PUB00070

• Year: 1998
• Title: Ground Water and Surface Water A Single Resource U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1139
• CWCB Section: Interstate & Federal
• Author: T.C. Winter, J.W. Harvey, O.L. Franke, W.M. Alley
• Description: Overview of current understandimg of interaction of ground water and surface water in terms of quality and quantity
• Publications - Doc Type: Historical

Small-scale geologic features in beds of
surface-water bodies affect seepage patterns at
scales too small to be shown in Figure 3, For
example, the size, shape, and orientation of the
sediment grains in surface-water beds affect
seepage patterns, If a surface-water bed consists
of one sediment type, such as sand, inflow seepage
is greatest at the shoreline, and it decreases
in a nonlinear pattern away from the shoreline
(Figure 4), Geologic units having different perme-
abilities also affect seepage distribution in surface-
water beds, For example, a highly permeable sand
layer within a surface-water bed consisting largely
of silt will transmit water preferentially into the
surface water as a spring (Figure 5),

RECHARGE AREA

PUMPED WELL

Confining bed

Centuries

Confined
aquifer

Millennia

land surface
_______~!!~r~~~~_________

Su rface water

Ground-water flow path

Figure 4, GrOlllld-water seepage into slIrface water
IIsllally is greatest near shore, In flow diagrams sllcll
as that sllOwn here, the qllantity of discharge is eqllal
between any two flow lines; therefore, the closer flow
lines illdicate greater discharge per IIllit of bottom
area.

Subaqueous spring in Nebraska. (Photograph
by Charles Flowerday.)

Figure 3. Grolllld-water flow paths
vary greatly ill lellgth, depth, alld
traveltime from poillts of recharge
to points of discharge ill the grolllld-
water system,

l.and
SUrfaCe

-----------

Sand

Suriace water
Spring

"Line of equal
hydraulic head

Silt

Figure 5, SlIbaqlleolls sprillgs call res lilt from preferred
paths of grolllld-water flow throllgh highly permeable
sedimel1ts,

5