Ground Water Hydrology: An Introduction - Essay Sample

Introduction

Hydrology is the scientific study of water in terms of its availability, distribution and management on earth and other planets. Hydrology is usually a comprehensive study of water on and below earth's surface and other planets. Our interest will be on earth specifically and consider all factors affecting water and its availability, supply, resources, water supply and sustainability. The study also involves its physical and chemical properties of water and its effect and relationship with the environment of its existence. In specific hydrology focuses on surface and ground water on terrestrial environments (Todd, 2005). ground water forms a key element of the hydrologic cycle as it is connected to and always exchanging with other hydrologic players such as the surface water bodies, the run offs as well as the atmosphere.

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Wetlands

Wetlands are areas that are saturated by groundwater or surface water either seasonally or permanently and supports the existence of vegetation as the condition for vegetation growth is usually met and oxygen prevail. Wetlands are different from other water bodies in terms of the characteristic plants experienced on the wetlands as they adopt to the environmental and soil conditions.

Literature Review

Wetland Hydrology

The hydrology of the wetlands is highly determined and related to the water flow, precipitation, chemical and physical characteristics of the area among other key factors (Mujere, 2016). Wetland water storage is determined by the inflows and the outflows as well as the character and size of the wetland basin. In addition, the velocity of the inflow and the outflow or the reference between the two have a great effect on the capacity and volume of the wetland. Wetlands can be categorized into several types based on hydrology. These categories include riverine wetlands whose origin is associated with streams. Lacustrine is a type of wetlands that are associated with lakes and reservoirs while palustrine refers to the wetlands that are isolated and may be having a unique source of water or a combination of some or all the above sources.

However, in most cases, ground water surface water and precipitation are the main and dominant sources of water in wetlands as water flows out of the wetlands in several methods such as evaporation and surface flow and sub surface flow (Nazif, 2016). Depending on the source of water in the wetland, water can also flow out of the wetland through percolation into the ground and aquifer. The water movement in different parts and direction of the wetland is referred to the wetlands hydrodynamics that determine and influence and control the capacity and condition of the wetland.

Figure 1: Birds in a wetland in Florida as indication of both flora and fauna.

In addition, the character of the site and surrounding landscape have a great influence on the hydrology of the wetland. This may relate to the available gases, their proportions, temperature, pressure and other factors experienced in the specific site. The site also determines the character of the water available in the wetland both physical and chemical. This, combined with other characters of the landscape greatly influences the hydrology of the wetland.

Wetland Vegetation

Wetlands provide suitable conditions for the support and growth of plants and vegetation that does well in swampy and wet conditions. As a result, wetlands are constantly characterized by plants that easily define them as they are different from those that survive in other areas with different conditions.

Figure 2: An image of a wetland showing the different types of flora surviving in it.

Wetlands may experience both submerged plants and above surface plants depending on other factors experienced and around the wetland. Submerged plants provide support and source of food for the animals that may be in the wetland such as fish and different species of frogs and others (Kadlec, 2008). Seagrasses and eelgrass are some of the most common plants in wastelands and of great support to the survival of animals in such areas. Cases of floating water plants can also be experienced in wastelands but are not very common. However, their availability and character are determined by other factors experienced in and around the wetland. Grass with long stems may also be experienced and vary in height depending on the species of the grass. Trees and shrubs may also constitute the vegetation and plants in a wetland and comprise much of the cover mostly in saturated soils thus qualifying the area, in specific, as a swamp. The boundary and extent of the Waterland character plants is determined by the water levels and may change as the water levels change consequently affecting the height and character of the plants at the edge of the waterland.

Wetland Fauna

The wetlands and conditions experienced attract and support the survival of animals that exist in such an environment especially in watery areas. Fish is one such an animal where most wetlands are characterized by a good number of fish as they can easily find food which grows better in wetlands as compared to other areas like rivers especially because of less water velocity allowing better growth. The calm waters also are a preferred environment by majority of the fish and other species therefore attracting a higher number of them as opposed to rivers which may experience high velocity water flow.

Tropical fish usually need require special conditions for them to hatch and establish nursery grounds such mangroves and also require the survival of coral reef for food. Frogs, on the other hand, which are amphibians need terrestrial as well as aquatic habitats for proper and healthy feeding and reproduction. The existence and survival of frogs in the wetlands and in other settings is usually used as indication of a healthy ecosystem as frogs easily absorb nutrients and toxins from the surrounding environment as a result of their thin skin as compared to others. Their healthy indication is therefore seen as a confirmation of a healthy ecosystem in the specific area of existence.

Figure 3: An image of a wetland showing the different types of fauna surviving in it.

Soil

The character of the soil in a wetland change from one wetland to another. The character is highly determined by the location of a wetland and the nutrients in the soil in that entire region (Zhang, 2016). For example, a wetland in a desert is likely to have different soil nutrients and characters from a wetland located in the highlands. However, some characters are similar to every wetland and results to similar other characteristics informed by the environment. Carbon is a dominant nutrient in majority of wetlands even with the existence of other nutrients in varying amounts.

Sulphur, nitrogen and phosphorus are among other key nutrients that are common in these settings. all these nutrients contribute greatly to the chemical composition of the soil and the chemical reactions that may be experienced or are experienced in that specific wetland. The type of flora and fauna in the wetland and their characteristics may also be determined by the soil chemical composition as it dictates the available nutrients that determine the plants that can grow consequently determining the fauna that can exist in the wetland (Kadlec, 2008). In addition, physical character of the soil may affect the wetland in varied ways. For example, soil porosity and particle size mat determine the ability of water to percolate away from the wetland therefore determining the size and volume of the wetland.

Figure 4: The image above shows a sketch of the common soil profile of a wetland

Climate

As far as climatic conditions are of concern, temperature and precipitation are among the key determinants that affect a wetland. Other climatic conditions also have an effect on a wetland but is mostly of smaller magnitude than temperature and precipitation. It is, however, important to note that these factors may change depending on this site and location of the wetland among other factors specific that wetland. In such a case, a climatic condition that may be commonly known to have little or no influence on a wetland, may actually have a substantial influence on the conditions of a wetland.

Based on several factors such as location, climatic conditions, such as temperature and precipitation experienced in a wetland differ in greatly. Climatic conditions are also made up of seasons that equally vary from time to time with alterations of cold and hot temperatures subjected to the wetland such as winter and summer respectively. In temperate regions, climatic conditions such as temperature are usually relatively fair unlike what is experienced in other regions of the globe. Wetlands in warmer regions such as the Arabian may experience high temperatures of up to 55 degrees Celsius and may experience high rates of evaporation consequently affecting the levels and amount of water in the wetland. In other colder areas especially the polar regions, a wetland can experience cold temperatures that may be as low as -50 degrees Celsius (Kadlec, 2008). As the wetlands experience the changes in temperature, they are equally subjected to chemical changes and reactions. These reactions consequently affect the existence of flora and fauna and therefore affecting the existence and the character of the wetland.

In addition, the precipitation received by a wetland is highly determined by the location of a wetland with some wetlands receiving high amount of precipitation while others receive low amounts of precipitation. This factor determines the ability of flora and fauna to survive in the wetland as well as the character of the said plants and animals.

References

Kadlec, R. H. (2008). Treatment wetlands. CRC press.

Mujere, N. &. (2016). Urban Wetland Hydrology and Water Purification. In Urban Water Reuse Handbook, 645-65.

Nazif, S. &. (2016). Urban Wetland Hydrology and Changes. n Urban Water Reuse Handbook, 659-682.

Todd, D. K. (2005). Groundwater hydrology edition. Welly Inte.

Zhang, C. N. (2016). Effects of heavy metals and soil physicochemical properties on wetland soil microbial biomass and bacterial community structure. . Science of the Total Environment, , 785-790.