Subsurface Water

TOPICS:
1. Occurrence of Subsurface Water 12. Safe Yield
2. Soil-Water Relationships 13. Seawater Intrusion
3. Equilibrium Points 14. Artificial Recharge
4. Measurement of Soil Moisture 15. Artesian Aquifers
5. Movement of Soil Moisture 16. Time Effects in Groundwater
6. Aquifers
7. Determination of Permeability
8. Sources of Groundwater
9. Discharge of Groundwater
SUBSURFACE
WATER
● Subsurface water is relatively free of
pollution and is especially useful for
domestic use in small towns and isolated
farms.
● In arid regions, groundwater is often the
only reliable source of water for
irrigation.
● Groundwater temperatures are usually
relatively low, and large quantities are
used for cooling in warm regions.
 Occurrence of Subsurface Water

● The two major subsurface zones are divided

by an irregular surface called water table.
The water table is the locus of points (in
unconfined material) where hydrostatic
pressure equals atmospheric pressure.

● Above the water table, in the Vadose Zone,

soil pores may contain either air or water;
hence it is sometimes called Zone of
Aeration.
 Occurrence of Subsurface Water

● In the Phreatic Zone, below the water table, interstices are

filled with water; sometimes this is called the Zone of
Saturation.

● Confined groundwater is usually under pressure because of

the weight of the overburden and the hydrostatic head. If a
well penetrates the confining layer, water will rise to the
piezometric level, the artesian equivalent of the water table.
If the piezometric level is above the ground level, the well
discharges as a flowing well.
Occurrence of Subsurface Water
Moisture in the Vadose Zone

1. Soil Water – in the region penetrated by roots of

vegetation, ranging to 10m below the soil
surface, which fluctates in amount as vegetation
removes moisture between rains.
2. Capillary Fringe – Above the water table,
moisture is raised by capillarity into the capillary
fringe, which may have a vertical extent of
several centimeters to about a meter depending
on the pore sizes of the material.
3. Intermediate –Intermediate region exists where
moisture levels remain constant at the field
capacity of the soil and rock of the region.
 Soil-Water Relationships

● Soil moisture may be present as gravity

water in transit in the larger pore spaces,
as capillary water in the smaller pores, as
hygroscopic moisture adhering in a thin
film to soil grains, and as water vapor.
 Soil-Water Relationships

● Buckingham first proposed characterizing soil-moisture

phenomena on the basis of energy relationships. He
introduced the concept of capillary potential to describe the
attraction of soil to water.

● Capillary potential – is defined as the work required to move

a unit mass of water from the reference plane to any point in
the soil column. Thus, the capillary potential is the potential
energy per unit of mass of water.
Equilibrium Points
• In visualizing several states of water in soil, early soil scientists tried
to define limits of these states by equilibrium points.
• Field capacity – is defined as the moisture content of soil after
gravity drainage is complete.
• Wilting point – represents the soil-moisture level when plants cannot
extract water from soil.
• Available moisture - The difference between the moisture content at
field capacity and at wilting point. It represents the useful storage
capacity of the soil and the maximum water available to plants.
Measurement of Soil Moisture

● Tensiometer – consists of a porous

ceramic cup which is inserted in the soil,
filled with water, and connected to a
manometer. A tensiometer can indicate
soil-moisture tension from saturation to
a tension of about 100 kPa.
 Measurement of Soil Moisture

● Resistivity Method
- a pair of electrodes embedded in a porous dielectric (plaster of paris,
nylon, fiberglass) is buried in the soil.
● Neutron-Scattering Method
- uses a source of fast neutrons which is lowered into an aluminum access
tube in the soil.
● Aerial observation of natural gamma radiation
- may prove useful in determining soil-moisture variations over large areas.
● Satellite observations
- are also able to detect soil moisture levels.
 Movement of Soil-Moisture

● Infiltration – is the movement of water through the soil surface

into the soil as distinguished from percolation, the movement of
water through the soil.
Moisture in the Phreatic Zone

• Within the phreatic zone all pore spaces are

filled with water, and the different states of
moisture, moisture tension, etc., are of little
concern. Interest is centered on the amount
of water present, the amount which can be
removed and the movement of this water.
Aquifers

● Aquifer – a geologic formation which contains water and transmits it

from one point to another in quantities sufficient to permit economic
development.

● Aquiclude – is a formation which contains water but cannot transmit it

rapidly enough to furnish a significant supply to a well or spring.

● Aquifuge – has no interconnected openings and cannot hold or transmit

water.
Aquifers

● Porosity – The ratio of the pore volume to the total volume of the
formation.

● The original porosity of a material is that which existed at the time the
material was formed.

● Secondary porosity results from fractures and solution channels.

Determination of Permeability
● Laboratory measurements of
permeability are made with
permeameters. A sample of the material
is subjected to water under a known
head, and the flow through the ample in
a known time is measured.
Sources of Groundwater
• Almost all groundwater is meteoric water
derived from precipitation.
• Connate water – was present in the rock at
its formation and is frequently highly saline.
• Juvenile water – formed chemically within
the earth and brought to the surface in
intrusive rocks, occurs in small quantities.
Direct percolation – is most effective in
recharging groundwater where the soil is highly
permeable or the water table is close to the
surface.
 Discharge of Groundwater

• Without interference by human beings, a groundwater basin fills

and discharges excess water by several routes until a
quasiequilibrium is reached.
• Where an aquifer intersects the Earth’s surface, a spring or seep
will form.
Potential of a Groundwater Reservoir
● Safe Yield – is defined by Meinzer as “the rate at which water can be withdrawn
for human use without depleting the supply to such as extent that withdrawal at
this rate is no longer economically feasible”.

Seawater Intrusion
● The lens of seawater floating on salt water is known as Ghyben-Herzberg lens,
after the codiscovers of the principle.
● About 1/40 unit of fresh water below sea level to maintain hydrostatic
equilibrium. True hydrostatic equilibrium does not exist with a sloping water
table since flow must occur. Thus, there is likely to be a seepage face for
freshwater flow to the ocean and a zone of mixing along the saltwater-freshwater
interface.
Artesian Aquifers
● Artesian aquifers demonstrate considerable compressibility.
There are cases where fluctuations in tide level, barometric
pressure, or even the superimposed load of trains are reflected
in fluctuations of water level in wells penetrating an aquifer.

Time
● Floweffects ingroundwater
rates in the Groundwaterare normally extremely slow,
and considerable time may be involved in groundwater
phenomena.
Thanks!