HYDROLOGICAL STUDY

The non-existent was not; the existent was not at that time.
The atmosphere was not nor the heavens which are beyond.
What was concealed? Where? In whose protection?
Was it water? An unfathomable abyss?

There was neither death nor immortality then.

There was not distinction of day or night.
That alone breathed windless by its own power.
Other than that there was not anything else.

Darkness was hidden by darkness in the beginning.

All this was an indistinguishable sea.
That which becomes, that which was enveloped by the void,
that alone was born through the power of heat.

Upon that desire arose in the beginning.

This was the first discharge of thought.
Sages discovered this link of the existent to the nonexistent,
having searched in the heart with wisdom.

Their line [of vision] was extended across; what was below, what was above?
There were impregnators, there were powers: inherent power below, impulses
above.
Who knows truly? Who here will declare whence it arose, whence this creation?
The gods are subsequent to the creation of this.

Who, then, knows whence it has come into being?

Whence this creation has come into being; whether it was made or not;
he in the highest heaven is its surveyor.
Surely he knows, or perhaps he knows not.
Rig Veda X.129 – Creation Hymn (about 3.900 BC)
 WHAT IS HYDROLOGY?
• Hydrology is the scientific study of the waters
of the earth.
• Hydrology examines the properties of water as
well as its planetary occurrence, distribution,
and movement.
 HYDROLOGIC CYCLE
• The hydrologic cycle is often called the water
cycle.
• It is the vertical and horizontal movement of
water as either vapor, liquid, or solid between
the earth’s surface, subsurface, atmosphere,
and oceans.
ACCOUNTING BUDGET APPROACH
• The volume of water at any point in a hydrologic
system can be viewed simply as the difference
between the inflow and outflow of the system
and the resulting change of storage.
• This is Continuity Equation or Conservation of
Mass.
• Inflow (I) – Outflow (O) = ± Change in storage (S)
or
I – O = ± ΔS
ATMOSPHERIC WATER
 ATMOSPHERIC WATER
Key processes in atmospheric water include,
• condensation
• precipitation
• evaporation
• transpiration
CONDENSATION AND PRECIPITATION
CONDENSATION AND PRECIPITATION
• The condensation process releases latent heat
energy and is needed to create precipitation.
• Precipitation is the most important factor
controlling the local hydrologic cycle.
• Precipitation has been measured with rain
gauges.
• One disadvantage is that a rain gauge is a
point measurement. Even with a network of
gauges, there will be areal gaps in the data.
 PRECIPITATION
• Areal precipitation can be determined by
various methods.
• Average all of the amounts from the gauge
network for a particular period.
• Area–weight each gauge amount by using
Thiessen polygons. Thiessen polygons are
determined by creating area boundaries that
are equidistant from each gauge.
• Isohyetal contours, i.e. contour lines of equal
precipitation, can also be used for rainfall
estimation with a gauge network.
PRECIPITATION
 PRECIPITATION
• While rain gauges have been the traditional
precipitation measurement method, various
approaches must be used to compensate for
shortcomings in data coverage and reliability.
• Radar has the advantage of providing near–
real–time precipitation estimates.
• Satellites are used for rainfall estimates in
areas without radar or rain gauge networks.
 EVAPORATION
• Evaporation is the movement of water from a
liquid to a vapor state.
 EVAPORATION
• One of the simplest methods to measure
evaporation is an evaporation pan.
• The daily drop in the water level is an
indication of free–water surface evaporation.
EVAPORATION PAN
 TRANSPIRATION
• Transpiration is the process by which the soil
moisture is taken up by a plant root system and
eventually evaporates.
• The combined effect of evaporation and
transpiration is often termed evapotranspiration
or ET.
• It constitutes the largest loss component from the
soil water system.
TRANSPIRATION
TRANSPIRATION

• The vegetation type,

canopy density, and
coverage of plants
directly influence the
amount of soil water
removed from the
watershed through
transpiration.
 EVAPOTRANSPIRATION
• Evapotranspiration is measured by device called
a lysimeter.
• These devices are placed in the ground and
collect soil water and measure the change in
mass from water loss for a volume of soil.
• The mass of soil water changes as water
evaporates.
• Lysimeter types include:
o weighing
o zero–tension
o tension
 SUBLIMATION

• Sublimation is the direct conversion of snow and ice to

atmospheric water vapor. Through this process, the water
content within a snowpack may be reduced without melting.
SURFACE WATER
 INFILTRATION
• Infiltration is defined as the movement of
water through the soil surface into the soil
profile.
• Infiltration is the means by which ground
water supplies are recharged and water is
made available to sustain vegetation.
• The terms infiltration and percolation are
often used interchangeably, however,
percolation specifically refers to the
movement of water within the soil, while
infiltration refers to water entering the soil
surface.
 INFILTRATION
• The infiltration rate is the amount of water
that enters the soil in a specified time period.
• The infiltration rate is directly influenced by
soil texture, soil cover, moisture content of the
soil, soil temperature, precipitation type, and
rainfall intensity.
• Infiltration capacity, which includes surface
infiltration and percolation together, is often
expressed in depth of water per unit of time,
usually millimeters per hour or centimeters per
hour.
RUNOFF
 RUNOFF
• Runoff is often defined as the portion of rainfall,
snowmelt, and/or irrigation water that runs over
the soil surface toward the stream rather than
infiltrating into the soil. It is sometimes
called surface runoff.
• Definition of runoff also includes water which
makes its way relatively quickly to the stream
channel just below the surface. This is
called interflow or subsurface runoff.
• Interflow, together with surface runoff makes up
the volume of water that hydrologists generally
refer to as runoff.
 RUNOFF TERMS
• Basin – the area that drains to a single outlet point
• Baseflow – the long-term supply that keeps water flowing
in streams
• Infiltration – the downward movement of water through
the soil surface
• Percolation – the movement of water within the soil
profile
• Surface runoff – the movement of water across the soil
surface to the stream channel
• Interflow – the relatively rapid movement of water
beneath the soil surface to the stream channel
• Runoff – sometimes this is just the surface runoff, but it
can refer to a combination of surface runoff and interflow.
RUNOFF
 HYDROGRAPH

• A graph of streamflow is called a hydrograph. The shape

of the hydrograph is influenced by the storm and
watershed characteristics.
 HYDROGRAPH

• Streamflow increases during the rising limb of the hydrograph.

After the peak flow, the falling limb, or recession, occurs.
 SOIL WATER PROCESSES
• The three soil water processes are:
• The entry or infiltration of water into the soil
• The transmission of water within the soil
• The storage of water as soil water
SOIL WATER PROCESSES
 INFILTRATION TERMS
• Infiltration rate is the amount of water able to
enter the soil in a specified time period. It is
expressed as depth per time; for example, 10
millimeters per hour.
• Infiltration capacity is the upper limit of
infiltration rate. It includes surface infiltration
and percolation and is expressed in depth per
time; for example, 15 millimeters per hour.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RAINFALL,
INFILTRATION AND RUNOFF
• If precipitation rate is
less than or equal to
infiltration capacity, no
surface runoff occurs.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RAINFALL,
INFILTRATION AND RUNOFF
• If precipitation rate is
greater than infiltration
capacity, surface runoff
occurs.
• Surface runoff equals
rainfall or snowmelt rate
minus infiltration
capacity.
PATHS TO RUNOFF
TYPES OF SURFACE RUNOFF
TYPES OF SURFACE RUNOFF
 TYPES OF SURFACE RUNOFF
• There are two types of surface runoff:-
• Infiltration excess overland flow occurs with soil
that is not saturated. In fact, the soil can be quite
dry, but soil properties or land cover do not allow
for infiltration to keep up with high rainfall or
snowmelt rates.
• Saturation excess overland flow occurs when the
soil becomes saturated and there is no longer any
space for water to infiltrate. This can occur even
with soil that would typically allow for large
amounts of infiltration in sub-saturated
conditions.
 INTERFLOW
• Interflow is relatively rapid flow toward the
stream channel that occurs below the surface.
• It occurs more rapidly than baseflow, but
typically more slowly than surface runoff.
• In regions with high infiltration rates and
steep terrain, interflow may be the dominant
process by which streams react quickly to
rainfall or snowmelt.
INTERFLOW
• Transmissivity feedback
occurs where macro
pores are activated by
interflow.
• Macropores are natural
voids and pipes in the soil
that increase interflow
and are formed by
biological and chemical
activity.
INTERFLOW
• Enhanced interflow may
occur along a soil-
bedrock interface,
especially if the bedrock
is sloped.
• A fragipan is an area of
relatively low permeable
soil and rock that can
block the downward
percolation of water and
increase horizontal water
movement.
INTERFLOW
• Groundwater ridging
occurs when surface rain
or snowmelt reaches the
water table more easily
in a given area causing
the water table to bulge
upward – this can
increase interflow.
 INTERFLOW

• Pre-event water is water that exists in the soil profile

when a storm begins and gets displaced into the
stream by newly infiltrated water. It can be a very
important contributor to runoff as interflow.
BASIN PROPERTIES
 CONTRIBUTING AREA

• With uniform basin characteristics and coverage of

rainfall or snowmelt, larger basins result in a larger
volume of runoff.
 CONTRIBUTING AREA

• Uniform coverage is unusual, so runoff is determined by

the part of the basin that receives the rainfall; this is
known as the contributing area.
BASIN SIZE
 BASIN SIZE
• Runoff traveling from the most upstream
point of the larger basin will travel a longer
path, and therefore take longer to reach the
basin outlet than runoff traveling from the
farthest point in the smaller basin.
• In addition, a single thunderstorm will likely
only impact a portion of the large basin at any
given time, but it may envelope the entire
small basin.
BASIN SHAPE
 BASIN SHAPE
• Basin shape also has an influence on
magnitude and timing of the peak flow at the
basin outlet.
• For basins of equal area but different shapes,
a long narrow basin will result in a hydrograph
that has a lower peak flow and is spread out
over a longer time when compared with a
"rounder"•basin.
STREAM MEANDERS
 STREAM MEANDERS
• If all of the meanders were straightened out, the
distance that the water travels through the streams
would decrease.
• This reduces the time it takes water to travel to the
basin outlet.
• It also decreases the time over which water may
infiltrate the ground through the bottom of the stream
channel.
• Meanders increase the travel time of runoff through
the basin, and may reduce the overall runoff volume.
• When compared to a meandering stream, a straight
stream will result in a stream response that is faster
and has a higher peak flow.
BASIN SLOPE
 BASIN SLOPE
• The slope of a basin affects the amount and the
timing of runoff.
• As the slope of the land increases, water contact to
the surface is no longer perpendicular. Gravity no
longer pulls the water directly into the ground, so
more water is likely to become surface runoff.
• As the ground becomes increasingly steep, water
will move faster and will have less time in contact
with the ground surface, reducing the time during
which it could infiltrate.
• When compared to a relatively flat basin, a steeply
sloped basin will result in a stream response that is
faster and has a higher peak flow.
ROUGHNESS
ROUGHNESS

• When compared to a
stream channel with
rough surfaces (lots of
rocks and vegetation), a
smooth stream channel
will result in a stream
response that is faster
and has a higher peak
flow.
STREAM DENSITY
 STREAM DENSITY
• Stream density is the length of all the channels
in a basin divided by the basin area.
• High stream density indicates a basin with
numerous tributaries and faster, more efficient
runoff.
 URBANIZATION

Urbanization results in increases in both the amount

and the speed of runoff.
SOIL PROPERTIES
SOIL TEXTURE CLASSIFICATION
 SOIL TEXTURE CLASSIFICATION
• Soil texture is very important for anticipating
the potential infiltration, movement, and
storage of soil water.
• Soil texture is classified according to particle
size.
• Clay has the smallest particle and pore space
size, followed by silt, and then by sand with
the largest size particles.
SOIL TEXTURE CLASSIFICATION

• The USDA soil triangle,

based on the FAO soil
triangle, is a reference
tool that allows you to
classify the soil based on
the composition of its
textures.
 SOIL COMPOSITION
• Soil may be composed of one or more types of soil
textures.
• When soil contains a large percentage of sand,
infiltration and drainage of water occurs more quickly
because of the larger pore space. Such soil can absorb
relatively high rates of rainfall or snowmelt.
• Sandy soil will generally produce the least surface runoff.
• Silt has a particle size between sand and clay. Soils with a
high percentage of silt will have higher infiltration and
drainage rates than clay, but not as high as sand.
• clay soils may result in greater surface runoff than sandy
or silty soil during intense rainfall or rapid snowmelt.
SOIL COMPOSITION
SOIL COMPOSITION
SURFACE PROPERTIES
SURFACE PROPERTIES
 SURFACE PROPERTIES
• Surface characteristics are very important for
determining the potential for rapid surface
runoff.
o Urbanization – impermeable and compacted
surfaces increase the amount and speed of runoff
o Deforestation and forest fires – removal of
vegetation and burning of the soil can increase the
amount and speed of runoff as well as the
sediment loading in the runoff, especially in sloped
areas due to the loss of vegetation and the
decrease in infiltration
Thank You!!!