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Hydrology
Hydrology is the science that encompasses the study of water on the Earth’s surface and beneath
the surface of the Earth, the occurrence and movement of water, the physical and chemical
properties of water, and its relationship with the living and material components of the
environment.
From: Encyclopedia of Atmospheric Sciences (Second Edition), 2015

Related terms:
Marshland, Groundwater, Habitat, River, Runoff, Sediment, Soil, Wetland, Catchment, Vegetation

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Hydrology
S.J. Marshall, in Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences, 2013

Abstract
Hydrology is the study of water. Hydrologists examine the physical processes involved in the global water cycle, which spans most
disciplines in Earth and environmental sciences. The hydrological community includes physical scientists, engineers, and water resource
managers, and in common practice it is distinct from the oceanography and atmospheric science communities, because hydrology
concentrates on surface water and groundwater in terrestrial environments. The Earth Systems and Environmental Science module adopts
this convention, and this article provides an overview of the core areas of hydrology: the global water cycle, lakes, rivers, wetlands,
groundwater, the cryosphere, water resources, aquatic biology, and water chemistry.

Flood Hydrology Processes and Their Variabilities

Eric Gaume, Olivier Payrastre, in Floods, 2017

7.1.2 Nature is complex and often surprising

Hydrology is essentially a natural science, and nature is often full of surprises. Studies show that we should beware of simplistic reasoning
backed up by common sense, as it is often inaccurate. In hydrology, as in many other natural sciences, observation and measurement
prevail. As such, it was long believed that rainfall flowed quickly in mountainous regions due to steep slopes and the absence of soil at
altitude. However, contrary to this belief, a recent study revealed that the average residence time of water was significantly higher in
mountain basins [JAS 16]. Deeply fragmented and altered rocks and moraines form sizeable reservoirs that delay discharge. This appears to
be the case even during extreme floods [MAR 09].
Similarly, it is important to bear in mind orders of magnitude in order to gauge the relative weight of various factors proposed (response
time, discharge rates). For example, the influence of artificial impervious surfaces on discharges observed during catastrophic floods is often
substantially overestimated. While soil imperviousness induces runoff, this is generally only the case for a very limited number of
contributory surfaces (a few percent). As such, 100% runoff on 3% of surfaces, weighs very little in relation to 30% flow (typical proportion of
catastrophic flooding) on 97% of surfaces. Contributions from natural surfaces are also very important during extreme floods.

Water Science Basic Information

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Zekâi Şen, in Practical and Applied Hydrogeology, 2015

1.1 Hydrology (Water Science) Elements

Hydrology is the science of water occurrence, movement and transport in nature. It gives weight toward the study of water in the Earth and
is concerned with local circulations related to the atmosphere, lithosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere leading to water movement,
distribution, quality, and environmental aspects. Broadly, it deals also with the physical as well as chemical relationships. In general, it is
concerned with natural events such as rainfall, runoff, drought, flood and runoff, groundwater occurrences, their control, prediction, and
management. On the application side, hydrology provides basic laws, equations, algorithms, procedures, and modeling of these events for
the practical use of human comfort. It also covers the practical and field applications for water resources assessments with simple rational
calculations leading toward proper managements. Hydrology related topics that reflect the content of this book are given in Figure 1.1 from
engineering and earth sciences aspects point of view.

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FIGURE 1.1. Hydrology related topics.

Surface water or groundwater studies require basic hydrological information as for rainfall assessment, evapotranspiration, infiltration,
runoff, subsurface flow, and their modeling aspects for practical engineering, agricultural, irrigation, and hydrogeological applications.
Hydrogeology is the part of hydrology that deals with the occurrence, movement, and quality of water beneath the Earth's surface.
Hydrogeology deals with water in complex subsurface environments, and therefore, its complexity as a science is more than surface
hydrology. It is concerned with permeable geological formations or group of formations that bear water in saturation and bound to yield
significant quantities through wells and springs. As will be explained in Chapter 2, void ratio and hydraulic parameters of these formations
are among the most significant factors that reflect the water storing and transmitting properties of geological formations.
Quantification and practical uses of the water related topics in Figure 1.1 require scientific observations, measurements, investigations, and
evaluations of various water balance components. Hence, a multitude of disciplines (geology, hydrogeology, hydrology, geophysics,
geochemistry, hydraulics), and accordingly, different specialists are involved in any large-scale groundwater study.
There are specific scientists who are concerned individually with each one of the components. For instance, hydrologists pay a great
attention in studying the physical occurrences of the source components to the groundwater system; geologists are mainly interested in the
rock composition of the groundwater reservoir domain. The names groundwater hydrologist and geohydrologist are used synonymously
and they are more interested in the source component of groundwater system and less worried about the geological composition of the
reservoir. Their main research methods are mainly water abstraction modeling studies. Hydrogeologists are more concerned with the
geological setup of the groundwater reservoirs with less emphasis on the source and abstraction except springs. Their research methods are
mainly the field works in the forms of data as direct measurements for quantitative evaluations (pumping tests, piezometric level, joint and
fracture measurements, etc.) and water sample collections for the qualitative studies. At the end, with all these information availability,
hydrogeologists prepare a detailed report for the groundwater reservoir concerning the possibility of exploitable groundwater storage, flow
rates and quality classifications for domestic, agricultural and industrial usages. Finally, hydraulic engineers are concentrated on the
engineering part of the system in Figure 1.1. Integrated groundwater management studies cannot be achieved without cooperation among
the aforementioned specialists.
This book is prepared to guide the practical workers, and therefore, subject matter is not presented in a detailed theoretical manner.
However, at places of relevance some detail is provided first linguistically and then the relevant mathematical expressions are derived.

Geologic History and Energy

P. Bridgewater, ... R.M. Thompson, in Encyclopedia of the Anthropocene, 2018

Ecohydrology as a Response to the Anthropocene

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Hydrology originated as physical science, with an applied side leading to hydroengineering. In the 1990s, UNESCO, through its
International Hydrology and Man and Biosphere programs, developed and promulgated the concept of ecohydrology to help set the
physical science in a socioecological context. Ecohydrology helps determine the structure, function, and evolution of freshwater ecosystems.
We include as freshwater ecosystems rivers, lakes, reservoirs, rice paddies, swamps, peatlands, and subterranean ecosystems driven by
groundwater flows. Restoring ecohydrologic relationships aims to improve ecosystem function and service delivery through increasing the
carrying capacity of ecosystems. Instead of “protecting” ecosystems, conserving, restoring, recognizing, and managing historical and novel
ecosystems in order to increase their service delivery in terms of water resources and resilience to global change are the aims of
ecohydrology.
Ecohydrology can be defined as trying to understand, explain, and use links between ecology and hydrology. It integrates landscape
hydrology with freshwater biology. Ecohydrology, as a blending of hydrology and ecology, will help in managing many critical problems
dealing with the water-related aspects of sustainable development in the Anthropocene. There are four key points that underscore the
nature of ecohydrology. These are the following:

• Integrating water and biodiversity science at management-relevant scales

• Understanding ecological change and the role of people in managing change
• Understanding the role of ecological services
• Using ecosystem properties as indicators of change

Zalewski (2013) attempts to give clarity to the concept of ecohydrology by proposing an approach termed WBSR—to indicate the key
elements, W for water, B for biodiversity, S for (ecosystem) services, and R for resilience. He also articulates three key principles, namely, a
hydrologic principle, an ecological principle, and an ecological engineering principle. The hydrologic principle implies quantification of
hydrologic processes at the basin scale and links to quantification of ecosystem function. The ecological principle implies the need for
understanding of water–biodiversity interactions, inextricably linked to cycles and flows of nutrients and energy. It is also important to
understand ecosystem structure and state of modification, including the increasingly important role of novel ecosystems in the
Anthropocene. The ecological engineering principle deals with deliberate alteration or construction of ecosystems to help manage disturbed
water regimes.
The World Water Vision statement prepared in 2000 for the World Water Council focuses more on an ecosystem service approach to
ecohydrology and identifies two kinds of water, blue and green. The term green water refers to rainfed agricultural, pastoral, or uncleared
land ecosystems. It refers to water transpired from plants and soil water available to plants and other organisms. Green water not only
supports the Earth's vegetation but also influences groundwater recharge and stream base flow. A key distinction exists between green
water, used in situ by plants, and blue water, the portion of rainfall that directly enters streams and recharges groundwater. In the context of
the Anthropocene, it is also useful to understand the concept of gray and black waters. Gray water is wastewater from human habitations or
light industry without fecal contamination. Gray water contains fewer potential pathogens than wastewater from toilets or other sources that
may have potential pathogen contamination. That water has been termed blackwater and requires treatment in some form before being
released back to the environment. Gray water, however, can be used without further treatment for toilet flushing or irrigation of landscaping
or crops, which in turn helps treat and degrade any potential pollutants in the water. Collectively, these terms categorize global water
resources into a set of functional units that are amenable to different forms of management.
To be fully effective in the Anthropocene, however, a third dimension needs to be included in the ecohydrology paradigm, culture. Water
and water availability have profound influences on culture and social stability. Across the world, modern societies continue to shape their
cultures around water as a necessity or for recreation. These often cultural aspects reinforce both the biodiversity (ecological) and water
(hydrologic) parts of ecohydrology (Bridgewater and Arico, 2016).
It is clear in the Anthropocene that water and environmental management cannot be achieved solely by hydroengineering approaches.
While hydrologists and hydroengineers play a role in ensuring sufficient water, resources are available to societies to ensure economic
development; at the same time, ecologists are focused on conservation and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems, often based on the
results of such engineering intervention. At the same time, landscape modification is resulting in changes to the hydrologic cycle,
increasing the likelihood of water deficits, floods, and salinization.

HYDROLOGY, FLOODS AND DROUGHTS | Overview

R.C. Bales, in Encyclopedia of Atmospheric Sciences (Second Edition), 2015

Introduction
Hydrology is the science that encompasses the study of water on the Earth’s surface and beneath the surface of the Earth, the occurrence
and movement of water, the physical and chemical properties of water, and its relationship with the living and material components of the
environment. Ultimately, many hydrologic questions involve the transport of solutes, nutrients, energy, sediment, or contaminants, as well
as the fluxes of water itself.

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As a science, hydrology has both basic and applied aspects. The first relates to questions about the Earth system, and specifically about the
role of water in natural processes, particularly as related to the Earth’s biosphere. The second relates to using scientific knowledge to provide
a sound basis for wise usage of water resources. The development of hydrologic science in recent years is based on both of these aspects,
which are equally important and intimately linked.
Water is central to most natural processes. Water weathers, then transports sediment and solutes to lakes and oceans, thereby shaping the
landscape. The land-based part of the Earth’s water cycle is important for transporting carbon from the continents to the ocean. The high
capacity of water for storing thermal energy and the large amount of heat required to change between solid, liquid, and vapor forms of
water strongly influence the global energy balance. The distribution of atmospheric water and its regulation by oceanic and land-surface
processes make it a central aspect of climate. Water vapor is the most important greenhouse gas. In short, life depends on water.
Hydrologic science has an important place in the field of water resources, especially freshwater resources, which are the subject of intense
concern and study. In arid and semi-arid regions, the fair allocation and wise use of water are significant societal challenges, affecting
relations between nations, states, cities, and individual users. As a global resource, water appears abundant. Locally and regionally it is often
taken for granted. However, the twentieth century has witnessed a tremendous growth in the use of water, resulting in limits on both its
availability, due to human exploitation, and its quality, owing to contamination.

Definitions
Christopher Craft, in Creating and Restoring Wetlands, 2016

Hydrology
Hydrology describes the spatial and temporal patterns of flooding in a wetland. Wetlands may be inundated, as evidenced by surface
flooding, or they may be saturated, the pore spaces in the soil are filled with water. Pattern of flooding can be described with a hydrograph, a
two-dimensional figure that illustrates the depth, duration, frequency, and seasonality of inundation or saturation. Different types of
wetlands, such as tidal marshes, floodplain forests, bogs, and fens, exhibit varying patterns of flooding (Figure 2.1). Tidal marshes often are
flooded twice daily by the astronomical tides and the depth of flooding is relatively shallow, less than 1 m and often much less than that.
Floodplain wetlands are inundated several times a year often to a depth of several meters or more. Bogs, a type of peatland, usually are not
inundated. Rather, the peat is saturated. The water table is below the surface of the peat but the capillary action of the pores brings water
near to the surface. In fens, a type of peatland fed by groundwater, hydrology is relatively constant so that the water table is relatively stable
over time. With a hydrograph, annual patterns of inundation can be illustrated to compare hydrology among different wetland types. For
example, in Figure 2.1, the salt marsh is inundated 45% of the time, the floodplain forest 29%, the bog 20%, while the fen is inundated
year-round, 100%.

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Figure 2.1. Hydrographs describing the depth, frequency, and duration of inundation of (a) saline tidal marsh, (b) floodplain forested wetland, (c) bog peatland, and (d) seepage
wetland.

Timing or seasonality of inundation is important. Inundation and soil saturation must occur long enough during the growing season to
function as an environmental sieve, effectively excluding those species that lack adaptations to survive and thrive in the periodically to
continuously waterlogged soil. While not directly evident from a hydrograph, the source of water that a wetland receives determines its
hydroperiod and chemical composition of its water. Wetlands receive water from three potential sources: precipitation, surface flow, and
groundwater (Figure 2.2; Brinson, 1993). Wetlands that receive most of their water from surface flow include wetlands in floodplains and

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estuaries, including riverine wetlands, tidal marshes, and mangroves. Those that receive mostly precipitation include bogs and wetlands in
closed or isolated depressions. Wetlands where groundwater is a major water source include seeps and fens. The source of water, together
with local soils and geology, determines the chemical characteristics of the floodwaters. Precipitation, essentially water distilled by
atmospheric processes, contains little in the way of nutrients and dissolved materials such that precipitation-driven wetlands such as bogs
tend to be nutrient (and material) poor (see Chapter 7, Peatlands). Wetlands that receive surface flow from tidal and nontidal sources often
contain large amounts of dissolved materials, especially if the floodwaters are rich in eroded sediment. Tidal wetlands, especially saline
marshes and mangroves, contain many dissolved salts, courtesy of the salinity in seawater (see Chapter 8, Tidal Marshes). Groundwater-fed
wetlands, seeps and fens, also may contain ample dissolved materials, especially if the underlying geology is composed of limestone or
other calcareous materials.

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Figure 2.2. Diagram showing the relationship between water source—precipitation, surface water, groundwater—and wetland vegetation/plant communities.
Redrawn from Brinson (1993).

Hydrodynamics, the direction of flow, also varies depending on the water source (Brinson, 1993). Flow may be horizontal or lateral or it may
be vertical (Figure 2.3). Vertical flow often is associated with precipitation or sometimes groundwater. Horizontal flow may be unidirectional
as in the downstream direction in riverines and floodplain wetlands. Or it may be bidirectional as in tidal marsh and mangroves.

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Figure 2.3. Hydrodynamics, showing (a) vertical flow as in the case of bogs and closed depressions, (b) horizontal, unidirectional flow (floodplain wetlands), and (c) horizontal
and bidirectional flow (tidal wetlands, mangroves).

Dissolved Organic Matter in Stream Ecosystems

L.A. Kaplan, R.M. Cory, in Stream Ecosystems in a Changing Environment, 2016

Instream Hydrologic Forcing and DOM Export

Hydrology influences ecosystem-level DOM dynamics not only by having an impact on how water gets to streams from the terrestrial
environment, but also on instream processes. For example, uptake lengths of solutes are directly proportional to water column depth and
velocity (Stream Solute Workshop, 1990; Newbold et al., 2006; Hall et al., 2013). During storms, the product of depth and velocity in small
streams easily can increase 50-fold, meaning that, independent of biological processes, uptake lengths of biologically labile DOM could
increase from a few hundred meters (Newbold et al., 2006; Kaplan et al., 2008) to kilometers, and uptake lengths for semilabile DOM could
increase from a few kilometers (Kaplan et al., 2008) to several hundred kilometers, resulting in a translocation of DOM out of a stream reach
with potential subsidy of downstream systems (McLaughlin and Kaplan, 2013; Wilson et al., 2013; Raymond et al., 2016). In addition,
increased discharge associated with storms can scour the streambed, with different thresholds for sediment resuspension and bedload
movement (Uehlinger, 2006), disturbing microbial communities and depressing ecosystem respiration by 19% (Uehlinger, 2006) or more
(Uehlinger and Naegeli, 1998) to as much as 10-fold (Roberts et al., 2007). Increases in the DOM uptake lengths because of increased depth
and velocity during storm flows would be extended by concomitant decreases in mass transfer coefficients associated with diminished
biological demand of disturbed streambed communities. A major challenge in understanding the impacts of storms involves assessment of
DOM uptake and ecosystem respiration integrated over the scale of an entire river network.

OVERLAND FLOW
T.S. Steenhuis, ... M.T. Walter, in Encyclopedia of Soils in the Environment, 2005

Water Quality Impacts of Variable Source Area Hydrology

One example of where potential management practices derived from a recognition that VSA hydrology is in direct conflict with currently
mandated management practices is whether dairy operators in the New York city watersheds should spread manure on steep slopes or in
flat areas. The current dogma is to avoid spreading on steep slopes and to maximize spreading in flat areas. Under Hortonian flow, steep
areas might arguably produce the most rapidly moving runoff and, therefore, the greatest potential for erosion and transport of manure.
However, VSA hydrology is the dominant process in these watersheds and the steep slopes infiltrate essentially all rainwater and drain very

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rapidly, resulting in almost no substantial runoff. Conversely, the flat areas, especially at the base of hillslopes, are especially prone to
saturation and, thus, prone to runoff generation. Figure 3 shows manure deposition in, from a HSA standpoint, exactly the wrong place. A
manure-spreading policy that is more consistent with the recognized hydrology would promote spreading high in the watershed and
minimize spreading on low, flat areas susceptible to runoff generation.

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Figure 3. Manure deposition in exactly the wrong place from a hydrologically sensitive-area standpoint (courtesy of Glenn Warner).

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