A MEDENCELÉPTÉKŰ GRAVITÁCIÓS TALAJVÍZÁRAMLÁS

ELMÉLETÉNEK A RÖVID TÖRTÉNETE

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE THEORY OF GRAVITY-DRIVEN REGIONAL
GROUNDWATER FLOW

József Tóth
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton,
Canada, Joe.Toth@ualberta.ca

Abstract

The theory of gravity-driven regional groundwater flow was first proposed in 1962/3
based on the Laplace equation. Hydraulic-head patterns were calculated for a two dimen-
sional trapezoidal and homogeneous flow domain with flow lines drawn by hand. The flow
region was intended to represent one flank of a stream basin with a periodically undulat-
ing water table. At the dawn of numerical modeling the results generated international
interest. Numerical models began to be produced with progressively increasing complex-
ity of basin geometry, types and distributions of permeability and time dependent flow.
One of the most important results of the first analyses was the birth of the flow-system
concept. In a flow system groundwater moves from relatively highly elevated recharge
areas, through medium high mid-line regions to relatively low lying discharge areas
where it may resurface. Because flow systems are associated with topographic elements
of different scale, they are self-organized in hierarchically nested geometric patterns.
The understanding of the systematized structure of basinal groundwater flow soon resulted
in the recognition that flow systems act like subsurface conveyor belts. They mobilize
and remove matter and heat from the recharge area, pick up more or/and emplace some
of it en route, and deposit them in the discharge region. In short: flowing groundwater is a
general geologic agent. The original „Theory of regional groundwater flow” became thus
expanded into a bimodal umbrella theory with two component theories: i) „The hydraulics
of basin-scale groundwater flow” and ii) „The geologic agency of regional groundwater
flow”. More than half a century after its conception the theory is extensively analyzed
and continues to be applied to a growing number of groundwater related disciplines.

Introduction
Arguably, the seed of the theory of regional groundwater flow was sown
in 1956 when I fled the invading Soviet troops in Hungary as a fifth year
student of geophysics at the School of Mining, Forestry and Geodesy of
Sopron and recommenced my studies at the State University of Utrecht,
The Netherlands. Four years later, in 1960, with the degree of „PhD
Candidate” I landed a job in Edmonton, Canada, at the provincial Research
Council of Alberta. My task would be to explore for groundwater in pre-
and post-glacial buried bedrock channels by electrical sounding methods.
However, the contrast between the physical properties of the bedrock
and glacial valley fill were insufficient to map the channels with the
tools of the day and the program was cancelled. I was there, as a trained
geophysicist, employed but no work to do. I decided to transform myself
into a hydrogeologist. The transformation was not easy. I have never had a
decent course in groundwater before and I was supposed to advise towns,
industry and farmers on finding and developing groundwater resources.
Well meaning, my colleagues advised me to read Hubbert (1940).
In that seminal treatise, „The theory of ground-water motion”, two things
left a mark on my life’s work: The concept of „fluid potential”, ɸ, and
Hubbert’s visualization of the regional groundwater flow pattern in a
drainage basin. The latter was illustrated for a vertical section normal to
a river valley incised in homogeneous rock framework (Figure 1; op. cit.
Figure 45). In essence, the figure implied that all water infiltrating over the
basin’s surface converges in the subsurface toward, and empties into, the
river, similar to water flowing into a drainage ditch. The image compelled
me to keep observing the discharges of the four or five parallel streams in my
area of responsibility of 120 km × 120 km, approximately. On average, the
stream valleys were 10-15 km wide from divide to divide, 150-200 m deep
from divide to thalweg, the rock framework permeable enough to satisfy
the water needs of large farms and small towns of 500 to 1500 people, and
precipitation sufficient to keep the water table everywhere within a depth of
3 m from the land surface. Based on the flow lines’ convergence in Figure
45 combined with the relief and permeability conditions of the terrain, I
was expecting healthy large discharges in these streams. Instead, I found
small runoffs, often dry beds and water frozen to the bottom in the winter.
What happens to all that infiltrating rain and melting snow, I wondered?
Discharge versus recharge appeared completely out of balance.
I kept pondering and one day the light went on. I realized that
convergence of the flow lines in Hubbert’s picture was not a result of
analysis but rather it was an imposed condition, an à priori postulate!

Figure 1. The first pattern of basin-scale flow based on the quantitative concept of fluid
potential, Φ=gh (Hubbert 1940, Fig. 45)
I decided then to determine where the water wants to flow by itself. I
thus did what I believe was the first analytical study devoted explicitly
to the understanding of the regional structure of ground-water flow in a
Prairie environment (Tóth 1962). It was an analytical solution to the
Laplace Equation in terms of Hubbert’s hydraulic head, h=z+p/ρg, for
a flow domain with linearly sloping water table. The fundamental and
critical difference between the messages of Hubbert’s Figure 45 (Figure
1) and my 2-D cross section (Figure 2) became clear from the results:
all the water recharged over the entire basin is not returned along a one
dimensional line of discharge in the thalweg as Figure 1 shows (and
called a line sink by Hubbert). But, rather, it is distributed over the whole
lower half of the basin in a two dimensional area of discharge (Figure 2).

Figure 2. “Two-dimensional theoretical potential distributions and flow patterns for

different depths to the horizontal impermeable boundary.” (Tóth 1962, Fig. 3)

Soon, in order better to approximate reality, I replaced the basin’s linear

water table by a sinusoidal one in a second paper (Tóth,1963; Figure 3).
This paper instantaneously generated international interest and spawned
the first component of the bimodal „Theory of regional groundwater
flow”, called „The hydraulics of basin-scale groundwater flow”.
Figure 3. The first analytically calculated regional groundwater flow-model for complex
topography: sinusoidally undulating and regionally sloping water table
(Tóth 1963, Fig. 2f); (Engelen: “Hierarchically nested flow systems”)

The hydraulics of basin-scale gravity-driven groundwater flow

The above results have attracted worldwide interest in the theory of gravity-
driven regional groundwater flow. They have inspired numerous curiosity
as well as mission oriented studies, employing analytical, numerical and
experimental solutions. Patterns of flow and hydraulic head have been
calculated for drainage basins of ever increasing complexity in terms of
geometry, permeability and boundary conditions both for steady and transient
states. After more than half a century this interest keeps growing as witnessed
by new works and the recently created (2012) „Regional Groundwater Flow
Commission” (RGFC) of the „International Association of Hydrogeologists”
(IAH). A meaningful review of the subject matter’s state of the art would be
impossible in one short essay. Instead, the following list of selected studies
should adequately represent the scope and specific aspects of the theory of
„Basin-scale hydraulics of gravity-driven groundwater flow”: Cardenas and
Jiang 2010; Domenico 1972; Freeze and Witherspoon 1968; Gleeson and
Manning 2008; Jiang et al. 2009; Jiang et al. 2010; Jiang et al. 2011; Liang
et al. 2010; Llamas and Cruces de Abia 1978; Marklund and Wörman 2011;
Mifflin 1968; Ortega and Farvolden 1989; Robinson and Love 2013; Senger,
Fogg and Kreitler 1987; Tóth 1995, 2009; Tóth and Millar 1983; Tóth and
Almási 2001; Wang and Anderson 1982; Zijl 1999; Zijl and Nawalany 1993.
The geologic agency of gravity-driven basin-scale flow of
groundwater
An unexpected result of the early flow-system studies was the recognition
of systematic associations of various natural phenomena and processes
with identifiable segments of flow systems. That recognition motivated
further studies both at home and abroad, dedicated to specific hydrologic
processes and effects, e.g: De Vries 1974; Freeze and Cherry 1979;
Galloway 1978; Garven and Freeze 1984; Macumber 1991; Ortega and
Farvolden 1989; Sanford 1995; Schwartz and Domenico 1973; Smith
and Chapman 1983; Tóth 1988, 1999; Verweij 2003; Winter 1978. By
the 1980’s, a unifying concept emerged as the second component of the
umbrella theory, namely: The geologic agency of regional groundwater flow.
The causes
Two specific causes make gravity-driven groundwater flow a geologic
agent, namely: i) in-situ interaction between the water and its ambient
environment and ii) transport by flow that is organized into hierarchical
systems of different order. The interaction between the water and its
surroundings results in various natural processes and products controlled
by the local conditions. Structured flow systems, on the other hand, function
as sustained mechanisms of distribution of those products along regular
spatial paths within the basinal flow domain. In basins where groundwater
flow is controlled by the relief of the water table, the effects of the
groundwater’s distribution pattern are functionally related to identifiable
and characteristic segments of the flow systems. Such a functional relation
makes correlation between cause (groundwater flow) and effect (natural
conditions. processes and phenomena) feasible and verifiable (Figure 4).
Manifestations
The effect of groundwater flow as a geologic agent is manifest by
a broad range of diverse, some spectacular and some economically
important, natural phenomena that include landslides, soil salinization,
geothermal temperature patterns; sedimentary sulfide ores; roll-front and
tabular uranium deposits; hydrocarbon accumulations, halos, and seeps;
wetlands and eutrophication of surface-water bodies (Tóth 1999, 2009)
In order to facilitate an easier overview of the multitude of natural
manifestations generated by basinal groundwater flow, they have been
grouped into six basic types with some sub-categories identified as
follows (Tóth 1999): 1. Hydrological and hydraulic: i. Local water
balance; ii. Regionally contrasting moisture conditions; iii) Water-level
fluctuations. 2. Chemical and mineralogical: i. Areal patterns of water
salinity and isotope distribution; ii. Soil salinization and continental; salt
deposits; iii) Weathering, dissolution, and cementation; iv. Diagenesis
of minerals. 3. Botanical: i. Species of plants; ii. Quality of plants. 4.
Soil- and rock-mechanical: i. Liquefaction; ii. Soil erosion; iii. Slope
stability. 5. Geomorphological: i. Erodability and stream valleys; ii. Karst
development; iii. Geysers and mud volcanoes; iv. Frost mounds, pingos,
ice fields. 6. Transport and accumulation: i. Temperature distribution
patterns; ii. Low temperature sulfide ores; iii) Uranium deposits; iv.
Hydrocarbon fields, methane halos, oil seeps; v. Effluents and contaminants.

Figure 4. Effects and manifestations of gravity-driven flow in a regionally unconfined

drainage basin (Tóth 2009, Fig. 4.1, modified from Tóth 1999 and 1980)

A meaningful review of the subject matter’s state of the art is not

possible in one short essay. The following list of selected studies
should adequately represent the scope and specific aspects of the „The
geologic agency of gravity-driven basin-scale flow of groundwater”:
Back 1960; Batelaan, De Smedt, Triest 2003; Deming et al. 1992; de Vries
1974; Domenico and Palciauskas 1973; Engelen and Kloosterman 1996;
Freeze 1969; Galloway 1978; Garven et al. 1999; Hagmaier1971; Harvey,
Swinhart and Kurtz 2007; Jankowski and Jacobson 1989; Klimchouk
2007; Meijerink 1996; Meyboom, van Everdingen and Freeze 1966;
Saar 2011; Sanford 1995; Schwartz and Domenico 1973; Smith and
Chapman 1983; Stuyfzand 1993; Tóth 1966, 1971, 1980, 1999, 2009;
Walker et al. 2003; Wallick 1981; Williams 1968, 1970; Winter 1999.
Summary
In a sequel of two papers in 1962-’63, the theory of gravity-driven regional
groundwater flow was proposed for two-dimensional vertical cross sections
of small drainage basins of homogeneous rock framework, periodically
undulating water table and steady state flow. The theory’s principal thesis
was the concept of hierarchically nested groundwater flow systems. It
generated international interest and has been applied, with appropriate
increases in complexity, to basins of heterogeneous and anisotropic rock,
three dimensional domain geometry, arbitrary water-table configurations
and transient flow conditions by numerous authors during the following
fifty years. Also, by introducing the concept of regional hydraulic continuity
the theory’s applicability has been extended to large drainage basins.
In the meantime, through field applications of the theory, groundwater
flow systems have become recognized as subsurface conveyor belts.
They transport heat and matter from recharge to discharge areas and
modify subsurface stress conditions according to spatial patterns that can
be theoretically determined and empirically evaluated. The interaction
between the systematized groundwater flow and its environment is
manifest by a great variety of natural processes and phenomena at and
beneath the land surface. The theory has thus led to the recognition
of groundwater flow as a universal subsurface geologic agent.
References
Back, W. 1960: Origin of hydrochemical facies of groundwater in the
Atlantic coastal plain. Report Pt. I, Geochemical Cycles, XXI Session,
Norden, International Geological Congress, Copenhagen. 87-95.
Batelaan, O., De Smedt, F.D., Triest, L. 2003. Regional groundwater
discharge: phreatophyte mapping, groundwater modeling and impact
analysis of land-use change. Journal of Hydrology, 275:86-108.
Cardenas, B.M., Jiang, X.W. 2010: Groundwater flow, transport, and
residence times through
Deming, D., Sass, J.H., Lachenbruch, A.H., De Rito, R.F. (1992)
Heat flow and subsurface temperature as evidence for basin scale
 groundwater flow, North Slope of Alaska. Geological Society of
America Bulletin 104, 528-542.
de Vries, J.J. 1974: Groundwater Flow Systems and Stream Nets in the
Netherlands. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Domenico, P.A. 1972: Concepts and Models in Hydrogeology. McGraw-
Hill Book Company. New York.
Domenico, P.A., Palciauskas, V.V. 1973: Theoretical analysis of forced
convective heat transfer in regional groundwater flow. Geological
Society of America Bulletin, 84:3803-3814.
Engelen, G.B., Kloosterman, F.H. 1996: Hydrological systems analysis:
methods and applications. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht
Boston London.
Freeze, R.A. 1969: Regional groundwater flow - Old Wives Lake
Drainage Basin, Saskatchewan. Scientific Series No. 5. Inland Waters
Branch, Dept of Energy, Mines and Resources, Ottawa, Canada.
Freeze, R.A., Cherry, J.A. 1979: Groundwater. Prentice-Hall, Inc.,
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, U.S.A.
Freeze, R.A., Witherspoon, P.A. 1968: Theoretical analysis of the regional
ground water flow. 3. Qantitative interpretations. Water Resources
Research 4(3), 581-590.
Galloway, W.E. 1978: Uranium mineralization in a coastal-plain fluvial
aquifer system: Catahoula Formation, Texas. Economic Geology, 73,
1655-1676.
Garven, G., Appold, M.S., Toptygina, V.I., Hazlett, T.J. 1999:
Hydrogeologic modeling of carbonate-hosted lead-zinc ore genesis.
Hydrogeology Journal 7(1), 108-126.
Garven, G., Freeze, R.A. 1984: Theoretical analysis of the role of
groundwater flow in the genesis of stratabound ore deposits. 1.
Mathematical and numerical model; 2.Quantitative results. American
Journal of Science, 284, 1085-1124.
Gleeson, T., Manning, A.H. (2008) Regional groundwater flow in
mountainous terrain: Three-dimensional simulations of topographic
and hydrogeologic controls. Water Resources Research, 44, W10403,
doi: 10.1029/2008WR006848.
Hagmaier, J.L. 1971: The relation of uranium occurrences to groundwater
flow systems. WGA Earth Science Bulletin, June. Wyoming
Geological Association, 19-24.
Harvey, F.E., Swinhart, J.B., Kurtz, T.M. (2007) Ground water sustenance
of Nebraska’s unique Sand Hills peatland fen ecosystems. Ground
 Water, 45(2), 218-234.
Hubbert, M.K. 1940: The theory of ground-water motion. The Journal of
Geology, 48, 785-944.
Jankowski, J., Jacobson, G. 1989: Hydrochemical evolution of regional
groundwaters to playa brines in Central Australia. Journal of
Hydrology, 108, 123-173.
Jiang, X.W., Wan, L., Wang, X.S., Ge, S., Liu, J. 2009: Effect of
exponential decay in hydraulic conductivity with depth on regional
groundwater flow. Geophysical Research Letters, 36, L24402, doi:
10.1029/2009GL041251.
Jiang, X.W., Wan, L., Cardenas, M.B., Ge, S., Wang, X.S. 2010:
Simultaneous rejuvenation and aging of groundwater in basins due
to depth-decaying conductivity and porosity. Geophysical Research
Letters, 37, L05403, doi: 10.1029/2010GL042307.
Jiang, X.W., Wang, X.S., Wan, L., Ge, S. 2011: An analytical study on
stagnation points in nested flow systems in basins with depth-decaying
hydraulic conductivity. Water Resources Research, 47, W01512,
doi:10.1029/2010WR009346.
Klimchouk, A. 2007: Hypogene speleogenesis: Hydrogeological and
morphogenetic perspective. National Cave and Karst Research
Institute. Carlsbad, NM, U.S.A. Special Paper No. 1. 106 p.
Liang, X., Liu, Y., Jin, M., Lu, X., Zhang, R. 2010: Direct observations
of complex Tóthian groundwater flow systems in the laboratory.
Hydrological Processes, 24:3568-3573, doi: 10.1002/ hyp.7758.
Llamas, M.R., Cruces de Abia, J. 1978: Conceptual and digital models of
the groundwater flow in the Tertiary basin of the Tagus river (Spain)
In: Rónai A (Ed.) Proceedings, Hydrogeology of great sedimentary
basins. Conference of Budapest.
Macumber, P.G. 1991: Interaction between Ground Water and Surface
Systems in Northern Victoria. Department of Conservation and
Environment, Victoria, Australia.
Marklund, L., Wörman, A. 2011: The use of spectral analysis-based
exact solutions to characterize topography-controlled groundwater
flow. Hydrogeology Journal, Published online: 2011 September 1. Doi
10.1007/s10040-011-0768-4.
Meijerink, A.M.J. 1996: Remote sensing applications to hydrology:
groundwater. Hydrological Sciences - Journal des Sciences
Hydrologiques, 41(4), 549-561.
Meyboom, P., van Everdingen, R.O., Freeze, R.A. 1966: Patterns of
 Groundwater Flow in Seven Discharge Areas in Saskatchewan and
Manitoba. Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 147, Ottawa,
Canada.
Mifflin, D. 1968: Delineation of Ground-Water Flow Systems in Nevada.
Publication No. 4. Technical Report Series H-W, Center for Water
Resources Research, Desert Research Institute, University of Nevada
System, Reno, U.S.A.
Ortega, G.A., Farvolden, R.N. 1989: Computer analysis of regional
groundwater flow and boundary conditions in the basin of Mexico.
Journal of Hydrology, 110, 271-294.
Robinson, N.I., Love, A.J. 2013 Hidden channels of groundwater flow in
Tóthian drainage basins. Advances in Water Resources, 62, 71-78.
Saar, M.O. 2011: Review: Geothermal heat as a tracer of large-scale
groundwater flow and as a means to determine permeability fields.
Hydrogeology Journal, 19(1), 31-52.
Sanford, R.F. 1995: Ground-water flow and migration of hydrocarbons
to the Lower Permian White Rim sandstone, Tar Sand Triangle,
Southeastern Utah. US Geological Survey Bulletin, 2000-J, Washing-
ton, DC.
Schwartz, F.W., and Domenico, P.A. 1973: Simulation of hydrochemical
patterns in regional groundwater flow. Water Resources Research, 9(3),
707-720.
Senger, R.K., Fogg, G.E., Kreitler, C.W. 1987: Effects of
Hydrostratigraphy and Basin Development on Hydrodynamics of
the Palo Duro Basin, Texas. Bureau of Economic Geology, Report of
Investigations 165. University of Texas, Austin, U.S.A.
Smith, L., Chapman, D.S. 1983: On the thermal effects of groundwater
flow 1. Regional scale systems. Journal of Geophysical Research, 88,
593-608.
Stuyfzand, P.J. 1993 Hydrochemistry and Hydrology of The Coastal Dune
Area of the Western Netherlands. PhD Thesis, Vrije Universiteit, /
Amsterdam; KIVA N.V. Nieuwegen, The Netherlands. p. 366.
Tóth, J. 1962: A theory of groundwater motion in small drainage basins
in central Alberta, Canada. Journal of Geophysical Research, 67(11),
4375-4387.
Tóth, J. (1963) A theoretical analysis of groundwater flow in small
drainage basins. Journal of Geophysical Research, 68(16), 4795-4812.
Reprinted In Physical Hydrogeology; Benchmark Papers in Geology,
ed R. A. Freeze and W. Back (1983) Hutchinson Ross Publ. Co.
 Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. 328-345.
Tóth, J. 1966: Mapping and interpretation of field phenomena for
groundwater reconnaissance in a prairie environment, Alberta, Canada.
International Association of Scientific Hydrology Bulletin 16(2), 20-
68.
Tóth, J. 1971: Groundwater discharge: A common generator of diverse
geologic and morphologic phenomena. International Association of
Scientific Hydrology Bulletin, 16(1-3), 7-24.
Tóth, J. 1980: Cross-formational gravity-flow of groundwater: A
mechanism of the transport and accumulation of petroleum (the
generalized hydraulic theory of petroleum migration) In Problems of
Petroleum Migration, ed. W. H. Roberts III and R. J. Cordell. American
Association of Petroleum Geologists, Studies in Geology No 10, 121-
167.
Tóth, J. 1988: Ground water and hydrocarbon migration. In
Hydrogeology. Geology of North America, v. O-2, ed. W. Back, J. S.
Rosenshein and P. R. Seaber. Geological Society of America, Boulder,
Colorado, 485-502.
Tóth, J. 1995: Hydraulic continuity in large sedimentary basins.
Hydrogeology Journal, 3(4), 4-16.
Tóth, J. 1999: Groundwater as a geologic agent: An overview of the
causes, processes, and manifestations. Hydrogeology Journal,
7(1), 1-14. Also published in Spanish translation: Tóth, J. 2000:
Las aguas subterráneas como agente geológico: causas, procesos y
manifestaciones. Boletín Geologico y Minero, 111(4), 9-26.
Tóth, J. 2009: Gravitational systems of groundwater flow: Theory,
Evaluation, Utilization. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
297 p.
Tóth, J., Almási, I. 2001: Interpretation of observed fluid potential
patterns in a deep sedimentary basin under tectonic compression:
Hungarian Great Plain, Pannonian Basin. Geofluids. 1(1), 11-36.
Tóth, J., Millar, R.F. 1983: Possible effects of erosional changes of
the topographic relief on pore pressures at depth. Water Resources
Research, 19(6), 1585-1597.
Verweij, J.M. 2003: Fluid Flow Systems Analysis on Geological
Timescales in Onshore and Offshore Netherlands – With Special
Reference to the Broad Fourteens Basin. Netherlands.
Walker, G., Gilfedder, M., Evans, R., Dyson, Ph, Stauffacher, M. 2003:
Groundwater Flow System Framework: Essential tools for planning
 salinity management. Murray-Darling Basin Commission, MDBC
Publication 15/03. Canberra, Australia.
Wallick, E.I. 1981 Chemical evolution of groundwater in a drainage basin
of Holocene Age, East Central Alberta, Canada. Journal of Hydrology,
54,245-283
Wang, H.F., Anderson, M.P. 1982 Introduction to Groundwater Modeling.
Finite Difference and Finite Element Methods. San Francisco, WH
Freeeman and Co.
Williams, R.E. 1968 Groundwater flow systems and related highway
pavement failure in cold mountain valleys. Journal of Hydrology, 6(2),
183-193.
Williams, R.E. 1970: Groundwater flow systems and accumulation of
evaporate minerals. American Association of Petroleum Geologists
Bulletin, 54(7), 1290-1295.
Winter, T.C. 1978 Numerical simulation of steady-state, three-
dimensional ground-water flow near lakes. Water Resources Research,
14, 245-254.
Winter, T.C. 1999 Relation of streams, lakes and wetlands to groundwater
flow systems. Hydrogeology Journal, 7, 28-45.
Zijl ,W. 1999: Scale aspects of groundwater flow and transport systems.
Hydrogeology Journal, 7(1), 139-150.
Zijl, W., Nawalany, M. 1993: Natural groundwater flow. Boca Raton,
Florida, U.S.A., Lewis Publishers.