INTRODUCCION

What is Hydrology?
It can simply be summarized that hydrology is the detailed scientific study
of water.
Scope of Hydrology
The study of hydrology is multi-disciplinary. The hydrologic cycle is the
central theme of the study of hydrology.
Hydrological studies involve the application of scientific knowledge and
mathematical principles to solve water related problems such as quantity,
quality and availability in society.
Most of the basic concepts and processes studied in hydrology have their
roots in the hydrologic cycle.
Hydrologic cycle
The hydrologic cycle can be considered a closed system for the earth
because the total amount of water in the cycle is fixed even though its
distribution in time and space varies. There are many sub-cycles within the
worldwide system, which are generally open-ended. It is these subsystems
that give rise to the many problems of water supply and allocation that
confront hydrologists and water managers.
The entire process in the hydrologic cycle can be divided into five parts,
which include: condensation, precipitation, infiltration, runoff and
evaporation. The hydrologic cycle is very complex. This is because all
biological lives depend on water. However, it is necessary, in spite of its
complexities to look at the major path-ways or processes in the movement
of water through the cycle.

THE HYDROLOGIC BASIN

Definition of basin
An area of land that drains water, sediment, and dissolved materials to a
common outlet.
Watershed are separated by drainage divides.
Can be any shape and size.
The watershed is the basic unit of all hydrologic analysis and designs. Any
watershed can be subdivided in to a set of smaller watersheds. Usually a

watershed is defined for a given drainage point. This point is usually the
location at which the analysis is being made and is referred to as the
watershed outlet.
Drainage Area (A)
The area of watershed is also known as the drainage area and it is the most
important watershed characteristic for hydrologic analysis. It reflects the
volume of water that can be generated from a rainfall. Once the watershed
has been delineated, its area can be determined, either by approximate
map methods or by GIS.
Perimeter of a basin (km)
Is the outer boundary of the watershed that enclosed its area. It is
measured along the divide between watersheds and may be used as an
indicator of watershed size and shape.
Watershed length (L)
Increases as the drainage increases.
L is important in hydrologic
computations. L defined as distance measured along the main channel from
the watershed outlet to the basin divide. L is measured along the principal
flow path.
A&L
Both measures of watershed size; they may reflect different aspects of size.
A - Indicate potential for rainfall to provide a volume of water; L - used in
computing time parameter - measure of travel time of water through a
watershed.
Delimitation of a basin
Boundary of a watershed consists of the line drawn across the contours
joining the highest elevations surrounding the basin.
A common task in hydrology is to delineate a watershed from a topographic
map.
The water divide is the line linking the points of greatest height between two
drainage basins, and separating their surface runoffs. It delimits the entire
catchment area which is drained by the whole of a river network.
When defining watershed boundaries and stream channels it is important to
remember that water flows from high elevation to low elevation, and in a
simple sense, perpendicular to contour line.

CHARACTERISTIC CURVES
The hypsometric curve
The hypsometric curve (areaaltitude relation) of a watershed has been
used since the 1950s to describe the distribution of watershed area with
elevation, usually as a proportion of area above each proportion in
elevation. A related analysis is between watershed area and stream
gradient.
A hypsometric curve is a graphical representation showing on the abscissa
the basin areas situated above various altitudes. If necessary, the basin
areas can be given as percentages of the total. The hypsometric curve has
also been termed the drainage-basin relief graph (Vladimirescu, 1978).
Being a global representation, such a curve has the disadvantage of
containing little or no information about certain significant relief features, in
particular slope discontinuities, platforms and scarps, which are not at the
same altitude throughout the basin area (Baulig, 1959).
They permit determination of the mean altitude of a drainage basin or
region.

REPRESENTATIVE INDICES
Stream order
The stream order is a measure of the degree of stream branching within a
watershed. Each length of stream is indicated by its order (for example,
first-order, second-order, etc.). A first-order stream is an unbranched
tributary, a second-order stream is a tributary formed by two or more firstorder streams. A third-order stream is a tributary formed by two or more
second-order streams and so on. In general, an nth order stream is a
tributary formed by two or more streams of order (n-1) and streams of lower
order. For a watershed, the principal order is defined as the order of the
principal channel.
Form Factor (Ff)
Form factor (Ff) is defined as the ratio of the basin area to the square of the
basin length, using the following equation.
Where:

Rf =

Au
L2b

A u=basinarea ( km )

Lb=Basin length(km)
This factor indicates the flow intensity of a basin of a defined area (Horton,
1945). The smaller the value of the form factor, the more elongated will be
the basin. Basins with high form factors experience larger peak flows of
shorter duration, whereas elongated watersheds with low form factors
experience lower peak flows of longer duration.
Circulatory Ratio (Rc)
Circulatory ratio obtained from the ratio of basin area (Au) to the area of a
circle (Ac) having equal perimeter as the perimeter of drainage basin.
Where:

Rc =

Au
Ac

It is influenced by the length and frequency of streams, geological

structures, land use/ land cover, climate and slope of the basin.
The high value of circularity ratio shows the late maturity stage of
topography.
Elongation Ratio (Re)
Schumms 1956 used an elongation ratio (Re) defined as the ratio of
diameter of a circle of the same area as the basin to the maximum basin
length.
Where:

Rl =

Dc
Lbm

same
Dc =Diameter of having
area as the given drainagebasin(km)
Lbm=Maximum length(km)
The value of Re varies from 0 (in highly elongated shape) to unity i.e. 1.0 (in
the circular shape).Thus higher the value of elongation ratio more circular
shape of the basin and vice-versa. Values close to 1.0 are typical of regions
of very low relief, whereas that of 0.6 to 0.8 are usually associated with high

relief and steep ground slope (Strahler, 1964).These values can be grouped
as,
Elongation
ratio
<0.7
0.8-0.7
0.9-0.8
>0.9

Shape of basin
Elongated
Less elongated
Oval
Circular

The circular basin is more efficient in run-off discharge than an elongated

basin (Singh and Singh, 1997).
Drainage Density (Dd).
Drainage density has long been recognised as topographic characteristic of
fundamental significance. It reflects the landuse and affects infiltration and
the basin response time between precipitation and discharge. Drainage
basin with high Dd indicates that a large proportion of the precipitation runs
off. On the other hand, a low drainage density indicates the most rainfall
infiltrates the ground and few channels are required to carry the runoff
(Roger, 1971). Dd is considered to be an important index; it is expresses as
the ratio of the total sum of all channel segments within a basin to the basin
area i.e., the length of streams per unit of drainage density.
Where:

Dd =

Ls
A

Ls=Total lenght of all stream channelsthebasi n

A= Area od the basi n
Compactness factor
The compactness coefficient

Cc

is defined as the radio of the perimeter of

a circle whose area is a equal to the area of the basin. That is

C c=

P
4 A

P= perimeter of the basin ( km )

A= Area of basin(km2 )

It may be observed that the circularity ratio is nothing but the reciprocal of
the square of the compactness coefficient.

Rc =

1
Cc 2

Thus the circularity ratio and the compactness coefficient are not truly
independent parameters.

SLOPE OF A BASIN
Slope (S)
There are many ways of defining the slope of a basin. A simple way of
obtaining it is to divide the difference between the elevations of the highest
point on the basin perimeter and the basin outlet by the distance between
these two points.
Slope of the main channel
It is usually calculated as the elevation difference between the endpoints of
the main flow path divided by the length.
Where:

S=

H
L

S=slope of themain channel .

H=height diffe rence of the ends of

the channel.( km)

L=channel length .(km )
The elevation difference may not necessarily be the maximum elevation
difference within the watershed since the point of highest elevation may
occur along a side boundary of the watershed rather than at the end of the
principal flow path. If there is significant variation in the slope along the
main flow path, it may be preferable to consider several sub-watersheds and
estimate the slope of each.
Nash and Shaw (1966) have suggested the equation for determining
channel slope as:

Li

S=

2 L i Zi

Where

Li

contours and

is the distance along the main stream between successive

Zi

is the average elevation above the outlet for each reach

length Li (Fig. 4.2, Schulz and Lopez, 1974). Reich (1962) and Laurenson et
al. (1963) described the slope quantity as the slope of a straight line joining
the elevation of the outlet on the profile of the main stream with the
average elevation of the actual stream profile. The average main channel
slope can be developed by drawing a straight line (Fig. 4.2) such that the
area under the line is equal to the area under the profile diagram
(hypsometric curve).

Wu (1963) obtained a mean slope of the main channel by studying

topographic maps.
Wu (1963) used the method developed by Taylor and Schwarz (1952) to
determine the mean slope as:
2

S mean=(

1
)
1
1
1
1
+
+
++
S1 S2 S3
Sn

Where n represents the number of reaches of equal length, and S1 to Sn

are the slopes of each small reach.

PROBLEMS OF APPLICATION
Delimitation of a basin
The example map below shows an illustration of contour lines, topography,
stream channel network, and drainage divide. The following are the steps
used to delineate watershed boundaries and stream networks:
To trace the boundary, start at the outlet & then draw a line away on the left
bank, maintaining it always at right angles to the contour lines. (The line
should not cross the drainage paths)
1. Continue the line until it is above the headwaters of the stream
network. Return to the outlet and repeat the procedure with a line
away from the right bank.

2. Two lines should join to produce the full watershed boundary.

3. Use of GIS (Geographic Information System) popular and has
facilitated much of the work of hydrologists.
4. The use of DEMs (Digital Elevation Models) in particular has made
watershed delineation a smooth procedure.

Qu es la hidrologa?
Simplemente se puede resumir que la hidrologa es el estudio cientfico
detallado de agua.
mbito de Hidrologa
El estudio de la hidrologa es multidisciplinario. El ciclo hidrolgico es el
tema central del estudio de la hidrologa.
Estudios hidrolgicos implican la aplicacin de los principios del
conocimiento cientfico y matemticas para resolver problemas relacionados
con el agua, tales como la cantidad, calidad y disponibilidad de la sociedad.
La mayor parte de los conceptos bsicos y procesos estudiados en
hidrologa tienen sus races en el ciclo hidrolgico.
Ciclo hidrolgico
El ciclo hidrolgico puede considerarse un sistema cerrado para la tierra
porque la cantidad total de agua en el ciclo se fija a pesar de su distribucin
en el tiempo y en el espacio vara. Hay muchos sub-ciclos dentro del
sistema en todo el mundo, que son generalmente de composicin abierta.
Son estos subsistemas que dan lugar a los muchos problemas de

abastecimiento y distribucin del agua que enfrentan los hidrlogos y

gestores del agua.
El proceso entero en el ciclo hidrolgico se puede dividir en cinco partes,
que incluyen: condensacin, precipitacin, infiltracin, escorrenta y la
evaporacin. El ciclo hidrolgico es muy complejo. Esto es porque todas las
vidas biolgicas dependen del agua. Sin embargo, es necesario, a pesar de
sus complejidades a mirar las principales maneras de caminos o procesos
en el movimiento del agua a travs del ciclo.
Definicin de cuenca
Un rea de tierra que drena el agua, los sedimentos y materiales disueltos a
una salida comn.
Cuencas estn separadas por divisiones de drenaje.
Puede ser de cualquier forma y tamao.
La cuenca es la unidad bsica de todos los anlisis hidrolgicos y diseos.
Cualquier cuenca se puede subdividir en un conjunto de cuencas pequeas.
Por lo general, una cuenca hidrogrfica se define por un punto de drenaje
dado. Este punto es generalmente la ubicacin en la que se est realizando
el anlisis y se conoce como la cuenca "salida".