Hydrogeology - Principles and Practice

HYDROGEOLOGY
 
Hydrogeology: Principles and Practice provides a comprehensive introduction to the study of hydrogeology to enable the reader to appreciate the significance of groundwater in meeting current and future environmental and sustainable water resource challenges. This new edition has been thoroughly updated to reflect advances in the field since 2014 and includes over 350 new references.
 
The book presents a systematic approach to understanding groundwater starting with new insights into the distribution of groundwater in the Earth's upper continental crust and the role of groundwater as an agent of global material and elemental fluxes. Following chapters explain the fundamental physical and chemical principles of hydrogeology, and later chapters feature groundwater field investigation techniques in the context of catchment processes, as well as chapters on groundwater quality and contaminant hydrogeology, including a section on emerging contamination from microplastic pollution.
 
Unique features of the book are chapters on the application of environmental isotopes and noble gases in the interpretation of aquifer evolution, and a discussion of regional characteristics such as topography, compaction and variable fluid density on geological processes affecting past, present and future groundwater flow regimes. The last chapter discusses future challenges for groundwater governance and management for the long-term sustainability of groundwater resources, including the role of managed aquifer recharge, and examines the linkages between groundwater and climate change, including impacts on cold-region hydrogeology. Given the drive to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, the interaction of groundwater in the exploitation of energy resources, including renewable resources and shale gas, is reviewed.
 
Throughout the text, boxes and a set of colour plates drawn from the authors' teaching and research experience are used to explain special topics and to illustrate international case studies ranging from transboundary aquifers and submarine groundwater discharge to the hydrogeochemical factors that have influenced the history of malting and brewing in Europe. The appendices provide conversion tables and useful reference material, and include review questions and exercises, with answers, to help develop the reader's knowledge and problem-solving skills in hydrogeology.
 
This highly informative and accessible textbook is essential reading for undergraduate and graduate students primarily in earth sciences, environmental sciences and physical geography with an interest in hydrogeology or groundwater topics. The book will also find use among practitioners in hydrogeology, soil science, civil engineering and landscape planning who are involved in environmental and resource protection issues requiring an understanding of groundwater.

List of contents

List of colour plates xi
 
List of boxes xiv
 
Preface to the third edition xvi
 
Preface to the second edition xvi
 
Preface to the first edition xvii
 
Acknowledgements xviii
 
Symbols and abbreviations xix
 
About the companion website xxiii
 
1. Introduction 1
 
1.1 Scope of this book
 
1.2 What is hydrogeology?
 
1.3 Early examples of groundwater exploitation
 
1.4 History of hydrogeology
 
1.5 The water cycle
 
1.5.1 Groundwater occurrence in the upper continental crust
 
1.5.2 Groundwater-related tipping points
 
1.5.3 Groundwater discharge to the oceans
 
1.5.4 Global groundwater material and elemental fluxes
 
1.5.5 Human influence on the water cycle
 
1.6 Global groundwater resources
 
1.6.1 Global groundwater abstraction
 
1.6.2 Global groundwater depletion and sea level rise
 
1.7 Groundwater resources in developed countries
 
1.7.1 Groundwater abstraction in the United Kingdom
 
1.7.1.1 Management and protection of groundwater resources in the United Kingdom
 
1.7.2 Groundwater abstraction in Europe
 
1.7.2.1 European Union Water Framework Directive
 
1.7.3 Groundwater abstraction in North America
 
1.7.3.1 Management and protection of groundwater resources in the United States
 
1.7.4 Groundwater abstraction in China
 
1.8 Groundwater resources in developing countries
 
Further reading
 
References
 
2. Physical hydrogeology
 
2.1 Introduction
 
2.2 Porosity
 
2.3 Hydraulic conductivity
 
2.4 Isotropy and homogeneity
 
2.5 Aquifers, aquitards and aquicludes
 
2.6 Darcy's Law
 
2.6.1 Hydraulic properties of fractured rocks
 
2.6.2 Karst aquifer properties
 
2.6.3 Sinkholes and land subsidence
 
2.7 Groundwater potential and hydraulic head
 
2.8 Interpretation of hydraulic head and groundwater conditions
 
2.8.1 Groundwater flow direction
 
2.8.2 Water table and potentiometric surface maps
 
2.8.3 Types of groundwater conditions
 
2.9 Transmissivity and storativity of confined aquifers
 
2.9.1 Release of water from confined aquifers
 
2.10 Transmissivity and specific yield of unconfined aquifers
 
2.11 Equations of groundwater flow
 
2.11.1 Steady-state saturated flow
 
2.11.2 Transient saturated flow
 
2.11.3 Transient unsaturated flow
 
2.12 Analytical solution of one-dimensional groundwater flow problems
 
2.13 Groundwater flow patterns
 
2.14 Classification of springs and intermittent streams
 
2.15 Transboundary aquifer systems
 
2.16 Submarine groundwater discharge
 
2.17 Groundwater resources of the world
 
2.18 Hydrogeological environments of the United Kingdom
 
2.18.1 Sedimentary rocks
 
2.18.2 Metamorphic rocks
 
2.18.3 Igneous rocks
 
Further reading
 
References
 
3. Groundwater and geological processes
 
3.1 Introduction
 
3.2 Geological processes driving fluid flow
 
3.3 Topography-driven flow in the context of geological processes
 
3.4 Compaction-driven fluid flow
 
3.5 Variable-density driven fluid flow
 
3.5.1 Salinity gradients leading to variable-density flow
 
3.5.2 Hydrothermal systems driven by variable-density flow
 
3.6 Regional groundwater flow systems driven predominantly by variable-density flow
 
3.6.1 Fluctuating sea-level and its impact on the distribution of grou

About the author

Kevin M. Hiscock is a Professor in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia, U.K. He has over 35 years' experience in teaching and research in hydrogeology, with interdisciplinary interests in hydrochemistry, environmental isotopes and the impacts of land use and climate change on groundwater resources and nutrient fluxes at regional and global scales. Victor F. Bense is an Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands. He has over 20 years' experience in teaching and research in hydrogeology, with specialist interests in the impact of shallow fault zones in unconsolidated sediments on groundwater flow and the hydrogeology of cold regions under changing climate.

Product details

• Authors: Victor F Bense, Victor F. Bense, Bense Victor F., Kevin M Hiscock, Kevin M. Hiscock, Kevin M. (University of East Anglia) Bens Hiscock, Hiscock Kevin M.
• Publisher: Wiley, John and Sons Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 02.12.2021
• EAN: 9781119569534
• ISBN: 978-1-119-56953-4
• No. of pages: 768
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Geosciences > Miscellaneous; Hydrogeologie, Geowissenschaften, Earth Sciences, Bauingenieur- u. Bauwesen, Civil Engineering & Construction, Hydrologie im Bauwesen, Hydrology (Civil Engineering), Geology & Geophysics, Geologie u. Geophysik, Groundwater & Hydrogeology, Grundwasser u. Hydrogeologie