GROUND WATER HYDROLOGY

MODULE VI
Groundwater is water that exists in the pore
spaces and fractures in rocks and sediments
beneath the Earth’s surface. It originates as
rainfall or snow, and then moves through the
soil and rock into the groundwater system,
where it eventually makes its way back to
the surface streams, lakes, or oceans.

 Groundwater makes up about 1% of the

water on the Earth (most water is in oceans)
 Groundwater occurs everywhere beneath
the Earth’s surface, but is usually restricted
to depth less than about 750 meters.
Groundwater is found beneath the
unsaturated zone where all the open
spaces between sedimentary
materials or in fractured rocks are
filled with water and the water has a
pressure greater than atmospheric
pressure.
 Origin of Groundwater
 Groundwater derived from rainfall and infiltration
within the normal hydrological cycle. This kind of
water is called meteoric water.
 Groundwater encountered at great depths in
sedimentary rocks as a result of water having been
trapped in marine sediments at the time of their
deposition. This type of groundwater is referred to
as connate waters.
 Fossil water if fresh may be originated from the
fact of climate change phenomenon, i.e., some
areas used to have wet weather and the aquifers of
that area were recharged and then the weather of
that area becomes dry.
The subsurface occurrence of groundwater may be divided
into
zone of aeration and zone of saturation.
The zone of aeration consists of interstices occupied
partially by water and partially by air. In the zone of
saturation all interstices are filled with water, under
hydrostatic pressure.

In the zone of aeration (unsaturated zone), Vadose water

occurs. This general zone may be further subdivided into the
soil water zone, the intermediate Vadose zone (sub-soil zone),
and capillary zone

The saturated zone extends from the upper surface of

saturation down to underlying impermeable rock. In the
absence of overlying impermeable strata, the water table, or
phreatic surface, forms the upper surface of the zone of
saturation.
 AQUIFER
An aquifer is a ground-water reservoir
composed of geologic units that are saturated
with water and sufficiently permeable to yield
water in a usable quantity to wells and springs.
Sand and gravel deposits, sandstone,
limestone, and fractured, crystalline rocks are
examples of geological units that form
aquifers.
 Unconfined Aquifer : water table serves as the upper
surface of the zone of saturation. Also called water table
aquifer, free, phreatic or non artesian aquifer

 A special case of an unconfined aquifer involves perched

water bodies. This occurs wherever a groundwater body
is separated from the main groundwater by a relatively
impermeable stratum of small areal extent and by the zone
of aeration above the main body of groundwater. Wells
tapping these sources yield only temporary or small
quantities of water.

 Confined Aquifers: also known as artesian or pressure

aquifers, occur where groundwater is confined under
pressure greater than atmospheric by overlying relatively
impermeable strata. In a well penetrating such an aquifer,
the water level will rise above the bottom of the confining
bed, as shown by the artesian and flowing wells.
Aquitard : is a partly permeable geologic
formation. It transmits water at such a slow rate that
the yield is insufficient. For example, sand lenses in
a clay formation

Aquiclude : is composed of rock or sediment that

acts as a barrier to groundwater flow. It is made up
of low porosity and low permeability rock/sediment
such as shale or clay. They have normally good
storage capacity but low transmitting capacity.

 Aquifuge : is a geologic formation which doesn’t

have interconnected pores. It is neither porous nor
permeable. Thus, it can neither store water nor
transmit it. Examples are rocks like basalt, granite,
etc. without fissures.
 Water table
Water table is the surface of water level in an
unconfined aquifer at which the pressure is
atmospheric. It is the level at which the water will stand
in a well drilled in an unconfined aquifer. Water table is
constantly in motion adjusting its surface to achieve a
balance between the recharge and the out flow.
Wherever the water table intersects the ground surface,
a seepage surface or a spring is formed.

 Piezometric surface
The water in a confined aquifer is under pressure.
When a well is drilled in a confined aquifer, the water
level in it will rise above the top of aquifer. Piezometric
surface is an imaginary surface to which the water level
would rise if a piezometer was inserted in the aquifer.
Thus, it indicates the pressure of the water in the
aquifer.
 TERMS USED
Porosity : ratio of volume of voids (Vv) in the
material to its total volume (V), expressed as
percentage
n = Vv x 100
V
Specific Yield : ratio (%) of the volume of
water which after being saturated, can be
drained by gravity to its own volume.
Sy = wy x 100
V
Specific Retention : ratio (%) of the volume of
water retained against gravity to its own volume.
Sr = wr x 100
V
n = Sr + Sy

Storage coefficient : (storativity) volume of water

that an aquifer releases from or takes into
storage per unit surface area of the aquifer per
unit change in the component of head normal to
that surface – 0.00005 to 0.005
Coefficient of Permeability (k) : velocity of flow
which will occur through the total area of
cross-section of the soil under unit hydraulic
gradient.
clean gravel - 1 and greater
clean sand - 1 to 0.01 etc (cm/sec)

Coefficient of Transmissibility (T): rate of flow

of water through a vertical strip of aquifer of
unit width and extending the full saturation
height under unit hydraulic gradient
T = Bk
B – aquifer thickness
 DARCY’S LAW
 Flow of ground water except through coarse gravels
and rockfills is laminar and the velocity of flow is given
by Darcy’s law (1856), which states that ‘the velocity
of flow in a porous medium is proportional to the
hydraulic gradient’
V = velocity of flow through the aquifer
 V = ki k = coefficient of permeability of
we have, i =Δh/ L aquifer soil
i = hydraulic gradient
 Q = AV = Aki,
Δh = head lost in a length of flow path
A = WB, T = kB L
A = cross-sectional area of the aquifer
∴ Q = WBki (= WB)
∴ Q = T iw W = width of aquifer
B= thickness of aquifer
T = coefficient of transmissibility of the
Darcy’s law is valid for laminar flow, i.e., the
Reynolds number (Re) varies from 1 to 10, though
most commonly it is less than 1
Re =ρVd
μ ≤1
where ρ = mass density of water
μ = dynamic viscosity of water
d = mean grain size of the aquifer soil
In aquifers containing large diameter solution
openings, coarse gravels, rockfills and also in the
immediate vicinity of a gravel packed well, flow is
no longer laminar due to high gradients and
exhibit non linear relationship between the velocity
and hydraulic gradient.
 THANK
YOU…