EAE3331 - Catchment hydrology - 2018

Water is one of the critical resources that supports human settlement and food production. This unit introduces the hydrological processes that distribute water through catchment areas and explores the way in which many human activities, such as the growth of urban areas, deforestation, and the use and control of fire, may disturb these processes. A series of laboratory classes introduce students to some of the technical aspects of hydrologic processes, such as nature and measurement of infiltration through soils, and the behaviour of groundwater and surface runoff.

On satisfactory completion of this unit, students will be able to:

1. Appreciate the importance of hydrological processes in water catchments to human activity, and the vulnerability of hydrological processes to manipulation by human activity.
2. Describe how rising human appropriation of fresh water globally poses challenges for security of water and food supply
3. Describe how hydrological processes vary among climates (arid to wet tropical) and through time, as regional and global climates undergo change.
4. Describe key hydrological processes as explored in practical classes, including canopy interception, infiltration, seepage, and overland flow.
5. Carry out laboratory experiments dealing with key hydrological processes.

Examination (2 hours): 40%

Laboratory class reports: 20%

Research project: 40%

Three 1-hour lectures and one 2-hour laboratory class per week

See also Unit timetable information

Earth science

Environmental science

Geographical science

Human geography