Subsurface Flow

Hydrology
FHYDLOY_CIV161
Roldan Q. Pineda

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Groundwater
• In any area, most rocks below a particular depth are saturated.
• At equal pressure (zero pressure), water flows towards lower elevation
(downhill).
• At equal elevation, water flows towards lower pressure. (Pipe to faucet)
• Water flows at different rates through different materials: larger holes->
faster flow

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Groundwater

•Direct use of groundwater

•About half the domestic water use is from groundwater. Varies
regionally.
•Advantages of using groundwater
•much less subject to seasonal variations in availability than
surface water
•slow movement leads to high biological purity
•temperature is remarkably constant
•available virtually everywhere if you go deep enough
•Stream flow usually comes from groundwater discharge which
means the other half of the water supply is from groundwater
indirectly
•Groundwater controls erosion, influences mass wasting, soil
processes, etc.

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Groundwater

• Groundwater
• All waters found beneath the ground surface
• Occupies pores (void space space not occupied by solid matter)
• Porous media
• Numerous pores of small size
• Pores contain fluids (e.g., water and air)
• Pores act as conduits for flow of fluids
• Type of rocks in a formation and their
• Number, size, and arrangement of pores
• Affect the storage and flow through a formation.
• Pores are generally irregular in shape because of
• differences in the minerals making up the rocks
• geologic processes experienced by them.

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Zone of Saturation

• Important processes
• Infiltration creating soil moisture
• Subsurface flow through soil
• Groundwater flow
• Saturation = % of void space occupied by water
• Zone of aeration (pores contain water & air)
• Soil water zone
• Water moves down (up) during infiltration (evaporation)
• Vadose zone
• Water held in place by capillary forces
• Saturation is at or near field capacity except during infiltration
• Capillary zone
• Completely saturated at base
• Near field capacity at the top
• Water is pulled up from the water table by capillary forces
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Soil Mineral Complex

• Structure – results
from tendency of soils
to aggregate into
crumbs, columns, clods
or blocks
• Pore space – varies
from 35% when poorly
aggregated to 65%
when well aggregated

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Soil Mineral Complex

• Texture and structure

affect distribution of
pore space which
affects hydrologic and
biological processes
such as
• Infiltration
• Detention storage
• Water movement
• Soil moisture storage
Mineral fraction of soil with pore space
• Plant growth

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methods, without the prior written permission of the owner, except for personal academic use and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Energy of Water in Soil

• Cohesion – attraction of water molecules to each

other
• Adhesion – attraction between soil particles and
water
• Meniscus – curved air-water interface developed as
water drains from soil

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Energy of Water in Soil

• Energy of water is determined by,

• Mass – amount of water
• Pressure potential – potential to due work, i.e. move
given amount of water over a given distance
• Gravity potential – potential to do work based on
position of mass within the gravity field
• Osmotic potential – movement of water from areas of
low solute concentration to areas of high solute
concentration

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Soil Water Movement

• Factors determining movement include

• Soil texture
• Size soil particles
• Pore space
• Soil moisture content
• Slope of soil or rock layer relative to direction of force of
gravity

Movements very complicated and hard to predict

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Rates of Flow

•Typical bulk groundwater flow rates range from 0.01 m/yr to 100 m/yr,
mostly in the low range. Because much groundwater flow is
channeled, the actual rates of flow are often much higher or lower.

•Permeability varies tremendously. Clean sandstone may have K=0.1

m/s, while clay can have K=1E-10 m/s.

•Most of the movement happens in the most permeable materials, and

the bulk of most materials act as storage. (It’s sort of like roads and
parking lots/street parking).

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Rates of Flow

These are situational terms.

• Aquifer - a layer that yields sufficient water to
be worth pumping. Should be permeable.
• Aquitard - the opposite of an aquifer, it does
not yield enough water to be worth pumping.

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Water Table and Topography

•Spring: place where the water table intersects the land surface and
water flows out. Usually this is a seep if slow enough. Most stream
beds are springs.

•The water table outcrops at lakes, ponds, most streams

•Streams can get water from or put water into the groundwater
system. Usually, streams get water from groundwater. In deserts,
upland streams (gullies, wadis, and alluvial fans) lose water to the
subsurface, which then flows out at the main stream. Water table is
almost always closest to the surface at streams, under natural
conditions

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Water Table and Topography

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Use of Groundwater

•About half the domestic water use is from groundwater. Varies

regionally.
•Why groundwater is good
•much less subject to seasonal variations in availability than surface
water
•slow movement leads to high biological purity
•temperature is remarkably constant
•available virtually everywhere if you go deep enough

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Use of Groundwater

• Drawdown: depression of a piezometric surface (including water

table) due to pumping. Since pumping water out means lifting it,
this is important.

•Cone of depression is lowering of piezometric surface due to

pumping around a well. Much more depressed near the well and
less depressed further away. For a given amount of water
withdrawal, the shape (width vs. depth) depends on hydraulic
conductivity, storativity, and layer thickness. Other things being
equal, a higher-permeability aquifer will have a broader, shallower
cone of depression. A higher-storativity aquifer will also have a
broad, shallow cone of depression. A thicker aquifer has a broader,
shallower cone of depression.

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Use of Groundwater

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Geologic Action by Groundwater

•Weathering and cementation

In the course of its travels, groundwater can dissolve and precipitate
a lot of material, mainly calcite and quartz. Most cementation of
sediments occurs due to mineral deposition by groundwater. It also
plays a large role in fossil formation and preservation.
•Karst: Erosion by groundwater
Calcite is soluble in acidic water, and since water is acidic from C02 in
the atmosphere and soil, the groundwater dissolves limestone and
dolomite. This widens any joints the water is flowing through, resulting
in more water flowing through, etc, until you have a cave, which
eventually collapses, leaving a sinkhole. At the land surface, the areas
that haven’t collapsed are left behind, and often form haystacks (circular
hills). Vanishing streams and spectacular springs are common.

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Geologic Action by Groundwater

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Types of Aquifer

• Aquifer - store & transmit

• Unconsolidated deposits sand
and gravel, sandstones etc.
• Aquiclude – store, don’t transmit
• Clays and less shale
• Impervious boundaries of
aquifers
• Aquitard – transmit don’t store
• Shales and less clay
• Leaky confining layers of aquifers
• Confined aquifer (under pressure)
• Bounded by impervious layers
• Unconfined aquifer (phreatic,
water table)
• Bounded by a water table

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Aquifer Properties

• Hydraulic conductivity (K) Sedimentary

Material
Porosity (%)

• Ability of a formation to transmit Peat Soil 60-80

Soils 50-60
water Clay 45-55

• Storativity (S) Silt 40-50

Med. to Coarse Sand 35-40
• Ability of a formation to store
Uniform Sand 30-40
water Fine to Med Sand 30-35

• Porosity (n) Gravel 30-40

Gravel and Sand 30-35
• Percent of total pore space Sandstone 10-20
occupied by voids Shale 1-10
Limestone 1-10

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Groundwater

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Groundwater

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Groundwater

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Groundwater

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Groundwater

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No part of this material may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical
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