Unit 5
Unit 5
Unit 5
Introduction
• About 30% of the freshwater resources exist in the form of groundwater.
• This forms a critical input for the sustenance of life and vegetation in arid zones.
Forms of Subsurface water
Water in the soil mantle is called subsurface water and is considered in two zones
1. Saturated zone
2. Aeration zone
Classification of subsurface water
Saturated Zone
• This zone, also known as groundwater zone, is the space where all the pores of the
soil are filled with water.
• The water table forms its upper limit and marks a free surface i.e., surface having
atmospheric pressure.
Zone of Aeration
• In this zone, the soil pores are only partially saturated with water.
• It has 3 subzones:
Soil water Zone
Capillary Fringe
Intermediate zone
Soil water Zone
This lies close to the ground surface in the major root band of the vegetation
from which the water is lost to the atmosphere by evapotranspiration.
Capillary Fringe
• In this, the water is held by capillary action
• The zone extends from the water table upwards to the limit of capillary
rise.
Intermediate zone
• This lies between the above-mentioned zones.
Saturated Formation
Saturated formations are classified into 4 categories
Aquifer
• An aquifer is a saturated formation of earth material which not only stores water but
yields it in sufficient quantity.
• Thus an aquifer transmits water relatively easily due to high permeability.
• Unconsolidated deposits of sand and gravel form good aquifers.
Aquitard
• It is a formation through which only seepage is possible and thus the yield is
insignificant to an aquifer
• It is partly permeable
• A sandy clay unit is an example of aquitard.
Aquiclude
• It is a geological formation which is essentially impermeable to the
flow of water.
• Clay is an example of an aquiclude.
Aquifuge
• It is a geological formation which is neither porous nor permeable.
• There is no interconnected openings and hence it can’t transmit water.
• Massive compact rock without any fractures is an aquifuge.
Aquifer
• An aquifer is a wet underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated
materials from which groundwater can be usefully extracted using a water well.
AQUIFERS
• An unconfined aquifer is one which a free water surface i.e. water table exists.
• A confined aquifer also known as artesian aquifer is an aquifer which is confined
between two impervious beds such as aquiclude and acquifuge.
• A confined aquifer is called as a leaky aquifer if either or both of its confining
beds are aquitards.
Water Table
• A water Table is the free water surface in an unconfined aquifer.
• The static level of a well penetrating an unconfined aquifer indicates the level of
the water table at that point.
• If the water table intersects the land surface, the groundwater comes out to the
surface in the form of springs.
• Sometimes a localized patch of impervious stratum can occur inside an
unconfined aquifer in such a way that it retains a water table above the general
water table. Such a water table retained around the impervious material is known
as perched water table.
• Streams which receive groundwater flow during low-flow period are called
effluent streams.
• Perennial streams are of this kind.
VS.
• Tranmissivity
T=bK
How to Measure Permeability
KN
Numericals
Compressibility of Aquifers
Confined groundwater flow between two
water bodies
Unconfined flow by Dupit’s Assumption
Unconfined flow with recharge