Geohydrology – course outline

1.Groundwater occurrence and distribution: water properties; physical, chemical and geological foundations of groundwater
2.Hydrologic cycle; Global and National water balances; role of groundwater in national water security
3.Groundwater geology – classification of geologic environments – alluvium, sedimentary rocks (sandstone/shale/carbonates), hard rocks (granites, basalts); lithology, stratigraphy, structural features
4.Surface water basics: watersheds, rainfall, infiltration, runoff, evapotranspiration, groundwater recharge, surface water – groundwater interactions, stream hydrographs
5.Groundwater flow: distribution of water in subsurface, physical basis, hydraulic head, Darcy’s law; groundwater recharge
6.Aquifers: confined and unconfined aquifers; Characteristics of aquifer materials – porosity, density, moisture content, permeability, hydraulic conductivity (in the context of geological materials)
7.Groundwater flow: Steady and transient flow in confined and unconfined aquifers; Aquifer characteristics – Transmissivity; Storativity, specific yield; flow nets
8.Groundwater resource evaluation: groundwater flow to wells – Well hydraulics: Thiem and Theis equations and aquifer tests
9.Water well technology: Types of wells, design of water wells, Well design and development
10.Groundwater resource evaluation: Regional groundwater flow systems – characteristics – boundary conditions, recharge, discharge, equations of flow; groundwater models, numerical solutions
11.Flow in non-porous media: hard rock aquifers – fractures
12.Groundwater monitoring: sampling and standards
13.Groundwater contaminants and transport: mass transport, dispersion; groundwater transport models
14.Climate change impacts on groundwater
15.Groundwater management in river basins (IGP, Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri, other)

Lectures and course materials

Resources:

Books:
•Freeze and Cherry (1979) Groundwater, Prentice Hall; (Course Text Book: e book provided)
•Uliana (2012) Hydrogeology Lecture Notes (e book provided)
•Heath (1989) Basic Ground-Water Hydrology: U.S.G.S. Water-Supply Paper 2220 (e book   provided)
•Rushton (2009): Groundwater Hydrology – conceptual and computational models (e book provided)
•CGWB – Aquifer Systems of India (e book provided)
•CGWB – Dynamic Groundwater Resources of India (e book provided)

Web sites:
•http://www.groundwater.org
•CWC-NRSA – WRIS
•CGWB
•USGS : https://water.usgs.gov/edu/
•NPTEL course: Groundwater hydrology (IIT KGP)
•MIT- OCW: Groundwater Hydrology
•International Association of Hydrogeologists