This course is all about groundwater hydrology (also known as hydrogeology), the discipline that deals with the occurrence, migration, and development of all subsurface water. It is about the geological environments that control the occurrence of groundwater, and the physical laws that govern and describe the flow of groundwater. It will also address the influence of humans on the natural groundwater environment, and conversely the influence of natural groundwater regimes on water resources development, agriculture, industry, economic sustainability, and engineering infrastructures.
Geologists and engineers use the term “groundwater” traditionally to refer to subsurface water that occurs beneath the water table, within soils, sediments, and rock formations that are fully saturated. This classical definition will be retained for this course and the focus of most lectures, but we will also develop a more comprehensive understanding of subsurface water, from the shallowest water found well above the water table in the unsaturated zone of soils to the deepest water found in brine-saturated aquifers in the Earth’s crust.
Groundwater hydrology is interdisciplinary in nature, bridging fields of geology, physics, chemistry, hydrology, and applied mathematics. This course will introduce students to the physical properties of groundwater, the physical laws and theory that govern its movement, the properties of geologic media that control rates of flow and storage, and methods for modeling subsurface flow patterns. Later in the course, the lectures focus on more practical topics, such as methods for groundwater exploration, water-well drilling technology, the hydraulics of pumping wells, aquifer mechanics, and groundwater resource evaluation. Near the end of the course, we examine the role of groundwater in watershed hydrology, geotechnical problems, and geologic processes.
Problem sets will be assigned regularly that involve calculations and use of flow nets, and computer software for predictive modeling purposes will be utilized. The class will also include 1 field trip to study hydrogeology in the field and to see how production wells and piezometers are drilled and completed.
This course is a prerequisite for Geo 132 Groundwater Chemistry & Quality, which will be taught in spring semesters.
