GROUNDWATER HYDROLOGY
Module 3 Part 1
Syllabus
HYDROGEOLOGY
• HYDROGEOLOGY (hydro- meaning water) is the area of geology that
deals with the distribution and movement of groundwater in the
soil and rocks of the earth’s crust
• Groundwater is also often withdrawn for agricultural, municipal, and
industrial use by constructing and operating extraction wells
• Groundwater is often cheaper, more convenient and less vulnerable to
pollution than surface water
• Groundwater (or ground water) is the water present beneath Earth's
surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations
• A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it
can yield a usable quantity of water.
• The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in rock
become completely saturated with water is called the water table.
OCCURRENCE OF GROUNDWATER
Groundwater is one of the most important natural resources. There are
three sources of groundwater:
1. Meteoric water
2. Connate water
3. Juvenile water (Magmatic water)
(i) Meteoric water
It originates in the atmosphere, falls as rain and ultimately becomes
groundwater by infiltration. It forms the major part of groundwater.
This infiltrating water continues its downward journey to the zone of
saturation to become a part of the groundwater in aquifers.
It is dependent on duration of rain, porosity of ground and nature of
ground during rain.
These factors affect movement of surface water till groundwater table
Water may also be
contributed to the
ground by surface
water bodies:
a) Influent stream:
water table is lower
than the water level
in the stream
b) Effluent stream:
water table is higher
than the water level
in the stream
2. Connate Water
• It is the water that were trapped in the pores of
sedimentary rocks as they were deposited.
As rocks are buried, they undergo lithification and the
connate water are usually expelled
• E.g., When the sedimentary rocks (limestone, sandstones
and gravel) form in lake, sea or river, deposition is
followed by compaction, which squeezes out water
between the sediments
Deposition followed by compaction squeezing out of water
Connate
Due to incomplete compaction retention of water Water
• saline in nature
Eg: lime stone and sand stone
3. Juvenile water (Magmatic water)
• Magmatic water or juvenile water is water that exists within a magma or
water-rich volatile fluids that are derived from a magma.
• Hot molten masses or magmas existing below the earth’s surface emit steam,
which condenses to form water, which occupies the cracks and pores of
rocks. This water is called Juvenile water (Magmatic water).
• This magmatic water is released to the atmosphere during a volcanic eruption
• Some hot springs and geysers are derived from magmatic water.
• A hot spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated
groundwater that rises from the Earth's crust.
• A geyser is a vent in Earth's surface that periodically ejects a column of hot
water and steam.
WATER BEARING QUALITIES OF ROCKS
• All rocks are not capable of holding and transmitting groundwater.
• Aquifer, aquiclude, aquifuge and aquitard are some of the water bearing
formations
(a) Aquifer
• An aquifer (from Latin aqua - water, ferre - to bear) is a water-bearing
geological formation.
• It is defined as a rock mass, layer or formation which is saturated with
groundwater.
• Water can be economically tapped from an aquifer.
• An aquifer acts as a storage reservoir and a transmission conduit at the
same time.
• Gravels, limestone and sandstones generally form good aquifers when
occurring in suitable geological conditions and geographic situations
• Must be both porous and permeable
• If rocks are highly fractured, they make good aquifers.
(b) Aquiclude :
• It is a rock body or formation which may be porous enough to hold
enough quantity of water.
• It is not capable of transmitting water through it. It is a practically
impermeable rock mass.
• Compacted clay formations are the best examples of aquiclude
• Does not yield water freely to wells
(c) Aquifuge
• Aquifuge is an absolutely impermeable rock formation which neither
contains nor transmits water.
• It does not have any pores and interstices.
• Compact interlocking granites and quartzite are examples of Aquifuge
• An impermeable body of rock of sediment that acts as a barrier to the
flow of groundwater.
• If the impermeable area overlies the aquifer, pressure could cause it to
become a confined aquifer.
(d) Aquitard
• An Aquitard transmits water at a low rate compared to an aquifer.
• It is an Aquifuge or Aquiclude that has become locally leaky due to
development of partial perviousness caused by excessive jointing or
cracks
TYPES OF AQUIFER
• Aquifer is capable of yielding the contained water at economical costs
when tapped.
• Based on the physical conditions under which water can exist in the
aquifers, these are divided into two: Unconfined and confined aquifers.
i. Unconfined Aquifer
• It is also called water table aquifer
• It is the most common type found.
• Water occurring in this type of aquifer is called Free Groundwater.
• When tapped through a well, the free water will rise to a level in the
well equivalent to the water table of the area
• The depth to upper surface of zone of saturation in free groundwater is
called water table.
• The water table depth ranges from 1m to 100m or more
ii. Confined Aquifer
• An aquifer that is confined from above and below by an aquiclude or an
impervious bed rock is known as a confined aquifer.
• Water held in such aquifers is not under atmospheric pressure, but under
a greater pressure due to the confining medium.
• The upper surface of water in a confined aquifer is called piezometric
surface.
• In groundwater piezometric surface is an imaginary surface that defines
the level to which water in a confined aquifer would rise were it
completely pierced with wells.
Artesian Aquifer
• An artesian aquifer is a confined aquifer in which piezometric surface is
always above the ground level at many places when projected in
elevation.
• When a well is drilled in a confined aquifer, the ground water in it rises
towards the surface of such a well is called artesian well.
• There is no need of pumping in these.
Perched Water Table
• Perched water table is the isolated water table in an aquifer held by a
small extension of impervious rocks.
• In such cases main water table is located much below. Supplies from
these are often unreliable
Reference
• [Link]
PROPERTIES OF AQUIFER
• Aquifers serve as underground reservoirs and distribution system at the
same time.
• The storage capacity of a reservoir depends on the porosity of the rock
and the nature and inter-connections of the pores
(a) Porosity
• It is defined as volume of voids in a rock mass expressed in percentage
terms of the total volume of the rocks.
• Pores may be left in between individual grains and particles during the
process of deposition in rocks.
• Openings may also be caused in the rocks due to development of crack,
joints, fissures, etc.
• Sedimentary rocks are relatively highly porous.
• Porosity, is a broad measure of the storage capacity of an aquifer. Hence
its range is of practical importance.
• Porosity is a property of primary importance in determining the water
bearing qualities of rock
• Only porous rocks can be aquifer, but high porosity itself is not
sufficient to ensure water yielding capacity of a rock.
• Clays, which have high porosity (50-60 %) are practically useless as
aquifers, since pores or voids in between clay particles are so minute that
water is held up within these pores very firmly
• Effective porosity, is the volume of pores which is effective in the
release of water from an aquifer.
• Factors that adversely affect the porosity of rock are,
i. Adhesion to Grains : Some ground water is attached to surface of
grains of rocks due to molecular attraction and is not easily available for
circulation
ii. Unconnected Pores : Pores in the rocks may be separated from each
other, hence the liquid in them cannot circulate
(b) Specific Yield
• For economically extracting water from an aquifer, our main interest is
always to determine how much water can be actually obtained per unit
area of the aquifer.
• The water released by aquifer depends on quantity and quality of the
pores and other openings present in the rock.
• Specific yield, is defined as the quantity of water that a unit volume
of aquifer drains by gravity.
• It is a function of grain size, shape and continuity of pores.
Specific Retention
• Specific retention, is the term used to express the amount of water
retained by a unit volume of aquifer after allowing gravity drainage
through it.
• Specific yield & Specific retention together sum up the total porosity of
an aquifer.
• Coarse grained rocks have higher specific yields compared to fine
grained rocks.