STREAMS,

LAKES AND
GROUNDWATER
By: Elaine Grace De la Mar
Ma. Xz Celendro
Francine Colada
Kathleen Reyes
 Overview
Where does water occur on our Planet?
How do we use freshwater?
What are Stream Systems?
How do Streams Transport Sediment and Erode their Channels?
How do River Systems Change Downstream or Over Short Time Frames?
Why do Streams have Curves?
What Features Characteristics Steep Streams?
What Features Characterize Low-Gradient Streams and Deltas?
What Features are Associated with Streams?
What Is and What Is Not a Flood?
Where is Groundwater found?
How and Where Does Groundwater Flow?
What is the Relationship between Surface Water and Groundwater?
What Problems are Associated with Groundwater Pumping?
How can Water Become Contaminated?
How does Groundwater Contamination Move and How Do we clean it up?
Connections: What is going on with the Ogallala Aquifer?
Investigation: Who Polluted Surface Water and Groundwater in This Place?
Where does water occur on our
Planet?

WATER IS ABUNDANT ON EARTH,

occurring in many setting. Most water is in
the oceans but is salty. Most freshwater is
in ice and snow or in groundwater below
the surface, with a smaller amount in lakes,
wetlands, and rivers. Water also exists in
plants, animals, and soils and as water
vapor in the atmosphere.
Oceans - is a body of saline water that composes much of a
planet's hydrosphere.

Rivers - is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater,

flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river.

Lakes - is an area of variable size filled with water, localized

in a basin that is surrounded by land, apart from any river or
other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake

Swamps and other Wetlands - is a wetland that is forested.

Many swamps occur along large rivers where they are
critically dependent upon natural water level fluctuations

Glaciers - is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly

moving under its own weight; it forms where the
accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation (melting and
sublimation) over many years, often centuries.
Soil Moisture -is a key variable in controlling the exchange of
water and heat energy between the land surface and the
atmosphere through evaporation and plant transpiration. Soil
moisture plays an important role in the development of weather
patterns and the production of precipitation.

Biological water water is tied up within the cells and structures

of plants and animals. It is clearly important to us but represents
an exceptionally small percentage of Earths total water.

Groundwater - is the water found underground in the cracks and

spaces in soil, sand and rock. It is stored in and moves slowly
through geologic formations of soil, sand and rocks called
aquifers.

Deep-interior Waters An unknown, but perhaps very large

amount of water is chemically bound in minerals of the crust and
mantle.
Where did Earths water come from
and Where does it occur today?

Most water on Earth probably originated

during the formation of the planet or from
comets and icy celestial objects that collide
with the surface. Over time, much of this
water moves to the surface, for example:
when magma releases water vapor during
eruptions.
How does water move from one setting to
another?

Water is in constant circulation on Earths surface,

moving from ocean to atmosphere, from atmosphere
back to the surface, and in and out of the subsurface.
The circulation of water from one part of this water
system to another is called the hydrologic cycle.
From the perspective of living things, the hydrologic
cycle is the critical system on Earth. It involves a
number of important and mostly familiar processes. It
is driven by energy from the Sun.
How do we use Freshwater?

WE USE LARGE QUANTITIES OF WATER

each day. We use water for a variety of
purposes, especially power generation and
irrigation of farms.
 FRESHWATER IN 6 main ways:
1. Thermoelectric Power
2. Irrigation
3. Public and Domestic Water Uses
4. Industrial and Mining Uses
5. Aquaculture
6. Livestock
 How do we use and store surface water?
Electrical Generation The movement of surface water can generate
electricity. To do this, we build dams that channel water through turbines in
hydroelectric power plant.

Transportation We use many large water-ways, such as the Mississippi

River, as energy-efficient transportation systems to transport agricultural
products, chemicals, and other industrial products.

Recreation People use surface water in lakes and rivers for many types
of recreation, including swimming, tubing, surfing, boating, and fishing. We
also use freshwater to fill ponds, fountains, and swimming pools.

Surface waters are commonly stored in natural lakes and in constructed reservoirs
behind concrete and earthen dams. Water for drinking and other municipal uses
can be stored in underground or above ground storage tanks.
How do we refer to Volumes of water?

Water-resource studies typically report volumes of

water in one of three units: gallons, liters, or acre-
feet. Gallons and liters are familiar terms, but the
concept of acre-foot of water requires some
explanation.
What are Stream Systems?

STREAMS ARE CONDUITS of moving water driven

by gravity, flowing from higher to lower elevations.
The water in streams comes from precipitation,
snowmelt, and springs. A stream drains a specific
area and joins other streams draining other areas,
forming a drainage network.
 What is a Stream?

A stream carries flowing water through a single channel or through a

number of interconnected channels. Such channel varies (e.g. from
winter to spring) and changes in the weather. At some times of the year
and during rainy periods, the flow increases. It decreases at especially
dry times of the year or during times of few storms. The amount of water
flowing in size from small streams several meters wide to major rivers
that are kilometers across.

The amount of water that flows through a stream channels varies with
time, mostly reflecting the influence of changes in the seasons in a given
amount of time is the discharge, which has units of cubic meters per
second.
Where does a Stream get its water?

Each stream drains a naturally defined area, called

a drainage basin. A basin slopes from higher areas,
where the stream begins, to lower areas, toward
which the stream flows. Runoff from rainfall,
snowmelt, and springs will flow downstream and out
of the drainage basin at its low point.
 What are Tributaries and Drainage
Networks?
Streams have a main channel fed by smaller subsidiary
channels called tributaries. Each tributary drains part of the
larger drainage basin, but a tributary can have higher flows
than the main stream. The combination of tributaries and
then main stream forms a drainage network. The response
of a stream precipitation is influenced by the number and
size of its tributaries.

Tributary -a river or stream flowing into a larger river or lake.

How does Geology influence Drainage
Patterns?
The patterns that river systems carve across the
land surface are strongly influenced by the geology.
Channels form preferentially in weaker material and
so reflect differences in rock type and the geometry
of fold, faults, joints, and other structural features.
How do streams transport sediment and
erode their channel?
STREAMS ERODE BEDROCK and lose material,
transporting the liberated material as sediment and
as chemical components dissolved in the water. The
sediment is deposited when the stream can no
longer carry the load, such as when the current
slows or sediment supply exceeds the streams
capacity.
 How is material transported and
deposited in Streambeds?

Moving water applies force to a channels bottom

side and can pick up and transport particles of
various sizes: clay, silt, sand, cobbles, and boulders.
The amount of sediment carried by the stream,
including material chemically dissolved in solution,
is the sediment load.
What processes erode material in
Streams?
Moving water and the sediment it carries can erode
bedrock, sediment, or other material that it flows
past. Erosion occurs along the base and sides of the
channel and can fragment and remove sediment
within the Channel. The silt, sand, and larger clasts
carried by the water enhance its ability to erode.
How does turbulence in flowing water
affect erosion and deposition?
Water, like all fluids, has viscosity resistance to
flow. Viscosity and surface tension are responsible
for the smooth looking surface of slow moving
streams. As the waters velocity increases the flow
becomes more chaotic or turbulent and the water
can pick up and move material within the channel.
How do erosion and deposition occur
streams confined within bedrock?
Many streams, especially those in mountainous
areas, are carved into bedrock and are referred to
as bedrock streams. If the bedrock is relatively hard
the shape of the stream channel is controlled by the
geology. If bedrock consists of softer material, such
as easily shale, then the material will have less
control over the shape and character of the stream
channel.
Erosion Deposition
How do river systems change
downstream or over short time frames?
RIVER SYSTEMS BECOME LARGER as more
tributary streams join the drainage network as the
stream flows downstream it generally increases in
size, discharge, and the amount of sediment it
carries. As stream changers over short time spans,
for example after a storm, from winter to summer,
and from year to year.
How does the gradient of a stream
change downstream?
The character of stream changes as the stream
flows downhill from its headwaters, where it starts,
to its mouth, where it ends. The flow direction of a
stream from high elevations to lower ones is
referred to as being downstream.
Gradient

The change in the streams elevation downstream,

when viewed graphically is called the streams
profile. The profile of most streams is steep in the
headwaters, gradually becoming less steep
downstream toward the mouth. The steepness is
also called the gradient, which is defined as the
change in elevation in a given horizontal distance.
What controls the profiles of streams?

Streams and other agents of transportations erode

mountains and carry the sediment downhill,
eventually depositing it in a basin or along the sea.
The lowest level to which a stream can erode is its
base level. The base level controls the topography
among the stream, how the stream develops
overtime and how it responds to change.
How does a stream change downstream
or over time?
As tributaries join a stream the amount of water in
the stream generally increases, and other factors,
such as the size of the channel and velocity of the
water also change. In addition the amount of
precipitation, snowmelt, and influx from springs and
ground water varies, both during a single year and
over longer timescales of decades to centuries. As a
result, streams exhibit changers along their length
and from one time to another.
Why do streams have curves?

ALL STREAMS HAVE CURVES OR BENDS,

ranging from gentle deflections to tightly curved but
graceful meanders. Why are streams curved? What
is inherent in the operation of a stream that causes it
to curve? Curves and bends are natural
consequence of processes that accompany the
movement of water in a stream.
 What is the shape of stream channels in
Map view?
All streams have bends, but not all bends are the same. Some
are gentle, open arcs, where the stream veers slightly to one side
then the other, whereas other is tight loops. The shape of a
stream in map view can be thought of as having two main
variables: whether there are single or multiple channels and how
curved the channels are. The amount that a channel curves for a
given length is its sinuosity.
 What processes operate when a Stream
Meanders?
Channels in soft material, especially for streams with low-
gradients, generally do not have long, straight segments. Instead
they flow along sinuous paths. Curves or meanders cause
differences in water velocity in the channel and reflect a balance
between deposition and erosion.
 How do Meanders Form and Migrate?

Meanders are landforms produced by migrating rivers and smaller streams

and are extremely common in streams that have low gradients. Meanders
have been extensively studied in the field and simulated in large, sand-filled
tanks. In the laboratory, water is initially directed down a straight channel in
fine sand. Almost immediately, the water begins to transform the straight
channel into sinuous one.
What Features Characterize Steep
Streams?
Streams can begin in almost any setting, from a
small hill in pasture to a large, snowy mountain. In
either case, the place where a stream starts is its
headwaters. In its headwaters, a stream is fed by
rain, snowmelt, groundwater, or some combination of
these. The headwaters of many large rivers are in
mountains, where streams are steep and actively
erode the land with turbulent, fast-moving water,
producing distinctive landforms.
 How do Streams Start?

A stream does not start with a fully formed channel full of water, but instead it
grows incrementally as surface runoff becomes concentrated into channels-is
channelized. Smaller channels join others until a stream forms.

What Landforms Characterize the Headwater of

Mountain Streams?
Mountain streams begin in bedrock-dominated areas with relatively high relief
and, in many cases, high elevation. The energetically moving water wears
rock down and sculpts the bedrock into steep landforms with moderate to high
relief.
How do Rapids and Waterfalls form?

Streams that flow in an area of mountains and hills

commonly have rapids, a segment of rough, turbulent
water along a stream. Some segments can be so steep
that water cascades through the air, forming a waterfall.
 What Features is Characteristic of Steep,
Sediment-Rich Streams?
As a mountain streams flow toward lower elevations, they interact
with tributaries and commonly decrease in gradient as they pass
through foothills or mountain fronts. Steep, sediment-rich streams
commonly have a braided appearance if they have enough room
to spread out, such as when they leave the mountains. They are
called braided streams.
 What Features Characterize Low-
Gradient Streams and Deltas?
If a stream crosses areas low relief, the gradient of its channel
decreases and the stream may spread out once it is no longer
confined by a narrow canyon or valley. As a gradient of a stream
decreases, the stream deposits its coarser material but continues
to carry mostly clay to sand-sized sediment. The stream deposits
and reworks (picks up and transports) this sediment, producing
distinctive landforms. A similar process occurs in a delta, where a
slowing stream spreads out into many channels and deposits
sediment on the gentle landscape.
 What Landforms Typify Streams with
Low-Gradient?
Many streams flow across plains that have gentle overall slopes. Such
streams indicate their environs, being dominated by the erosion,
transport, and deposition of relatively fine-grained sediment. The
features characteristics of these mostly single-channel streams occur
at all scales, from those along small creeks to those along the
Mississippi River. Features includes meanders, floodplains, and low
stream terraces.
1. One Main Channel
2. Meanders
3. Point Bars
4. Floodplain
5. Oxbow Lakes
6. Stream Terraces
7. Meander Scars
 What Happens as a Stream Approaches Base
Level?
Several landscape-building processes occur when a stream
enters the ocean, lake, or a temporary base level. Large rivers,
like the Mississippi River, pump freshwater far into the ocean and
carry fine sediment out to sea. They deposit coarser sediment as
soon as the current slows, forming a delta along the shoreline.
What Features are Associated with Stream?

In addition to floodplains, streams are commonly

flanked by other features, including levees and
stream terraces. Some of these features, such as
natural levee, are formed by deposition, whereas
other forms when a stream erodes downward, or
incises, into the land. Incision can form intricate,
winding canyons, called entrenched meanders. Dams
constructed across river valleys cause the stream to
change behavior, above and below the dam.
How Are Levees and Stream Terraces
Formed?

Many streams are flanked by natural embankments,

called levees, and by stream traces, which are
relatively flat benches that are perched above a
stream and that stair-step up and outward from the
active channel. Most terraces are composed of
river-derived sediment and are essentially
abandoned floodplains and alluvial plains, but others
are cut directly into bedrock and form by erosion.
How Are Entrenched Meanders Formed?

The landforms we know as meanders form only in

loose sediments, like those on floodplains However,
in the Four Corner region of the American Southwest
and in areas west of the Appalachian Mountains,
meanders with typical sweeping bends are deeply
incised in hard bedrock, forming some puzzling
canyons. What do these winding canyons, called
entrenched meanders, tell us about the history of
rivers and streams in these areas?
What Are the Deposited and Erosional
Consequences of Dams?

Human- constructed dams provide hydroelectric

power generation, water storage, or flood control,
but they stop a streams normal flow and transport of
sediment. The reservoir behind the dam represents
a temporary base level and so causes the stream do
deposit sediment behind the dam, limiting the dams
longevity.
 What Is and What Is Not a Flood?

Throughout history, people have a lived along rivers and

smaller streams. River are sources of water for
consumption, agriculture, and industry, and provide
transportation routes and energy. River valleys offer a
relatively flat area for construction and farming, but people
who live along streams are subject to an over changing
flow of water. High amounts of water flowing river and
small streams often lead to flooding. In most parts of the
world, flooding is a common and costly type of natural and
human-caused disaster.
What Is the Difference Between a Flood and a
Normal Flow Event?

Streams are dynamic systems, and they respond to

changes in the amount of water entering the system.
When more water enters the system than can be held
within the natural confines of the channel, the results is
a flood.
 What Are The Causes of Flooding?

What cause discharge to exceed the channels capacity? A

simple answer is that there is more water in the channel than can
be accommodated. This can be the result of natural process or
human-caused events.
1.Snowmelt 2. Local Heavy Precipitation
3. Regional Precipitation 4. Volcanic Eruption

5. Dam Failure 6. Urbanization

Where Is Groundwater Found?

Much water is not in streams and lakes but occurs

beneath Earths surface as groundwater. Groundwater
occurs beneath all areas of the world but is far below
the surface in some areas and very near the surface in
others. Where does this water come from, and how
does it find room to accumulate in the solid Earth?
How Does Groundwater Accumulate?

Groundwater originates from precipitation and snowmelt

that seeps from the surface down into the subsurface.
The water accumulates in pores, fractures, and cavities
within soil, loose sediment, and rock.
What Controls How Water Flows
Through Rocks?
Water flows downhill, so the rate of groundwater flow is
controlled by the steepness of the water table and two
important properties of material-porosity and
permeability. These two properties are related to one
another, but they are not the same thing. Porosity is a
measure of how much water a rock can hold, but
permeability indicates whether or how easily
groundwater can flow through the rock.
Porosity

Permeability
How and Water Does Groundwater
Flow?
Groundwater flows beneath the surface in ways that are
controlled by several key principles. The direction and
rate of groundwater flow are largely controlled by the
permeability of the materials, slope of the whereas
others essentially preclude any significant movement.
What Is the Geometry of the Water
Tables?
The water table is usually not a horizontal surface but
instead has a three-dimensional shape that mimics the
shape of the overlying land surface. The shape of the
water table commonly has the equivalents of slops,
ridges, hills, and valleys. The shape of the water table
controls which way groundwater flows.
What Is an Aquifer?

An aquifer is a large body of permeable, saturated

material through which groundwater can flow well
enough to yield significant volumes of water to wells
and springs. To be a good aquifer, a material must have
high permeability, as occurs in poorly cemented and
gravel, most sandstone, cavernous limestone, or highly,
fractured rocks of nearly any type.
How Are Wells Related to the Water
Table?
A well is a hole dug or drilled deep enough to intersect
the water table. If the well is within an aquifer, water will
fill the open space to the level of the water table. This
freestanding water can be drawn out by buckets or
pumps.
What Is the Relationships Between
Surface Water and Groundwater?
Surface water and groundwater are not Isolated
Systems. Rather, they are highly interconnected with
water flowing from the surface of surface and back
again, most groundwater forms form surface water that
seeps into the ground, and some streams and lakes are
fed by groundwater.
How Does Water Move between the Surface
and Subsurface?

Surface water can soak into the subsurface and

become groundwater if the surface material is
permeable and the water table is deep enough so there
is an unsaturated zone into which water can seep.
What Causes Groundwater to Emerge as
a spring?
As a spring represents a place where groundwater
flows out of the ground onto the surface. At most
springs, the water table intersects the surface. This can
occur in a variety of geologic settings, some of which
are summarized below. Some groundwater is heated by
hot rocks before coming to the surface in warm spring,
in hot springs, and in a geyser, a kind of hot spring that
intermittently erupts fountains or sprays of hot water
and steam.
How Are Lakes Related to Groundwater?

Lakes can have various relationship to groundwater.

Most lakes occur where water table intersects the grond
surface, but some have a different setting. Most
wetlands represent the interaction between rainfall,
surface water groundwater and may be nourished by
groundwater flow.
How Do Streams Interact with the Water
Table?
Water in many large and small streams decreases to a
trickle and disappears entirely farther down the
drainage. In order cases, a stream flows even when
there has not been rain or snowmelt in a long time-what
is the source of this water? These situations are a result
of interactions with groundwater.
What Problems Are Associated with
Groundwater Pumping?
The supply of groundwater is finite, so pumping too
much groundwater, a practice called over pumping, can
result in serious problems. Over pumping can cause
neighboring wells to dry, land to subside, and gaping
fissures to open across the land surface.
 What Happens to the Water Table if
Groundwater Is Over pumped?
Demands on water resources increase if an areas population
grows; the amount of land being cultivated increases, or open
space is replaced by industry. Groundwater is viewed as a way to
acquire additional supplies of freshwater, so new wells is drilled
or larger wells replace smaller ones when more water is needed.
-Minor Groundwater Withdrawal

-Increased Groundwater Withdrawal

What Problems Are Caused by
Excessive Groundwater Withdrawal?
Over pumping can cause the ground surface to subside
if sediment within the underlying aquifer is dewaterd
and compacted. In certain settings, subsidence causes
fissures to open on the surface.
Before Groundwater Pumping After Groundwater Pumping
How can Groundwater Pumping Causes
Saltwater Incursion into Coastal Wells?
Some wells are by necessity near the coasts of oceans
and seas. These wells have a threat-over pumping can
draw salt water into the well, a process referred to as
saltwater incursion or saltwater incursion.
How Can Water Become Contaminated?

Contamination of surface and subsurface water

supplies is an major problem facing many communities.
Some contaminants are natural products of the
environment, whereas others have human source, the
direct result of our modern lifestyle. What are some
main sources of water contamination?
How Does Groundwater Contamination
Move and How Do We Clean It Up?
Water contamination can be obvious or subtitle. Some
rivers and lakes have oily films and give off noxious
fumes, but some contamination occurs in water that
looks normal and takes normal but contains hazardous
amounts of a natural or human-related chemical
component. How does contamination in groundwater
move, how do we investigate its and consequences,
and what are possible remedies?
How Does Contamination Move in
Groundwater?
As contamination enters groundwater, it typically moves
along with the following groundwater. Contamination
can remain concentrated, can spread out, or can be
filtered by passages through sediment and rocks.
 How Do We Depict the Water Table?

To understand the geometry of the water table, which controls the

direction of groundwater flow, we collect data from existing wells,
from new drilling and from geophysical surveys, such as
measuring how gravity varies across an area. From such data,
especially the elevations of the water table, we can produce very
informative maps and diagrams.
How Is Groundwater Contamination
Tracked and Remediated?
Once groundwater contamination is identified, what to
do we do next? We compile available information to
compare the distribution of contamination with all
relevant geologic factors. One commonly used option to
clean up, or remediate site of contamination is called
pump-and-treat. Some contamination can be mostly
remediated, but remediation much more expensive than
not causing the problem to begin with.
What Is Going On With The Ogallala
Aquifer?
The most important aquifer in the United States is
beneath the High Plains, stretching from South Dakota
to Texas. It Provides groundwater for about 20% of all
cropland in the country, but it is severely threated by
over pumping. The setting, characteristics, groundwater
flow, and water-use patterns of this aquifer connect man
different aspect of water resources and illustrate their
relationship to geology.
What Is the Settings of the Ogallala
Aquifer?
Where Does Groundwater in the Aquifer
Come from and How It Is Used?
Most of the water going into the aquifer is from into local
precipitation. This map shows the amount of
precipitation receive across the area, with darker
shades indicating more precipitation. The western part
of the aquifer receive much less precipitation (rain,
snow, and hill) than the eastern part.
How Has Over Pumping Affected Water
Levels in the Ogallala Aquifer?
The USGS estimates that the aquifer contains 3.2 billion
acre-feet of water. That is not enough to cover the entire
lower 48 states with 1.7 feet of water. How much has
over pumping affected the aquifers water levels, and
what will happen to the region and to the country if large
parts of the aquifer dry up?
Who Polluted Surface Water and
Groundwater in this Place?
Surface water and groundwater in this area are
contaminated. You will use the geology of the area,
along with elevations of the water table and chemical
analyses of the contaminated water, to determine where
the contamination is, where it came from, and where it
is going. From your conclusions, you will decide where
to drill new wells for uncontaminated groundwater.
THANK YOU FOR
LISTENING