E-Book Overview
This book recognizes groundwater flow as a fundamental geologic agent, and presents a wide-ranging and illustrated overview of its history, principles, scientific consequences and practical utilization. The author, one of the founding fathers of modern hydrogeology, highlights key interrelationships between seemingly disparate processes and systems by tracing them to a common root cause - gravity-driven groundwater flow. Numerous examples demonstrate practical applications in a diverse range of subjects, including land-use planning, environment protection, wetland ecology, agriculture, forestry, geotechnical engineering, nuclear-waste disposal, mineral and petroleum exploration, and geothermal heat flow. The book contains numerous user-friendly features for a multidisciplinary readership, including full explanations of the relevant mathematics, emphasis on the physical meaning of the equations, and an extensive glossary. It is a key reference for researchers, consultants and advanced students of hydrogeology and reservoir engineering.
E-Book Content
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GRAVITATIONAL SYSTEMS OF GROUNDWATER FLOW Theory, Evaluation, Utilization
Groundwater of meteoric origin permeates the upper parts of the Earth’s crust in spatially organized flow systems down to several kilometres. Since the discovery of the flow-system concept in the 1960s, hydrogeology’s basic paradigm has shifted from confined flow in aquifers to cross-formational flow in drainage basins. Consequently, groundwater has been recognised as a fundamental geologic agent, generating and modifying natural processes and phenomena of scientific, practical and economic interest. This book is the first to present an extensive and illustrated overview of the history, principles, study methods, practical applications and natural effects of gravity-driven groundwater flow. Its user-friendly presentation requires no advanced background in mathematics, with the necessary mathematics being explained in full, and the physical meaning of the equations emphasized. The author highlights significant inter-relationships between the broad range of seemingly disparate processes and systems, demonstrating how these can be traced to a common root cause involving gravity-driven groundwater flow. Examples are used to illustrate practical applications in areas as diverse as hydrogeology, land-use planning, environment protection, wetland ecology, agriculture, forestry, geotechnical engineering, nuclear-waste disposal, mineral and petroleum exploration, and geothermal heat flow. Written by one of the founding fathers of modern hydrogeology, and including an extensive glossary to aid students and researchers from a variety of disciplines, this book is a key reference for researchers, consultants and advanced students of hydrogeology and reservoir engineering. józsef tóth began his study of geophysics in Hungary in the early 1950s, but moved to the university of Utrecht in the Netherlands in 1956 following the Hungarian revolution. He later emigrated to Canada, where he joined the Alberta Research Council in 1960. He shifted the paradigm of strata-bound groundwater flow in drainage basins to cross-formational water movement by two ground-breaking papers in 1962 and 1963 before defending his PhD thesis in Utrecht in 1965, and has contributed fundamental concepts and observations to the role of groundwater as a geologic agent. He joined the University of Alberta in Canada as a sessional instructor in 1966 and as a full-time faculty member in 1980. He currently holds the positions of Professor Emeritus at the University of Alberta, and Titular Professor at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary. Professor Tóth has received many awards for his work in hydrogeology, including: the first O. E. Meinzer Award from the Geological Society of America in 1965; the 1999 Presid