CORE 016: Introduction to Hydrology
Syllabus

The topic list for this project is: the hydrologic cycle, hydrologic fluid dynamics, water chemistry, evaporation and transpiration, surface and subsurface water, and limnology.

Prerequisite: CORE 011 or the equivalent.

Instructor: George E. Hrabovsky, george@madscitech.org, 608-276-6832.

Task #1: Start and keep a notebook for your study. This should be bound and have at least 300 sheets. You may need more than one notebook of this size. Smaller notebooks than 300-sheets can be used, but the total number of sheets should be at least 300. Each set of 300 pages started and completed is worth a point towards your final total of 4. To begin your notebook you will need a list of topics. The one listed below is only one possible choice. This choice is the default. Any choice other than this one must be approved by your instructor.

Procedure for the Course

If a topic from the list below is underscored that means there is some resource material for it. If there is no resource material for it then you must develop that for yourself.

It is expected that you will develop one or more questions for each topic. Questions can be of the form who, what, when, where, why, and how.

Once you have written down a set of questions for a topic, you either answer each of these qurestions or you explain how you attempted to answer the question and failed. Don't be alarmed; even some elementary questions resist answering. You can learn a lot just by making the effort.

The next step is to ask a set of new questions based on your previous attempts at answering your first set of questions (this can include those questions you were unable to answer before). Answer each of those questions as best you can and create another set of questions for each answer. Answer each of those to the best of your ability and ask another set of questios for each, but do not answer them right away. If you are really interested in one or more of these questions attempt to answer them in a, "topic of personal interest," session; or you may answer them in a personal research project.

Wherever possible give at least three examples of any definition, principle, or procedure.

This course will require three pages of notes for each topic to fill a 300 page notebook.

  1. The nature of hydrology
  2. Observational hydrology
  3. Experimental hydrology
  4. Theoretical hydrology
  5. Computational hydrology
  6. The hydrologic cycle
  7. The water balance
  8. The water table
  9. The hydrologic cycle in Mathematica
  10. Topic of Personal Interest (including, but not limited to hydrographs, water use, water conservation)
  11. Topic of Personal Interest.
  12. Topic of Personal Interest.
  13. Review of topics to date.
  14. Physical properties of water
  15. Reynold's transport theorem
  16. Continuity equation
  17. Momentum equation
  18. Open channel flow
  19. Energy balance
  20. Transport processes
  21. Turbulence
  22. Flow nets
  23. Regional flows
  24. Superposition and boundary effects
  25. Eddies
  26. Hydrologic fluid dynamics in Mathematica
  27. Topic of Personal Interest (including, but not limited to advection, convection, diffusion, conduction)
  28. Topic of Personal Interest.
  29. Topic of Personal Interest.
  30. Review of topics 14-29
  31. Review of topics to date.
  32. Freshwater chemistry
  33. Groundwater quality
  34. Groundwater contamination
  35. Freshwater-saltwater interactions
  36. Water chemistry in Mathematica
  37. Topic of Personal Interest (including, but not limited to water quality standards, contaminant transport, mass balance, charge balance, solubility)
  38. Topic of Personal Interest.
  39. Topic of Personal Interest.
  40. Review of topics 32-39
  41. Review of topics to date.
  42. Radiation
  43. Atmospheric moisture
  44. Storm development
  45. Precipitation
  46. Snow
  47. Evaporation
  48. Transpiration
  49. Evapotranspiration
  50. Interception
  51. Infiltration
  52. Runoff
  53. Measuring runoff
  54. Evaporation and transpiration in Mathematica
  55. Topic of Personal Interest (including, but not limited to humidity, mixing ratio, precipitable water, precipitation intensity, streamflow, precipitation measurement, intensity-duration-frequency curves, snowmelt)
  56. Topic of Personal Interest.
  57. Topic of Personal Interest.
  58. Review of topics 42-57
  59. Review of topics to date.
  60. Surface water
  61. Groundwater storage
  62. Aquifer homogeneity
  63. Hydraulic head
  64. Flow in aquifers
  65. Soil properties
  66. Subsurface water
  67. Flow in porous medium
  68. Porosity and permeability
  69. Transmissivity
  70. Drawdown from a well
  71. Pump tests
  72. Slug tests
  73. Recharge
  74. Level fluctuations
  75. Well drilling
  76. Basin development
  77. Seawater intrusion
  78. Hydraulic and hydrologic routing
  79. Surface and subsurface water in Mathematica
  80. Topic of Personal Interest (including, but not limited to permeability of sediment, storm design, baseflow separation)
  81. Topic of Personal Interest.
  82. Topic of Personal Interest.
  83. Review of topics 60-82
  84. Review of topics to date.
  85. Origin of lakes
  86. Structure of lakes
  87. Lakewater dynamics
  88. Lakewater chemistry
  89. Plant nutrients
  90. Phytoplankton
  91. Zooplankton
  92. Fish
  93. Nutrient pollution
  94. Acidification
  95. Limnology in Mathematica
  96. Topic of Personal Interest (including, but not limited to effects on global climate change, effects of global climate change, trophic status, biotic productivity, light penetration in water, temperature zones in lakes, lake currents, lake waves)
  97. Topic of Personal Interest.
  98. Topic of Personal Interest.
  99. Review of topics 85-98
  100. Review of topics to date.

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