1. Hydrologic Cycle and Physiography of Groundwater Habitats
Chapter 4
Hydrologic Cycle and Physiography of Groundwater Habitats
Dodds & Whiles
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2. A stream leaving a limestone cave on the South Island of New Zealand.
FIGURE 4.1
A stream leaving a limestone cave on the South Island of New Zealand.
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3. FIGURE 4.2
The hydrologic cycle.
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4. Various subsurface habitats
FIGURE 4.3
Various subsurface habitats
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5. FIGURE 4.4
Some equipment used for sampling soil water and groundwater. (A) A slotted well casing packed with filtering
materials allows sediment-free water to be sampled. (B) A vacuum sampler (lysimeter) relies on negative pressure to
extract pore water from soil. The lysimeter is put under vacuum for sampling and then put under pressure to collect
the sample as it flows out of the sampling tube.
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6. piezometers can be used to determine lateral direction of flow.
FIGURE 4.5
Ways to use small wells (piezometers) to estimate direction of groundwater flows. A nest (locally
distributed) of piezometers can be used to determine vertical direction of flow, and spatially distributed
piezometers can be used to determine lateral direction of flow.
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7. Leopold and Davis, 1996; drawn by Sarah Blair, 1998).
FIGURE 4.6
Water moves through groundwater and across the surface of the land in the hydrologic cycle. (After
Leopold and Davis, 1996; drawn by Sarah Blair, 1998).
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8. FIGURE 4.7
The extent of the High Plains Aquifer. In the left panel, zones of depletion .40 m depth before development to 1980 are
shown in darkest colors. The most abundant gray color shows zones of no change, and the groundwater level has
increased in the very light areas. In the right panel, the decline in depth between 1980 and 1997 is depicted, with the
darkest colors indicating a .6 m decrease and the large gray areas indicating no significant change in depth. (Data
from the US Geological Survey).
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9. FIGURE 4.8
Discharge of the Arkansas River as it flows through a region of the High Plains Aquifer that has been used heavily for
center-pivot irrigation since the 1960s. The Syracuse station is immediately upstream of the High Plains Aquifer and the
Dodge City station is downstream. Note that the logarithmic scale of discharge is modified so that it reads 0.01 m3 s21
when the river is dry. The river downstream of the aquifer has flowed only during periods of flooding since the early
1970s; it was almost never dry prior to that. (Data replotted from the US Geological Survey by the Central Plains
Hydrologic Observatory).
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10. FIGURE 4.9
A sinkhole that formed in Bartow, Polk County, Florida. In May 22, 1967, it was 158 m long, 38 m
wide, and 18 m deep. (Photograph courtesy of the US Geological Survey).
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