Dr. Md.

Sabbir Mostafa Khan

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Lecture Note – 1

Hydrology

Hydrology deals with the waters of the earth, their distribution and circulation, their physical
and chemical properties, and their interaction with the environment, including interaction
with living things and, in particular, human beings.

Engineering Hydrology

Engineering hydrology includes those segments of the field pertinent to design and operation
of engineering projects for the control and use of water.

Practical Applications of Hydrology

● Design and operation of hydraulic structures

● Water supply
● Wastewater treatment and disposal
● Irrigation and drainage
● Hydropower generation
● Flood control
● Navigation
● Erosion and sediment control
● Salinity control
● Recreational use of water
● Fish and wildlife protection

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Geologic Cycle

Throughout the nearly 4.6 billion years of earth’s history, chemical compounds that make up
the surface and bedrock near the surface have been continuously created from the chemical
elements, maintained, and changed by physical, chemical, and biological processes.
Collectively, the processes responsible for formation and change of earth materials are
referred to as the geologic cycle, which is actually a group of subcycles: tectonic, hydrologic,
rock, and biogeochemical.

Hydrologic cycle (Water cycle)

The hydrologic cycle is a continuous process by which water is transported from the oceans
to the atmosphere to the land and back to the sea. Water on earth exists in a space called the
hydrosphere which extends about 15 km up into the atmosphere and about 1 km down into
the lithosphere, the crust of the earth. Water circulates in the hydrosphere through the maze of
paths constituting the hydrologic cycle.

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Fig. 1.1​: Hydrologic Cycle

Processes in hydrologic cycle

Evaporation
Water evaporates from the oceans and the land surface due to the heat energy provided by the
solar radiation to become part of the atmosphere.

Evapotranspiration
Evaporation from the land surface is accompanied by transpiration by plants. Transpiration is
the ​evaporation of ​water from aerial parts and of ​plants​, especially ​leaves but also ​stems​,
flowers and ​fruits​. Transpiration is a side effect of the plant needing to open its ​stomata in
order to obtain ​carbon dioxide​ gas from the air for ​photosynthesis​.

Precipitation

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Water vapor is transported and lifted in the atmosphere until it condenses and precipitates on
the land or the oceans as rain, snow, hail, sleet etc. Some precipitation falls as snow and can
accumulate as ice caps and glaciers, which can store frozen water for thousands of years.

Interception by vegetation and depression storage

A part of the precipitated water may be intercepted by vegetation or temporarily retained in
the soil in surface depressions (depression storage) near where it falls and is ultimately
returned to the atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration by plants.

Infiltration and percolation

A portion of the water that reaches the ground enters the earth’s surface through infiltration.
Some part of it then penetrates further into the ground to reach the ground water table
(percolation).

Subsurface flow and base flow

A part of the infiltrated water flows laterally through the unsaturated soil (subsurface flow).
Lateral movement of groundwater in the saturated zone is known as base flow. Some
groundwater stays close to the land surface and can seep back into surface-water bodies (e.g.
lakes, rivers etc.) and the ocean. Some ground water finds openings in the land surface and
emerges as freshwater springs.

Surface runoff
A portion of the precipitated water flows over the soil surface (surface runoff). Initially it is a
thin layer of sheet flow known as overland flow. Ultimately it reaches minor channels
(gullies, rivulets etc.), flows to major streams and rivers, and finally reaches an ocean.
Sometimes, surface runoff flows into closed water bodies (i.e. lakes).

Snowmelt
Snow packs in warmer climates often melt when spring arrives, and the melted water flows
overland as snowmelt.

Estimated world water quantities

Table 1.1: ​Estimated world​ ​water quantities

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The Table 1.1 lists estimated quantities of water in various forms on the earth. About 96.5%
of all the earth’s water is in the oceans. If the earth were a uniform sphere, this quantity
would be sufficient to cover it to a depth of about 2.6 km. Of the remainder, 1.7% is in the
polar ice, 1.7% in groundwater and only 0.1% in the surface and atmospheric water systems.
The atmospheric water system, the driving force of surface water hydrology, contains only
12,900 km​3​ of water, or less than one part in 100,000 of all the earth’s water.

Of the earth’s fresh water, about two-thirds is polar ice and most of the remainder is
groundwater going down to a depth of 200 to 600 m. Most groundwater is saline below this
depth. Only 0.006% of fresh water is contained in the rivers. Biological water, fixed in the
tissues of plants and animals, make up about 0.003% of all fresh water, equivalent to half the
volume contained in rivers.

Table 1.2: ​Global annual water balance

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Global annual water balance shown in the Table 1.2; Fig. 1.1 it shows the major components
in units relative to an annual land precipitation volume of 100. It can be seen that evaporation
from the land surface consumes 61% of this precipitation, the remaining 39% forming runoff
to the oceans, mostly as surface water. Evaporation from the oceans contributes nearly 90%
of atmospheric moisture.

Residence time

The residence time T​r is ​ the average duration for a water molecule to pass through a
subsystem of the hydrologic cycle. It is calculated by dividing the volume of water S in
storage by the flow rate Q (i.e. T​r​ = S/Q).

The volume of atmospheric moisture (Table 1.1) is 12,900 km​3​. The flow rate of moisture
from the atmosphere as precipitation (Table 1.2) is 458,000 + 119,000 = 577,000 km​3​/yr (or
the flow rate of moisture to the atmosphere as evaporation is 505,000 + 72,000 = 577,000
km​3​/yr), so the average residence time for moisture in the atmosphere is T​r = 12,900/577,000
= 0.022 yr = 8.2 days. The very short residence time for moisture in the atmosphere is one
reason why weather cannot be forecast accurately more than a few days ahead.

Similarly, the volume of water in the rivers (Table 1.1) is 2,120 km​3​. The average flow rate of
water in global rivers (Table 1.2) is 44,700 km​3​/yr, so the residence time for global rivers is
T​r = 2,120/44,700 = 0.0474 yr = 17.3 days. The global residence time for groundwater is T​r =
(10,530,000+12,870,000)/2,200 = 10,636.36 yrs. The very long residence time for
groundwater is the reason why it takes long time to clean groundwater if it is contaminated.

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 Dr. Md. Sabbir Mostafa Khan
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