Sources
open directory project
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Groundwater discharge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Groundwater discharge is the volumetric flow rate of groundwater through an aquifer.
Total groundwater discharge, as reported through a specified area, is similarly expressed as:
where
- Q is the total groundwater discharge ([L³T−1]; m³/s), and
- A is the area which the groundwater is flowing through ([L²]; m²)
For example, this can be used to determine the flow rate of water flowing along a plane with known geometry.
The conservation principle shows that the mass or volume water flowing into a system is equal to that flowing out, with storage holding or releasing water in the system. Mathematically, this simple concept can be expressed as:
where
- Qin and Qout are the volumetric flow rates in and out the system (such as wells, rivers, etc.),
- ΔS is the change of water volume that enters/leaves the system, and
- Δt is the change of time
If the system is steady state, then the right-hand side of the equation is 0.
- Discharge (hydrology) – for rivers
- volumetric flow rate
- flux (transport definition)
- Darcy's Law