressed as:

Volume of water in circulation

ne =
total volume of porous medium
Specific Retention
▪ it is the ratio of the volume of water retained after saturation against
gravity (Vr) to the volume of the aquifer material.
▪It gives an indication of how much water is available in the aquifer
material after is drained by gravity
▪Mathematically expressed as:
Vr
Sr =
V
▪Sr increases and grain size decrease and smaller grainsizes provide larger
surface area for water to adhere to.
 Specific Yield
▪It is the the ratio of the volume of water that, after saturation, can be
drained by gravity to the volume of the aquifer material
▪Gives an indication of how much water can be obtained from the aquifer
▪Mathematically expressed as:
Vd
Sy =
V
 Specific Storage
▪It is the volume of water released from or taken into storage per unit volume of
an aquifer per unit change in hydraulic head.
▪The specific storage has the dimension of [L-1].
▪It is mathematically expressed as:
Ss = ρw δ α + nβ = γw α + nβ
▪Where: ρw is density of water;
α is compressibility of the aquifer material;
β is the compressibility of water
n is porosity of the aquifer material
ᵞw is unit weight of water.
 Storage Coefficient
▪ It is the volume of water released from or taken into storage per unit area of an
aquifer per unit change in hydraulic head.
▪It is a dimensionless parameter and is mathematically expressed as:

S = Ss × b
Where Ss is specific storage of the aquifer material, and b is the thickness of the
aquifer.
 Intrinsic Permeability
▪It is the ability of an aquifer material to transmit a fluid (liquid or gas)
through its pores.
▪It is a property of the medium only and is independent of the fluid
properties.
▪Intrinsic permeability (k) is mathematically expressed as follows:

k = Cd2
▪Where C = dimensionless proportionality constant commonly known as
‘shape factor’ and d = diameter of the pore space