Hydrology of Northern Minnesota

 

http://blog.gmedical.com/Locums-for-a-Small-World/bid/34958/Minnesota-Land-of-lakes-loons-and-locum-tenens

We all know Minnesota as the Land of 10,000 lakes.  So what does that entail for the water ways and water systems of our state?  In this blog I will be explaining some basic Hydrology concepts and how they apply to Northern Minnesota

http://www.lodgeofwhisperingpines.com/outfitting1.html

 

 

You may have thought to yourself so where does all the excess water go? We all know that it does not just sit on the surface but instead it filtrates into the ground because it is a permeable surface. Ground water is the water that sits below the surface of the land and that fills in the spaces between the rock and sediment. When talking about how groundwater can be stored, there are two terms to know, porosity and permeability. Porosity is how the groundwater stores itself in between the rock grains, if there is a lot of space that means the ground has good porosity. Permeability is how well the pathways connect the pores to one another; if the pores are well connected it means that the ground has good permeability.

http://www.co2crc.com.au/imagelibrary2/storage.html
An example of good porosity

http://www.co2crc.com.au/imagelibrary2/storage.html
An example of good permeability
 

Today in our country we are having problems keeping the groundwater at a sufficient level. If we take more groundwater than the system is able to replenish itself, the process is called drawdown. The process of groundwater replenishing itself with precipitation penetrating the surface of the ground is called recharge. In most places of the world the levels of drawdown are greater than the levels of recharge when we need to attempt to keep the two levels at equilibrium. Groundwater occurs everywhere in the state of Minnesota. On average, Minnesota's groundwater provides about 75% of the state's drinking water and 90% of the state's agricultural irrigation water.

http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2007/3007/

This map shows us how many centimeters per year of groundwater recharges back into the system

 

 

 

 

So now you may be wondering so where does all of the excess water flow to? The answer is a drainage basin which is also known as a watershed. A watershed is a body of water that all of the excess groundwater, precipitation and overflow drain into. Another component of a watershed is observing all of the rivers and streams in a particular area and seeing where they drain into. In Northern Minnesota the two main basins are the Red River of the North and the Rainy River Basin. So all of the little streams and rivers, which are called tributaries, groundwater, overflow and excess precipitation end up flowing into these two particular rivers.

 

http://www.30lakes.org/Images/basinsMN.jpg
This map explains to us all of the major watersheds in the state of Minnesota.







I hope this blog helped you understand a few of the main concepts of Hydrology and how they apply to Northern Minnesota!!!!

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/postndakota/227926099/



Sources:

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/groundwater/index.html

http://www.co2crc.com.au/imagelibrary2/storage.html

http://clasfaculty.ucdenver.edu/callen/1202/Battle/Destroy/Hydrology/HydrologyBasics.html

http://blog.gmedical.com/Locums-for-a-Small-World/bid/34958/Minnesota-Land-of-lakes-loons-and-locum-tenens

http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2007/3007/

http://www.30lakes.org/Images/basinsMN.jpg