Dr Nick A Chappell

LEC174 Hydrology: water in the environment

An OTT river-level recorder based on a float and a shaft encoder

This site contains links to copies of lecture handouts and further reading to read online or download as part of LEC174 Hydrology (formerly LEC174 Hydrological Processes). These resources are mostly held on an INTRANET (so access on campus or setup VPN access new page) and will be updated throughout the module.

This module is an introduction to the science of hydrology and emphasises the physical processes and their measurement. Two case studies will be used to illustrate how an understanding of hydrological processes can be used to quantify and sometimes solve environmental problems. The first issue to be examined is the ‘impact of rainforest logging on the physical environment’ and will use data for a region of northern Borneo currently under study. The second issue to be addressed is the ‘potential for environmental contamination from a proposed radionuclide repository near Sellafield’. Again, research work will be used to illustrate the hydrological theory. The module is taught by Nick A Chappell.

Learning objectives are: 1/ Measure waterflows and soil/rock properties, 2/ Manipulate algebraic equations, 3/ Relate physical theory to the solution of environmental problems, and 4/ Describe and manipulate the water balance equation and the groundwater flow equation.

Click on links below to read or download handouts and reading for each lecture: