The Hydrologic Cycle

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 Mechanism of Global Hydrologic
Cycle
1. Solar Radiation (R)
2. Evap and Trans (E & T)
3. Increased mass of
water in air
4. Lateral movement by
Wind (W)
5. Precipitation (P)

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 Homework
Which one is lighter and Why?
Mechanism of Global Hydrologic
Cycle
6. Infiltration
Vertical
Lateral (Qs)
7. Groundwater (Qg)
8. Depression Storage
9. Runoff (Ro)
Qs, Qg, Ro :
• Different proportions
• Different arrival time
• soil, vegetation and
precipitation dependent
System Representation

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System Representation of Soil Moisture
1. Infiltration
Input 2. Subsurface flow from rivers and lakes
3. Capillary rise of water from gound water

Soil System

Output
1. Groundwater Recharge (Qg)
2. Subsurface flow to nearby rivers and lakes (Qs)
3. Exfiltration
Physical Laws of Application in
Hydrology

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 Physical Laws
1. Law of Conservation of Mass
2. Newton’s laws of Motion
3. Law of Thermodynamics
4. Fick’s first law of Diffusion

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 Assignment No. 01
• Examine how climate change is impacting both your
everyday activities and long-term experiences,
particularly in relation to water systems and
hydrological processes (e.g., rainfall, water supply,
flooding).
• Present your personal reflection in a one-page
narrative that connects these hydrological changes to
your life.
– Your submission must be original, as it will be checked for
plagiarism and AI-generated content.
– Please submit both a digital and a printed copy (for PEC
Folders)
Concept of Watershed

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 Concept of a Watershed

Hydrologists usually apply the mass

conservation equation and other physical laws
to geographic region in order to establish its
basic hydrologic characteristics.
The fundamental geographic unit of hydrologic
analysis is the watershed.

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 Concept of a Watershed
Catchment Area
• The area of land draining in to a stream or a
water course at a given location is called
catchment area / drainage area / drainage basin
/ watershed
• A catchment area is separated from its
neighboring areas by a ridge called divide
watershed.

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 Watershed and watershed divide

Watershed/
catchment
Watershed/
catchment

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 Concept of a Watershed
• A watershed is a geographical unit in which the
hydrological cycle and its components can be
analyzed.
• The equation is applied in the form of water-balance
equation to a geographical region, in order to
establish the basic hydrologic characteristics of the
region.
• Usually a watershed is defined as the area that
appears, on the basis of topography, to contribute all
the water that passes through a given cross section of
a stream.
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If a permeable soil covers an impermeable
substrate, the topographical division of watershed
will not always correspond to the ridge line.

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What is the effect of Watershed
characteristics on flood
hydrograph?

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 Watershed characteristics
• Size

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 Watershed characteristics
• Slope

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 Watershed characteristics
• Roughness

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 Watershed characteristics

• Shape

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 Water Budget Equation
• For a given catchment, in an interval of time ∆t,
the continuity equation for water in its various
phases can be given as:
Mass inflow – Mass outflow = change in mass storage
• If the density of the inflow, outflow and storage
volumes are the same:
i  o  S
Vi - Inflow volume in to the catchment, Vo - Outflow volume from
the catchment and ∆S - change in the water volume
NOTE: All the terms in the equation have the dimension of volume and these
terms can be expressed as depth over the catchment area.
 Example 01
A watershed has an area of 350 Km2 and an
estimated mean annual precipitation is 2.4 x
108 m3/year. Express annual precipitation in
terms of equivalent depth of water uniformly
spread over the watershed.

Equivalent depth of mean annual precipitation

= Mean annual precipitation/ area
= 685.7 mm/year
 Water Budget Equation…

• Water budget of a catchment for a time interval

∆t is written as:
P + Gi – R – Go – E – T = ∆S
P = Precipitation, R = Surface runoff, Gi = net ground water inflow to the
catchment, Go = net ground water flow out of the catchment, E = Evaporation,
T = Transpiration, and ∆S = change in storage

• The above equation is called the water budget

equation for a catchment
 Water Budget Equation…

Define System Boundaries

Inflow +ve sign
Outflow -ve sign
Watershed Surface Water Balance
Lower Boundary: Ground Surface
P – I – R – E – T = ∆S
Water Balance for Subsoil Systems
Upper Boundary: Ground Surface
Lower Boundary: Water Table
I + Gi – Go – Rg – E = ∆S
Mass Conservation is theoretical
• 2-20% error
 Water Budget Equation…

Assumption
We have to assume:
1. In large watersheds and over long period of
time, input tends to balance the output and
∆S = 0
So,
P–I–R–E–T=0
 Example 02
• A watershed with area 350Km2 has mean annual precipitation
of 685.7 mm/year, mean annual evapotranspiration is
450mm/year, roughly estimate the mean annual watershed
streamflow in mm/year and m3/year.

Q = P - ET

Q = 235.7 mm/year

Q = 82.425 m3/year
 Example 03
• The storage in a river at given time is 50,000m3. At the same time inflow is
25m3/sec, and outflow is 22m3/sec. Three hours later inflow is 23 m3/sec
and outflow is 24 m3/sec. Calculate:
1. Change in storage during three hours
2. Storage volume after three hours

InputAvg – OutputAvg = ∆S

10,800 m3

Storage Volume = Already stored + Change in storage

60,800 m3
 Example 04
• A lake has a surface area of 18 km2. Average inflow rate in a given day is
45m3/s. in the same day the evaporation rate is 6.5mm/day and lake stage
increased 15cm. Estimate:
1.Average flow rate to main outflowing river in m3/s.
2. Outflow volume during one day in m3

Qin – Qout – E = ∆S

Qout = 12.40 m3/sec

Qout = 1.07m3/day
q
 Homework Practice Questions
Following questions of exercise to be done
• Question No. 07,09,11,12,14
 Home Assignment No. 02
Following questions of exercise to be done from
Text Book Enineering Hydrology by Sergio E
Serrano
• Numerical Problem 8,10,13,15,16
Deadline???
 Content
 Residence Time
 The Hydrologic Cycle
 Hydrologic Systems
 Physical Laws of Application in Hydrology
 Concept of Watershed
 Water Budget Equation

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