Geohydrology

Prof – Dnyaneshwar U. Korte

Nowrosjee Wadia College
 Introduction
• Groundwater hydrology may be defined as the science of the
occurrence, distribution and movement of water below the surface of
the earth.
• Hydrology
• Geohydrology
• Hydrogeology
• These all the three terms are different and covers all details about the
groundwater and their distribution, circulation and quality as well.
 Terminology
• Hydrology - The scientific study of the waters of the earth, especially
with relation to the effects of precipitation and evaporation upon the
occurrence and character of water in streams, lakes, and on or below
the land surface
• Hydrogeology – Hydrogeology deals with the occurrence,
distribution, movement of water and its constituents ( quality of
water) beneath the earth surface.
• That’s groundwater.
• Geo-Hydrology – physical and chemical interaction with physical
environment.
• Origin of Water -
• Almost all groundwater can be thought of the hydrologic cycle, including surface and
atmospheric water.
• Connate water – water has been out of contact with the atmosphere for at least an
appreciable part of a geologic period is termed as connate water.
• Essentially, it consists of fossil interstitial water that has migrated form its original
burial location.
• This water may have been derived from has oceanic or fresh water sources and,
typically is highly mineralized.
• Magmatic or Juvenile water – magmatic water is water derived from magma, where
the separation is deep, the term plutonic water is applied while volcanic water
designate at shallower depth.
• The new water of magmatic or cosmic origin that has not previously been a part of
the hydrosphere is referred to as Juvenile water.
• Meteoric water – Water formed during the infiltration of runoff water of
precipitation, In or recently from the atmosphere.
• While the bulk of rainwater or meltwater from snow and ice reaches the
sea through surface flow, a considerable portion of meteoric water
gradually infiltrates into the ground. This infiltrating water continues its
downward journey to the zone of saturation to become a part of
the groundwater in aquifers.
 Scope and Distribution in India
• Groundwater is the most preferred source of water in various user sectors in India
on account of its near universal availability, dependability and low capital cost.
• The increasing dependence on ground water as a reliable source of water has
resulted in indiscriminate extraction in various parts of the country without due
regard to the recharging capacities of aquifers and other environmental factors.

• Important catalyst for its socio economic development. Its importance as a

precious natural resource in the Indian context can be gauged from the fact that
more than 85 percent of India’s rural domestic water requirements, 50 percent of
its urban water requirements and more than 50 percent of its irrigation
requirements are being met from ground water resources.
- India is a vast country with a highly
diversified hydrogeologic set-up.
-The ground water behavior in the Indian sub-
continent is highly complicated due to the
occurrence of diversified geological formations
with considerable lithological and
chronological variations, complex tectonic
framework, climatological dissimilarities and
various hydro-chemical conditions.
- The rock formations range in age from
Archaean to Quaternary-Recent period.
• The major Geological Formations are the –
• 1) Consolidated formations represented by Igneous & Metamorphic rocks with major rock types
consisting of granites, Charnockites, Quartzites & associated Phyllite, slate etc; basalts &
associated igneous rocks.
• 2) The semi consolidated rock formations are represented by rocks of Mesozoic & tertiary period
with major rock types represented by limestone, sandstone, pebbles & boulder conglomerates.
• 3) The unconsolidated formations belong to Pleistocene to recent period & represented by major
rocks such as boulders, pebbles, different grade of sands, silt-clay. These rocks form the major
potential aquifer zones.

• The Indian sub continent is occupied by major geological rock types such as metamorphic of pre
Cambrian period, Igneous rocks represented by basaltic rocks of Cretaceous-Eocene period,
Gondwana & Vindhyan rocks which are overlain by quaternary to recent sedimentary deposits .The
distribution of these rock types are given in geological map
Vertical Distribution of Groundwater
• 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,
• The zone of saturation, all interstices are filled with water under
hydrostatic pressure.
• On most of the land masses of the earth a single zone of aeration
overlies a single zone of saturation and it extend upwards to the ground
surface.
• Zone of aeration (Vadose) subdivided into three types of zones,
1. Soil – water zone
2. Intermediate zone
3. Capillary zone
 Zone of Aeration (Vadose)
• 1. Soil – Water zone – water in the soil water zone exits at less than saturation
except temporarily when excessive water reaches the ground surface as from
rainfall or irrigation.
• The zone extends from the ground surface down through the major root zone.
• Its thickness varies with soil type and vegetation, because of the agricultural
importance of soil water is supplying moisture to roots, agriculturist and soil
scientist have studied soil moisture distribution and movement extensively.
• The amount of water present in the soil-water zone depends primarily on the
recent exposure of the soil to moisture.
• Under hot, arid condition, a water – vapor equilibrium tends to becomes
established between the ambient air and the surfaces of fine grained soil
particles.
• 2. Intermediate zone – the intermediate vadose zone extends from
the lower edge of soil – water zone to the upper limit of the capillary
zone.
• The thickness may vary from zero, where the bounding zones merge
with a high water table approaching ground surfaces, to more than
100m under deep water table condition.
• The zone serves primarily as region connecting the zone near ground
surface with that near the water table through which water moving
vertically downward must pass.
• Nonmoving vadose water is held in place by hygroscopic and capillary
forces.
• Temporary excess of water migrate downward as gravitational water.
• Capillary Zone – The capillary zone extends from the water table up to the limit
of capillary rise of water.
• If a pore space could be idealized to present a capillary tube, the capillary rise
hc, can be derived from an equilibrium between surface tension of water and
weight of water raised.
• hc= 2Ԏ cosλ
rϒ
• Where τ is the surface tension, ϒ is the specific weight of water, r is the tube
radius, and λ is the angle of contact between the meniscus and the wall of tube.
• The capillary fringe is the subsurface layer in which groundwater seeps up from a water table
by capillary action to fill pores.
• Zone of Saturation ( Phreatic Zone) – in the zone of saturation, groundwater fills
all of the interstices ; hence, the (effective) porosity provides a direct measure of
the water contained per unit volume.
• A portion of the water can be removed from the subsurface strata by drainage or
by pumping of a well; however, molecular and surface tension forces hold the
remainder of the water in place.
• Specific Retention – the specific retention Sr of a soil or rock is the ratio of the
volume of water it will retain after saturation against the force of gravity to its
own volume.
• Sr = Wr/Vt
• Where Wr, is the volume occupied by retained water and Vt is the bulk volume of
rock or soil.
• Specific Yield – the specific yield Sy of a soil or rock is the ratio of the volume of
water of that, after saturation can be drained by gravity to its own volume,
therefore
• Sy = Wy / Vt
• Where Wy is the volume of water drained. Value of Sy and Sr can also be
expressed as percentages. Because Wr and Wy constitute the total volume of in a
saturated material, it is
• Vv = Wr + Wy Or α = Sr + Sy
Cont.…
• Values of specific yield depend on grain size, shape and distribution of
pores, compaction of the stratum, and time of drainage.
• Representative specific yields for various geologic materials listed
below,
• It should be noted that fine grained materials yield little water,
whereas coarse grained materials permits a substantial release of
water and hence serve as Aquifer.
Material Specific yield (%)
Gravel, coarse 23
Gravel, Fine 25
Sand coarse 27
Sand Fine 23
Silt 8
Clay 3
Sandstone fine 21
• Rock properties affecting Groundwater
• Groundwater occurs in many types of geologic formation those known as
Aquifers, are of most importance.
• An aquifer may be defined as a formation that contains sufficient saturated
permeable material to yield significant quantities of water to wells and springs.
• This implies an ability to store and to transmit water unconsolidated sand and
gravels are a typical example.
• Aquifer are generally a really extensive and may be overlain or underlain by
confining beds, which may be defined as a relatively impermeable material
stratigraphically adjacent to each other.
• There are various types of confining beds following types are well established.
1. Aquiclude – A saturated but relatively impermeable material that does not
yield appreciable quantities of water to wells, Example- Clay.
2. Aquifuge – A relatively impermeable formation neither containing nor
transmitting water, Example – solid granite.
3. Aquitard – A saturated but poorly permeable stratum that impedes
groundwater movement and does not yield water freely to wells, that may
transmit water to or from adjacent aquifer and where sufficiently thick, may
constitute an important groundwater storage zones, Example – Sandy clay.
• Porosity –
• those portion of rock or soil not occupied by solid mineral matter can be
occupied by groundwater. These spaces are known as voids, interstices, pores or
pore spaces.
• Because interstices serve as water conduits, they are of fundamental importance
to the study of groundwater.
• Typically they are characterized by their size, shape, irregularity and distribution.
• Primary porosity form during the deposition of different formation like
sedimentary rocks and igneous rocks.
• Secondary porosity form due to the deformation, distorted or joints, fractures
and solution opening is mostly in metamorphic rocks.
• The porosity of rock or soil is a measure of the contained interstices or voids
expressed as the ratio of the volume of interstices to the total volume.
• α = Vv/v = Vt-Vs/Vt
• Where, Vv is the volume of voids, Vs is the volume of solids, and Vis the total
volume ( bulk volume)
 • The term effective porosity refers to the amount of interconnected
pore space available for fluid flow and is expressed as a ratio of
interconnected voids to the total volume.
Material Porosity %

Silt 46

Clay 42

Sandstone fine grained 33

Sandstone coarse 37

Limestone 30

Basalt 17

Shale 6
• Permeability –
• The permeability of a rock or soil defines its ability to transmit a fluid,
this is property only of the medium and is independent of fluid
properties, to avoid confusion with hydraulic conductivity, which
includes the properties of groundwater, an intrinsic permeability k may
be expressed as,
• k = Kμ / ρg
• Where K is hydraulic conductivity, μis the dynamic viscosity, ρ is the fluid
density, and g is the acceleration of gravity.
• Transmissivity(T)
• It is widely employed in ground water hydraulics. It may be defined as the
rate at which water is transmitted through a unit width of aquifer under a
unit hydraulic gradient.
• T=Kb
• where, K-hydraulic conductivity
• b-saturated thickness of the aquifer

• Storativity (S)
• Is the volume of water removed from a unit area of an aquifer for a unit drop
in hydraulic head; in confined aquifers, it is equal to the specific storage times
the thickness of the aquifer, in unconfined aquifers, it is equal to the specific
storage times the thickness of the aquifer plus the specific
Thank You…..