Prerequisite: GY100
Course status: Core
Credit Rating: 8 credits
Total hours spent: 80 hours [30 hours lectures, 15 hours Tutorials, 15 hours Assignments, and 20 hours independent study]
Course Objective(s):
o To introduce students to concepts of groundwater occurrence, movement in soils and rocks.
o To enable students gain knowledge on how to estimate groundwater recharge.
o To study factors governing freshwater - seawater interactions and mechanisms controlling groundwater salinity in different environments.
o To study the use of stable isotopes and other tracers to assess hydrogeologic situation of a given area.
o To introduce students to principles and techniques used in groundwater exploration and drilling.
Learning Outcomes:
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
o Use basic concepts of hydrology and hydrogeology in groundwater studies.
o Process and interpret field hydrogeological data for groundwater occurrence.
o Explain processes that control the quality of groundwater.
o Use hydraulic, isotope and chemical data todetermine groundwater flow dynamics.
o Explain groundwater recharge mechanisms and rate, and their implication to the aquifer sustainability.
Course Structure
Fundamentals of hydrology; Geology of groundwater ; Elements of groundwater Hydraulics; Groundwater Hydrogeochemistry and Isotope Hydrology; Seawater Intrusion in coastal aquifer; Construction, design, and development of boreholes /wells; Groundwater management.
Course Content
Fundamentals of Hydrology: Introduction to concepts of hydrology; the Hydrologic cycle, surface water groundwater interaction, Potential and actual Evapo-transpiration, stream flow measurements, surface runoff ,unsaturated zone processes, groundwater recharge, interpretation of hydro-meteorological data; Groundwater exploration using hydrogeological and geophysical methods. Borehole geophysics; Groundwater resources assessment and development - geology of groundwater, groundwater hydraulics. Groundwater Hydro-geochemistry: Chemical constituents of groundwater, field sampling and laboratory analysis, ion balance, saturation Indices, chemical data presentation on piper trilinear , stiff, and Schoeller diagrams geochemical processes in aquifers, pH and chemical equilibrium activities, gases in groundwater, elements of isotope hydrology in groundwater recharge assessment, water quality standards, operational aspects of hydrochemistry, chemical aspects of groundwater pollution; Sea water Intrusion in coastal aquifers - Assessment and control of sea water intrusion. Control of sea water intrusion in coastal aquifers, Up coning effect; Construction, design and development of boreholes and wells - Drilling techniques for shallow and deep wells, Auguring, percussion, air and mud rotary, design of wells: Natural and artificial gravel, mud cake slot sizes of screens and selection of screens strengths, Corrosion encrustation identification and control for screens and casings; and Groundwater resource management - Groundwater recharge assessment, Conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater, Groundwater recharges rates and sources, Artificial recharge methods, impact of climate change on groundwater resources, isotope hydrology.
Assessment
Coursework 40%, Final Examination 60%.
Key Textbooks
1. Fetter C.W. (2018). Applied Hydrogeology, 4th Ed., Waveland Press Inc. USA.
2. Hudak P.F. (2004). Principles of Hydrogeology, 3rd Ed., CRC Press LLC. USA.
3. Freeze R.A. and Cherry J. (1979). Groundwater. Prentice Hall.
4. Appelo A.C. and Postma, D. (1993). Geochemistry of Groundwater and Pollution. Balkema Publishers.
5. Reynolds J.M. (1997). An Introduction to Applied and Environmental Geophysics. J. Wiley and Sons.