This course covers the principles and mechanisms whereby water cycles through and interacts with the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. Field work provides skills in in-situ measurement of water quality parameters and sampling in rivers, estuaries, wetlands and groundwaters; and first-hand knowledge of our local water supply systems.

Topics covered typically include:

Universal Water - formation of water, isotopic fractionation, distribution in the universe, our solar system and on Earth. Global water cycle compartments and the concept of residence time. Common water quality parameters.

Rivers - Catchments, river structure, channels, riparian zones. Sources of water, discharge, ratings curves and hydrographs. Flow profiles and principle of continuity. Pool and riffle zones, mass transport, global averages and periodic trends.

Groundwater - surface infiltration, percolation, unsaturated and saturated zones, porosity and permeability, water table. Groundwater flow, Darcy's Law, potentiometric surface. Aquifer types, recharge, discharge, depletion, saline intrusion.

Estuaries & Wetlands - Estuarine types, stratification and mixing, indexes of mixing, conservative and non-conservative solutes. Wetlands - types: natural and constructed, physical, chemical and biological processes.

Lakes & Reservoirs - lake basins, nutrient status and life cycle.

Water sources and water composition; residence time calculations for lake waters; thermal stratification, turnover and inverse stratification, thermal classifications; chemical stratification; water circulation; difficulties in obtaining representative lake water samples.

Water Supply - protected and unprotected catchments, collection and distribution system, surface water potabilisation; desalination.

The Ocean - Seawater composition and uniformity; salinity, surface variability; temperature, thermocline, halocline and pycnocline; properties of water bodies (masses). Surface currents, gyres, convergence and divergence, upwelling and downwelling; thermohaline circulation. Arctic Ocean circulation and vertical stratification; Southern Ocean and Antarctica; equatorial and Australian currents.