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HYDROGEOLOGY

Introduction
• Hydrology: Hydrology is the branch of science that basically deals with
everything related to water. It includes the study of its origin,
occurrence, movement, its transport from the atmosphere to the earth
and vice versa, its forms and other hydrological phenomena that take
place.
Hydro + Logos = Hydrology
(Water) (science)
Branches
• Chemical hydrology is the study of the chemical characteristics of
water.
• Ecohydrology is the study of interactions between organisms and the
hydrologic cycle.
• Hydrogeology is the study of the presence and movement of
groundwater.

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Hydroinformatics is the adaptation of information technology to

hydrology and water resources applications.
Hydrometeorology is the study of the transfer of water and
energy between land and water body surfaces and the lower
atmosphere.
Isotope hydrology is the study of the isotopic signatures of water.

Surface hydrology is the study of hydrologic processes that

operate at or near Earth's surface.
Drainage basin management covers water storage, in the form of
reservoirs, and floods protection.
Water quality includes the chemistry of water in rivers and lakes,
both of pollutants and natural solutes.

HYDROGEOLOGY
The branch of geology that deals with the study of
occurrence, movement and quality of water beneath the earth
surface is called hydrogeology

HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE
Water occurs naturally in different forms such as in rives, lakes,
and ocean, and transforms from one state to another in a
closed loop within earth mass and atmosphere. This loop is
called hydrological cycle.

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HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE

WATER BUDGET
• The distribution of global water in different forms is
called the water budget.

Area (x 106 km2) Volume (x 103 km2) Proportion (%)

Oceans 360 1370323 93.93
Groundwater - total - 64000 4.39
Polar ice glaciers 16 24000 1.65
Lakes 230 0.016
510
Rivers 1.2 0.0001
Soil moisture - 75 0.05
Atmospheric water - 14 0.001

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GROUNDWATER
• Rainfall and melted snow usually discharge as runoff through
surface water courses, and some part infiltrates into the soil and
bedrock. The water moves more or less vertically downwards
under gravity through soil.
• Groundwater is water located beneath the earth’s surface in
soil pore spaces and joints and fractures of rocks or
Groundwater is the water found underground in the cracks and
spaces in soil, sand and rock.
• It is stored in and moves slowly through geologic formations of
soil, sand and rocks called aquifers.
• The infiltration of precipitation is called recharge. The area
from where the rainfall and/or melted snow infiltrated into
subsurface, is called recharge zone.

GROUNDWATER ZONATION
• There are three distinct zones below the ground surface:
1. Saturated or Phreatic Zone – It is the zone where pores and
fissures are never completely filled, but through which water
migrates. Some water is stored in pore spaces.

2. Zone of intermittent saturation – It is an intermediate zone

which extends from the highest level reached by the upper
surface of the saturated zone to the lowest level to which it
falls in drought.

3. Unsaturated or Vadose zone – In this zone, pores and fissures

are permanently filled with water. The saturated zone
extends to a depth of several hundred meters below ground
level. The movement of water is too slow in this zone.

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GROUNDWATER ZONATION

Major sources of Ground water

• Spring: A spring is the natural outflow of groundwater
through rock fracture, rock pores, joints or faults at a region
where the water table intersect the ground surface. When
groundwater makes its way to the earth’s surface and emerges
as small water holes or wet spots, this feature is referred to as
a spring.

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Types of spring
• It classified into two categories:
• a) Gravity Spring
The Spring that result from gravitational forces
• Depression Springs
• Contact springs
• Artesian Spring
• Karst Spring

Gravity Spring
•Gravity springs occur either if the ground surface dips below
the water table (‘depression subtype’) or if an outcrop of
impervious soil prevents the downward flow of the water
(‘overflow subtype’).
•The water flows more or less horizontally out of the
ground.
Depression Spring Contact spring

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Artesian Springs

•Artesian springs occur when water is trapped

between impervious layers and is forced to the
surface under pressure.
•The water flows vertically out of the ground.

b) Non-gravity springs:
• Fracture Springs:
• Volcanic Springs

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2. Well
• A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by
digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources,
usually water. It is usually vertical. The wells can be dug into
various types of rocks and the quqlity and quantity of water
available depends on the various rock types. It can divided
into two types
• a) open well
• b) Tube wells
• - Shallow tube well
• - Deepboring

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AQUIFERS
• Aquifer: An aquifer is strata of rock or soil that holds
groundwater from which groundwater can be extracted in
significant quantity for economic purposes.
• Aquicludes: The geological formation that permits the
storage of water but by virtue of its properties, is not capable
of transmitting water in sufficient quantity is called an
aquiclude. It is to be treated as practically impermeable layer.
Example: Clay
• Aquifuge: The geological formation that neither permits the
storage of water nor is capable of transmitting water is called
aquifuge. It is made up of relatively impermeable materials.
Example: solid granite.

AQUIFERS Cont.
Water Table: The upper surface of groundwater
observed below the ground surface is called
water table.
There are three distinct types of aquifers:
1. Unconfined aquifer – It is an open aquifer
that extends up to ground surface and
contains the water essentially at atmospheric
pressure. The water table fluctuates
seasonally that controls the volume of water
in the aquifer.

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AQUIFERS Cont.
2. Confined aquifer – It is a geological formation of rock or
soil holding water, bounded above and below by
impermeable layers such as clay. The pressure of
groundwater in the confined aquifer is greater than
atmospheric pressure. The confined aquifer is also called as
pressure aquifer or artesian aquifer.
3. Perched aquifer – It is a local semi-confined aquifer. It is
found within an unconfined aquifer lies over a impermeable
layer, but open to the top part. The upper level of water in
perched aquifer is greater than the water table.

AQUIFERS

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Factors controlling the occurrence of

groundwater
• The occurrence of groundwater depends upon various
factors. They are listed below:
• a) Climate: Climate is one of the controlling the occurrence
and movement of groundwater. It is found that 5mm rainfall
in one hour facilitates more runoff and results in less
filtration. However, a rainfall of about 5mm in 24 hours
facilitates less runoff and more infiltration. In area where the
climate is humid, more water is lost due to evaporation and
transpiration and hence very less amount of water will
infiltrate resulting in less amount of groundwater.

b) Topography:
The area with steep topography has more runoff of the
precipitated water and results in less infiltration. The area with
gentle topography facilitates more infiltration and less runoff
and the area with horizontal land or depressed land there is
negligible amount of runoff and almost all water infiltrates into
the ground.
• c) Hydraulic Gradient:
The ratio of head difference between two points and the
distance between two points is called hydraulic gradient.
Hydraulic gradient (I)= Δl/L
Where, Δl = head loss between two points
L = distance between two point

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d) Hydraulic conductivity
• Hydraulic conductivity is defined as the flow velocity
per unit hydraulic gradient

e) Hydraulic transmissivity:
• Transmissivity is most simply defined as the effective
hydraulic conductivity of an aquifer or other water bearing
unit multiplied by the thickness of that unit
f) Geological formations:
• Geological formation like aquifer, aquiclude and aquifuge alter
the transmission of water
g) Vegetation cover

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h) Porosity
In soil materials, there are spaces or gaps between the grains, which
are called pores or voids. In rocks, the spaces are formed by
fractures, joints, and bedding planes.
The porosity of soil or rock is defined as the ratio of volume of
pores to the total volume of rock/soil material.
𝑉𝑣
𝑃𝑜𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 η = × 100%
𝑉𝑡
i) Primary porosity: It developed during the decomposition of
sediments.
ii) Secondary porosity: It developed after formation of rock such
as joints, cracks etc.

i) Permeability:
Permeability is a parameter that describes the ability of a rock/soil
material to transmit water. The interconnection of pores
determines the degree of permeability. So, highly porous materials
may not always have high permeability. A geological formation
needs highly permeable to be a good aquifer. For example, sand,
gravel, sandstone, and fractured limestone are good aquifers. Clay,
silt, and shale are not aquifers.

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Darcy’s Law
• A French engineer Henri Darcy, in 1856 formulated a
relationship between the rate of flow of water through a porous
medium to other parameters. It shows the volumetric flow rate is
a function of the flow area, elevation, fluid pressure and a
proportionality constant.

Darcy’s law cont.

• Q = AK*Δh/L……………..(i)
• Where,
• Q = Volumetric flow rate (m3/s)
• A = flow area perpendicular to L (m2 or ft2)
• K = Hydraulic conductivity (m/s or ft/s)
• L = Flow path length (m or ft)
• h = Hydraulic head
The hydraulic head is the height that water would rise in a
piezometer. Thus Δh is simply the difference in height of water
in piezometer placed at the inlet and the outlet
Δh = h(in) – h(out)

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Geological factors for formation of different

hydrological conditions
• Coarse sediments such as sand, gravels, pebbles, cobbles and
boulders inter pore spaces between such fractions
• Highly jointed and fractured rocks
• Highly porous rocks such as limestone, sandstone
• Deep seated thrusts and fault zones
• Permafrost in snow covered zones

Different types of aquifer system of Nepal

a) General hydrogeology of Nepal
i) No groundwater potential zone
ii) Highly productive zone
iii) Moderately productive aquifer
b) i) Mountain aquifer zone: Highly fractured and jointed rock
mass, porous rock deposit (limestone, sandstone etc).
Permafrost zone ( in high mountain zone as snow covered zone)
ii) Bhabar Zone: the aquifer that mostly consists of alluvial
sediments deposits as outwash fan. It is considered as recharge zone
of Terai region
iii) Terai aquifer zone: loose unconsolidated sediment alluviul
deposit comprises of coarse sediments such as sand, gravel, pebbles,
cobbles and boulders

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Engineering Significance of Groundwater

Effects of Groundwater in engineering works, such as:
Site selection
Cost of project
Durability and safety of structures
It plays prominent role in:
• Slope movement
• Volume changes by shrinkage and swelling
• Cause collapse of loose soils
• Erode the foundation of structures
• Changes in rock and soil properties
• Influence on subsurface excavation, tunnels

Engineering Significance of Groundwater

In engineering geological investigation, the following
important information on subsurface water conditions should
be evaluated:
The distribution of sub-surface water
Water content
Direction and velocity of subsurface water flow
Springs and seepages from individual water bearing horizons
Depth to water table and its range of fluctuation
Regions of confined water and piezometric levels
Hydrochemical properties such as pH, salinity, corrosiveness
Presence of bacterial or other pollutants

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Engineering Significance of Groundwater

Subsurface water conditions are significant for three major aspects
of civil engineering works:
1. Subsurface water may pose a problem to construction,
2. It may be an erosive agent that degrades the foundation of
the structure,
3. Subsurface water may be critical to the functioning of the
structure

Assignments
1. What is an aquifer? Describe various types of acquifers.
2. Discuss on the engineering significance of subsurface
water.
3. Write short notes on:
1. Hydrological cycle
2. Confined aquifer and Artesian wells
3. Type of springs

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