Lecture VII Ground Water

Ground water
Ground water is a major economic resource. Many towns and farms pump great
quantities of ground water from drilled wells. Even cities next to large rivers may
pump their water from the ground because ground water is commonly less
contaminated and more economical to use than surface water.

Porosity and Permeability

Porosity, the percentage of rock or sediment that consists of voids or openings, is a
measurement of a rock’s ability to hold water. Some sedimentary rocks, such as
sandstone, conglomerate, and many limestones, tend to have a high porosity and
therefore can hold a considerable amount of water. A deposit of loose sand may
have a porosity of 30% to 50%, but this may be reduced to 10% to 20% by
compaction and cementation as the sand lithifies (table 7.1).

Permeability refers to the capacity of a rock to transmit a fluid such as water or

petroleum through pores and fractures. In other words, permeability measures the
relative ease of water flow and indicates the degree to which openings in a rock
interconnect.
The distinction between porosity and permeability is important. A rock that holds
much water is called porous; a rock that allows water to flow easily through it is
described as permeable. Most sandstones and conglomerates are both porous and
permeable. An impermeable rock is one that does not allow water to flow through
it easily.

The Water Table

Responding to the pull of gravity, water percolates down into the ground through
the soil and through cracks and pores in the rock. The rate of groundwater flow
tends to decrease with depth because sedimentary rock pores tend to be closed by
increasing amounts of cement and the weight of the overlying rock. Moreover,
sedimentary rock overlies igneous and metamorphic crystalline basement rock,
which usually has very low porosity.
The subsurface zone in which all rock openings are filled with water is called the
saturated zone. If a well were drilled downward into this zone, ground water would
fill the lower part of the well. The water level inside the well marks the upper
surface of the saturated zone; this surface is the water table.
Rivers and lakes occupy low places on the land surface, and ground water flows
out of the saturated zone into these surface depressions. The water level at the
surface of most lakes and rivers coincides with the water table.
Above the water table is a zone where not all the rock openings are filled with
water and is referred to as the unsaturated zone. Within the unsaturated zone,

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surface tension causes water to be held above the water table. The capillary fringe
is a transition zone with higher moisture content at the base of the unsaturated zone
just above the water table.
The capillary fringe is generally less than a meter thick but may be much thicker in
fine-grained sediments and thinner in coarse-grained sediments such as sand and
gravel. Plant roots generally obtain their water from the belt of soil moisture near
the top of the unsaturated zone, where fine grained clay minerals hold water and
make it available for plant growth.

Table 7-1 . Porosity and Permeability of Sediments and Rocks

Sediment Porosity (%) Permeability (%)
Gravel 25 to 40 Excellent
Sand (clean) 30 to 50 Good to excellent
Silt 35 to 50 Moderate
Clay 35 to 80 Poor
Glacial 10 to 20 Poor to moderate
Rock
Conglomerate 10 to 30 Moderate to excellent
Sandstone
Well-sorted, little 20 to 30 Good to very good
cement 10 to 20 Moderate to good
Average 0 to 10 Poor to moderate
Poorly sorted, 0 to 30 Very poor to poor
well-cemented 0 to 20 Poor to good
Shale up to 50 Excellent
Limestone,
dolomite 0 to 5 Very poor
Cavernous 5 to 10 Poor
limestone 0 to 50 Poor to excellent
Crystalline rock
Unfractured
Fractured
Volcanic rocks

Darcy’s Law and Fluid Potential

In 1856, Henry Darcy, a French engineer, found that the velocity at which water
moves depends on the hydraulic head of the water and on the permeability of the
material that the water is moving through.
The hydraulic head of a drop of water is equal to the elevation of the drop plus the
water pressure on the drop:
Hydraulic head = elevation + pressure
Hydraulic gradient = difference in head /distance
= Δh / L

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A perched water table is the top of a body of ground water separated from the main
water table beneath it by a zone that is not saturated (figure 7.1). It may form as
ground water collects above a lens of less permeable shale within a more
permeable rock, such as sandstone. If the perched water table intersects the land
surface, a line of springs can form along the upper contact of the shale lens. The
water perched above a shale lens can provide a limited water supply to a well; it is
an unreliable long-term supply.

Figure 7.1 Perched water tables above lenses of less permeable shale within a large body of
sandstone.
The Movement of Ground Water
The velocity of groundwater flow is controlled by both the permeability of the
sediment or rock and the hydraulic gradient. Darcy’s Law states that the velocity
equals the permeability multiplied by the hydraulic gradient. This gives the
Darcian velocity (or the velocity of water flowing through an open pipe). To
determine the actual velocity of ground water, since ground water only flows
through the openings in sediment or rock, the Darcian velocity must be divided by
the porosity.
Groundwater velocity = permeability/porosity *hydraulic gradient
V = K /n * Δh/L
(Darcy called K the hydraulic conductivity; it is a measure of permeability and is
specific to a particular aquifer. The porosity is represented by n in the equation.)
Ground water moves from regions of high head to regions of low head. The
circulation of ground water in the saturated zone is not confined to a shallow layer
beneath the water table. Ground water may move hundreds of feet vertically
downward before rising again to discharge as a spring or seep into the beds of
rivers and lakes at the surface due to the combined effects of gravity and the slope
of the water table. The slope of the water table strongly influences groundwater
velocity. The steeper the slope of the water table, the faster ground water moves.

Nearly impermeable rocks may allow water to move only a few centimeters per
year, but highly permeable materials, such as unconsolidated gravel or cavernous
limestone, may permit flow rates of hundreds or even thousands of meters per day.

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Figure 7.2 A well must be installed in an aquifer to obtain water. The saturated part of the highly
permeable sandstone is an aquifer, but the less permeable shale is not. Although the shale is
saturated, it will not readily transmit water.

Aquifers
An aquifer is a body of saturated rock or sediment through which water can move
easily. Aquifers are both highly permeable and saturated with water. A well must
be drilled into an aquifer to reach an adequate supply of water. Good aquifers
include sandstone, conglomerate, well-jointed limestone, bodies of sand and
gravel, and some fragmental or fractured volcanic rocks such as columnar basalt
(table 5.1). These favorable geologic materials are sought in “prospecting” for
ground water or looking for good sites to drill water wells.
Wells drilled in shale beds are not usually very successful because shale, although
sometimes quite porous, is relatively impermeable. Wet mud may have a porosity
of 80% to 90% and, even when compacted to form shale, may still have a high
porosity of 30%. Yet the extremely small size of the pores, together with the
electrostatic attraction that clay minerals have for water molecules, prevents water
from moving readily through the shale into a well. Because they are not very
porous, crystalline rocks such as granite, gabbro, gneiss, schist, and some types of
limestone are not good aquifers. The porosity of such rocks may be 1% or less.
(Shale and crystalline rocks are sometimes called aquitards because they retard the
flow of ground water.) Crystalline rocks that are highly fractured, however, may be
porous and permeable enough to provide a fairly dependable water supply to wells
(figure 7.4).

Wells
A well is a deep hole, generally cylindrical, that is dug or drilled into the ground to
penetrate an aquifer within the saturated zone (see figure 7.4). Usually water that
flows into the well from the saturated rock must be lifted or pumped to the surface.
During dry seasons, the water table falls as water flows out of the saturated zone
into springs and rivers. Wells not deep enough to intersect the lowered water table
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go dry, but the rise of the water table during the next rainy season normally returns
water to the dry wells.

The addition of new water to the saturated zone is called recharge. When water is
pumped from a well, the water table is typically drawn down around the well into a
depression shaped like an inverted cone known as a cone of depression. This local
lowering of the water table, called drawdown, tends to change the direction of
groundwater flow by changing the slope of the water table. In lightly used wells
that are not pumped, drawdown does not occur and a cone of depression does not
form. In unconfined aquifers, water rises in shallow wells to the level of the water
table. In confined aquifers, the water is under pressure and rises in wells to a level
above the top of the aquifer.

Figure 7.4 Wells can obtain some water from fractures in crystalline rock. Wells must intersect
fractures to obtain water.

Figure 7.5 An unconfined aquifer is exposed to the surface and is only partly filled with water;
water in a shallow well will rise to the level of the water table. A confined aquifer is separated
from the surface by a confining bed and is completely filled with water under pressure; water in
wells rises above the aquifer.

Springs and Streams

A spring is a place where water flows naturally from rock onto the land surface.
Some springs discharge where the water table intersects the land surface, but they

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also occur where water flows out from caverns or along fractures, faults, or rock
contacts that come to the surface. Climate determines the relationship between
stream flow and the water table. In rainy regions, most streams are gaining
streams; that is, they receive water from the saturated zone.

Figure 7.6 Wells can obtain some water from fractures in crystalline rock. Wells must intersect
fractures to obtain water.

Groundwater Pollution
Sources of groundwater pollution. Because it is mixed and circulated over a large
area, groundwater is relatively clean, but the increased population and
industrialization of the twentieth century has led to serious groundwater
contamination problems in many parts of the country. Farming contaminants
include pesticides, herbicides, animal waste, and manure. A variety of
contaminants from city and county dumps such as heavy metals (mercury, lead,
chromium, copper, cadmium, arsenic) and other industrial compounds enter the
groundwater from rainwater that has percolated through the landfill.

Wastes from septic tanks, and sewage plants may also contribute dangerous
bacteria and parasites to the groundwater. Industries frequently use radioactive
compounds, cyanide, polychlorinated biphenyls, and a degreaser called
trichloroethylene that are being found in increasingly greater amounts in
groundwater . Gasoline and other fuel derivatives such as xylene and benzene are
carcinogens that frequently enter the groundwater from leaking storage tanks. Old
mining sites contribute mercury, cyanide, and heavy metals to the groundwater;
smoke from old smelters contaminated soil s for hundreds of square kilometers

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with metals such as lead, arsenic, and cadmium, which also migrated into the
groundwater.

Contamination identification and cleanup

Most compounds form a contamination plume in the groundwater that grows wider
as it spreads outward from the point of contamination, called the point source. If
the plume is flowing through sand, a portion of the contaminants are naturally
filtered from the groundwater. Even though the plume widens down gradient, the
concentration of the contaminant s tends to decrease through filtering, dilution, or
the natural breakdown of substances over time and distance called natural
attenuation.
A contamination plume is identified by drilling monitoring wells and routinely
sampling the water for contaminants. A series of monitoring wells studied over
time reveals details about the direction of groundwater flow and the level of
contamination. Once the point source is identified, cleanup work includes
removing contaminated material and soil at the surface and treating the
groundwater.

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