The Earth is blue for its oceans but green for the blankets of groundwater under our feet. This course explores the water cycle from under the ground. How much groundwater do we use and what for? How much do the trees? How do we model water fluxes? This course explores the water cycle from an underground perspective. We start with the description of groundwater as a resource: How much is there? Where is it? How do we use it? How much groundwater do plants and trees use every year? How much water do aquifers lose during droughts? How much do they gain during rain events or in a typical year?
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Groundwater is the water beneath the ground surface. It is a vast freshwater reservoir often overlooked because invisible, yet 1000 times greater than all lakes and rivers. The Earth is blue for its oceans, but it is green for the blankets of freshwater under our feet. Half of the world’s population relies on groundwater for drinking and almost half of the irrigated land now depends on groundwater, a ten-fold increase in the past 50 years.
In the second objective of this course, we describe underground waters and the properties and classification of aquifers. What is the difference between a confined and unconfined aquifer? What is porosity and does it influence groundwater resources? We then explain and apply Darcy’s law. Darcy is a 19th century hydraulics engineer who famously worked on bringing clean fresh water to the public fountains of Dijon, France. His law describes flow in porous media and is the cornerstone of subsurface hydrology. We will review his experiments and show how he arrived at his law empirically. We even will show in a lab video how to calculate the hydraulic properties of porous media following Darcy’s steps. After this empirical overview, we will demonstrate how we can derive the same law from first principles using Newton’s force balances.
In our third objective, we will build up from Darcy’s law to derive the other principles of groundwater motion. What are the differences between confined and unconfined flows? What happens when it rains and the aquifers recharge? What happens in soils with inhomogeneous properties? What is a water divide? Finally, we will introduce modeling principles to translate these foundations into real-life engineering. How can we solve the equations of motion in excel using finite difference? How can we design tile drains to lower the water table in a cornfield?
This first course of our three-course series introduces groundwater cycling on Earth, from the description of stocks to fluxes and to the basics of modeling. We will use these fundamental principles in our remaining two topical courses: Wells Hydraulics and Groundwater Contamination.
What you'll learn
- Describe the global and local water balance and quantify groundwater recharge from hydrographs
- Explain in your own words the terms: groundwater, freshwater, water allocation, drought, water demand
Provide estimates of human water usage, global water reservoirs, water during historic droughts
Sketch the water cycle
Provide a water balance for a wathershed
Apply the concept of water balance to simple situations
Use the displacement and seasonal recession method to calculate groundwater recharge.
- Identify underground waters, describe the properties of aquifers and recall their classification
Define: zone of saturation, zone of aeration/unsaturated zone, water table, vadose zone, capillary fringe
Define: aquifer, aquitard/aquifuge, pore space, phreatic surface, root zone, confined/unconfined aquifer, piezometric surface, artesian aquifer, perched aquifers
Define porosity, derive its value in packed beds, Understand Grain size distribution and porosity, Understand the porosity of rock formations
Define storativity, elastic storage coefficient, specific yield, storage coefficient, specific retention, specific storage.
Draw piezometric maps from piezometer data
Find recharge and discharge zones from piezometric data
- Explain and apply Darcy's law
Provide and explain Newton's second law, Newton's second law applied to fluids and Stokes Equation.
Explain the difference between Darcy flux and water velocity.
Derive Darcy's law from first principles: Navier-Stokes to Stokes to Poiseuille to Darcy
Provide physical explanations of the hydraulic conductivity
- Derive the groundwater flow equations, apply their solutions to solve practical problems
Provide and explain Dupuit's equation.
Solve problems related to unconfined and confined aquifers.
Derive the Boussinesq equation.
Define transmissivity
Write the continuity equation for a leaky aquifer and provide an explanation for each parameter and variable as well as their units
Define transmissivity
Syllabus
Week 1: The Underground Water Cycle
We start with the description of groundwater as a resource: How much is there? Where is it? How do we use it?
Week 2: Aquifers
We describe underground waters and the properties and classification of aquifers. What is the difference between a confined and an unconfined aquifer? What is porosity and does it influence groundwater resources?
Week 3: Darcy’s law
We explain and apply Darcy’s law. This law describes flow in porous media and is the cornerstone of subsurface hydrology.
Week 4: Groundwater Flow
We build up from Darcy’s law to derive the other principles of groundwater motion. What are the differences between confined and unconfined flows? What happens when it rains and aquifers recharge?
Week 5: Modeling and Applications
We introduce modeling principles to translate mathematical models into real-life engineering. How can we solve the equations of motion in excel? How can we design tile drains to lower the water table in a cornfield?
