FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

ENGINEERING GEOLOGY
LECTURE 10: GEOHYDROLOGY

ANTHONY OSINDE
MSC. REN. ENERGY(MAK), MSC. ENERGY POLICY(PAUWES, ALG), BSC. CIVIL (NDU)
 Outline
INTRODUCTION
Origin of ground water Springs
&Definitions Isotropy & Anisotropy
The hydrologic cycle Potentiality of different
Occurrence of groundwater rocks as Aquifers
Wells Groundwater
Aquifers prospecting
 Origin of ground water
The major source of ground water is rainfall and this groundwater
which originates from precipitation is called meteoric water.
Besides this major source, two other minor sources of ground water
are:-
i. Connate water: the sea water trapped in the pores of rocks that
originated in shallow seas of the past geological times.
ii. Juvenile: the water which comes chiefly from volcanic
emanations in the form of water vapour
Neither of these two minor sources is significant in terms of the total
volume of fresh underground water.
Definition
Groundwater may be defined as:-
Surface water accumulating because of seepage
(infiltrations) and returning to the surface as springs and
through wells.
Ground water is the underground water that occurs in
the saturated zone of variable thickness and depth
below the earth’s surface.
Precisely to say, Groundwater is water beneath the
surface that can be collected with wells, tunnels or
discharge galleries or that flows naturally to the earth’s
surface via seeps or springs.
Groundwater is the fluid mostly encountered in
engineering construction. It is derived from many sources
but mostly it comes from rainfall and melting of snow.
The passage of water through the surface of the ground
is called infiltration and it’s down ward movement to the
saturated zone and depth is described as percolation.
Cracks and pores in the existing rocks and
unconsolidated crystal layers, make up a large
underground reservoir, where part of precipitation is
stored
The hydrologic cycle
The movement of water and water vapor from the
sea to the atmosphere, to the land and back to the
sea and atmosphere again is called the hydrologic
cycle.
The Water in the sea evaporates under solar
radiation and clouds of water vapor move over the
land areas. Precipitation occurs as water begins to
flow back into the sea.
The hydrologic cycle may be represented
diagrammatically as shown below.
Some of the water infiltrates into the soil and percolates
into the saturated ground zone beneath the water table
or phreatic surface.
The water in this zone flows through aquifers to river
channels or sometimes directly into the Sea.
The water that infiltrates also feeds the surface plant life
and sometimes gets drawn up in vegetations where
transpiration takes place on the leaves.
Water remaining on the surface partially
evaporates into vapor and the remaining water
that has not infiltrated or evaporated runs as
surface water/Run-off to the river channels and
arrives back to the sea.
The whole cycle will then start again, hence the
hydrologic cycle.
 Occurrence of Groundwater
The rainfall that percolates below the ground surface passes through
the voids of the rocks and joins the water table. These voids are generally
inter-connected permitting the movement of the ground water. But on
some rocks, they may be isolated and this preventing the movement of
water.
Evidently, the mode of occurrence of ground water depends largely
upon the type of formation and hence upon the geology of the area.
All the materials of variable porosity (or interstices) near the upper
portion of the Earth’s crust can be considered as a potential storage
place for the ground water and may therefore be called as the ground
water reservoir.
The volume of water contained in an area, i.e. the
water storage capacity of the ground water, is
dependent upon:-
i. The porosity of the rocks
ii. The rate at which water is added to it by
infiltration.
iii. The rate at which water is lost from it by
evaporation, transpiration, seepage to surface
courses and withdrawal by man.
Porosity
Porosity is the percentage of rock or sediment that
consists of voids or openings. It’s a measurement of a
rock’s ability to hold water. Porosity defines the maximum
amount of water that can be stored in the rock; but does
not ensure the storage of underground water
Porosity = (Total volume of voids in the aggregate i.e. the volume
of water require saturate the dry sample (Vv)) / (Total volume of
the aggregate (V) ) x 100%
It is generally denoted by the letter Neeta (η)
Therefore η = (Vv / V) x 100%

Porosity, in fact, depends upon the shape,

packing and degree of sorting of the component
grains in a given material
Permeability
Permeability is the ability of a rock or unconsolidated
formation to transport or pass water through itself.
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 opening 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. Unjointed granite
and schist are impermeable.
Shale can have substantial porosity, but it has low
permeability because its pore is too small to permit easy
passage of water
Table showing porosity and permeability of sediments and rocks
Water table
This is a static level of water in wells penetrating the zone of
saturation
Perched water table
This is the top of a body of ground water separated from the main
water table beneath it by a zone that is not saturated.
Drainage of Ground water
This is the extraction of water from below the water table through
wells, infiltration galleries, springs, etc
The water is, thus, drained from the ground
water reservoir, either under some natural
phenomena (like springs) or it can be drained
artificially by constructing wells and lifting water
through them. The water so drained may be to
fulfill domestic, rural, municipal or industrial
water demands.
Specific yield
The volume of ground water extracted by gravity-
drainage from an aquifer is known as the yield
and when it is expressed as the ratio of the volume
of the total material drained, and then it is known
as the Specific field
Specific field = (volume of water obtained by
gravity)/(total volume of the material drained of
dewatered) * 100
Specific retention or field capacity
The quantity of water retained by the material against
the pull of gravity is termed as the specific retention or
the field capacity.
Specific retention = (Volume of the water held against
gravity drainage) / (Total volume of the material drained)
* 100
Note: It is evident that the sum of the specific field and
specific retention is equal to its porosity.
Wells
Water well is a hole usually vertically excavated in the
earth for bringing ground water to the surface. A well is
man-made hole in the ground from which water can be
withdrawn.
Types of wells
The wells may be classified into two types:-
1). Open wells
2). Tube wells
1. Open wells or Dug wells
Open wells are generally open masonry wells having
comparatively bigger diameters and are suitable for low
discharges of order 1-5 liters per second.
The diameter of open wells generally varies from 2 to 5m
in depth. The walls of an open well may be built of
precast at ring or in brick or stone masonry. The field of an
open well is limited because such wells can be
excavated only to a limited depth where the ground
water storage is also limited
Types of open wells
Open wells may be classified into types:-
a) Shallow wells
b) Deep wells
a) Shallow wells.
A shallow well is the one which rest in pervious stratum draws its
supply from the surrounding materials.
b) Deep well.
A deep well is the one which rests on an impervious “Mote” layer
and draws its supply from pervious formation lying below. The
“Mote” layer (layer of clay, cemented sand or other hard materials
which often found laying a few meters below the water table in the
subsoil).
2. Tube wells
Here long pipes or tubes are bored or drilled deep into
the ground, intercepting one or two water bearing
stratum
 Selection of a site for a well
The factors to be carefully studied before selecting a site for sinking a well
are:
1. Topography
2. Climate
3. vegetation
4. Geology of the area
5. Porosity, permeability and alteration of rocks.
6. Joints and faults in rock
7. Folded strata.
8. Proximity of any tank, river, spring, lake, unlined channels, reservoirs etc.
9. Existing wells in the vicinity.
 Aquifers.
An aquifer may be defined as a formation of a permeable material,
which is capable to field appreciable quantities of ground water under
gravity.
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 sand stone, conglomerate, well-jointed lime
stone, bodies of sand and gravel and some fragmental or fractured
volcanic rocks such as columnar basalt. Crystalline rocks such as
granite, gabbros, gneiss, schist and some types of lime stone because
they are not very porous, are considered not good aquifers.
Types of Aquifers
Aquifers vary in depth, lateral extent and thickness but in
general, all aquifers fall into one of the two categories:-
1. Unconfined aquifers
2. Confined aquifers
Unconfined aquifers
Unconfined aquifers, also called non-artesian aquifers, are
the top-most water bearing strata having no confined
impermeable over-burden rock bed lying over them.
The ordinary gravity wells of 2 to 5 m diameters, which are
excavated through such top most aquifers, are known as
unconfined wells. The water level in these wells will stand
equal to the level of water table. Such wells are also known as
water-table wells or gravity wells.

Confined aquifers
When an aquifers is encased on its upper and under surface
by impervious rock formation (aquiclude), and is also broadly
inclined so as to expose the aquifer somewhere to the
catchment area at a higher level for the creations of sufficient
hydraulic head, it is called a confined aquifer or an artesian
aquifer
A confined aquifer is completely filled with water under pressure, and
which is usually separated from the surface by a relatively impermeable
confining bed; or aquitards, such as shale.
An unconfined aquifer is recharged rapidly by precipitations, has a rising
and falling water table during wet and dry seasons, and has relatively
rapid movement of ground water through it.
A confined aquifer is recharged slowly through confining shade beds. A
well excavated through such an aquifer yields water that often flows out
automatically, under hydrostatic pressure, and may even rise or gush out
of surface for a reasonable height. However, where the ground profile is
high, the water may remain well below the ground level. The former type
of wells, where water is gushing out automatically, are called flowing
wells
 Springs
A spring is a place where water flows naturally from rock on to
the land surface.
The natural outflow of ground water at the earth’s surface is said to form
a spring. A pervious layer sandwiched between two impervious layers
gives rise to a natural spring.
A spring indicates the out cropping of the water table. Some springs
discharge where the water table intersects the land surface, but they
also occur where water flows out from caverns or along fractures, faults,
or rock contacts that come to the surface.
Springs are generally capable of supplying very small amounts of water,
and therefore mostly not regarded as source of water supplies.
 Formation and types of springs
Gravity springs
When the ground-water table rises high and the water overflows
through the sides of the natural valley or a depression, the spring
formed is known as a gravity spring.
The flow from such a spring is variable with the rise or fall of water table.
Surface springs.
Sometimes, an impervious obstruction or stratum, supporting the
underground storage, becomes inclined, causing the water table to go
up and get exposed to the ground surface. This type of spring is known
as a surface spring. The quantity of water available from such a spring is
quite uncertain.
Artesian spring
When the above storage is under pressure i.e. the water is
flowing through some confined aquifer, the spring formed
is known as an artesian spring.
These types of springs are able to provide almost uniform
quantity of water. Since the water oozes out under
pressure, they are able to provide higher yields, and may
be thought of as the possible sources of water supply.
Isotropy and Anisotropy
Isotropy (Kv = KL)
This is a phenomenon where the hydraulic conductivity in the
vertical directions Kv will be equal to hydraulic conductivity in
horizontal direction KL
Anisotropy (KL >>>>> Kv)
This is a phenomenon, where the hydraulic
conductivity in the horizontal directions KL, will be
significantly greater than its hydraulic conductivity
in the vertical direction Kv.
Potentiality of different Rocks as Aquifers
The various kinds of rocks possess variable water bearing
properties, depending chiefly on their permeability and
porosity these include:-
1. Sedimentary rocks
2. Metamorphic rocks
3. Igneous rocks.
Sedimentary rocks as aquifers.
Sedimentary rocks generally constitute the best aquifers.
Sedimentary rocks, such as gravels possess the highest water-
retaining as well as water yielding capacities this more true in
case of loose and weakly cemented course gravels.
Next to gravel, the other Sedimentary rocks in their successive
order of decreasing water bearing capacity are:- loose sands,
sand stones, limestone, etc. shales (clays) are the poorest in
absorbing water, being impermeable although porous, and
hence classified as aquiclude
Metamorphic Rocks as Aquifers.
Non-foliated metamorphic rocks like marbles and
Quartzite are generally impermeable, except along the
original bedding, if the same is not completely destroyed
during metamorphism.
These rocks, thus, normally behave as aquicludes. The
foliated metamorphic rocks like slates, schist, phyllites,
and sometimes even gneisses, may contain some good
amount of ground-water due to their being highly
fractured
Igneous Rocks as Aquifers
The igneous rocks are generally the poorest aquifers. The intrusive igneous
rocks like Granites, Syenites, etc, are generally very compact and dense,
and hence are non-porous. They are, thus barren of groundwater under
normal conditions. However, when they are traversed by fissures or cracks,
they may be capable of holding some ground water quantities. Even these
cracks and figures die out with depth and as such, there is absolutely no
possibility of getting any ground water in these rocks at depths greater than
80 to 100 meters.
The extrusive igneous rocks also exhibit great variations in their water bearing
properties. Basic igneous rocks like Basalts are generally rich in cavities and
contraction cracks and as such may become permeable and sources of
underground water
Groundwater Prospecting
The term ground-water prospecting means searching for
the ground water. It does not only include to find out the
places where ground water is available, but also to find
out its approximate quantity and quality as well. This job
can be done by carrying out what is called ground-water
surveys.
Objectives of hydro-geological investigation
The objectives of any hydro-geological investigations
are:-
1. To define recharge and discharge areas
2. Define major water bearing units.
3. Define location, extent and interrelationship of aquifers.
4. Establish physical parameters of aquifers like transmissibility, storage,
coefficient and specific field
5. Estimate total subsurface storage capacity
6. Establish geological factors which affect quality of ground water.
7. Arrival at the location, probable depth of drilling and field from the
bore well, (tube well)
8. To establish the level of water in the ground, their variation over an
area and their fluctuation with time.
 Methods of exploration
A number of techniques can be used in combination to
determine the location of ground water. These may include
Maps- topographic and geological
Vegetation survey
 Local knowledge
Remote sensing
aerial photos and satellite imagery
Geophysics.
Drilling
Thank you
Good luck