Hydrology

The main aim of the course is to present the water cycle on and under the Earth's surface. Students must understand the characteristics of the appearance of water and the hidrologic cycle processes. The course focuses on groundwaters, which represent the most important source of drinking water in Slovenia. The quality and quantity of water available for various purposes are of great importance. Students develop the skills to identify and understand various ways of water's appearance and flow. Students are acquainted with various research methods and are able to use them to solve practical problems. Knowledge of hidrology is essential for the sustainable management of water sources.

The course Hidrology represents a basis for understanding the courses covering water pollution and water sources management. To understand the course content, a prerequisite knowledge of mathematics, statistics, physics and chemistry is required.

• Overview of the course content
• Characteristics of water and natural water cycle
• Basic terms used in hidrometerology
• Precipitation and evapotranspiration
• Hidrographic, hidrologic and hidrogeological pools
• Surface flow and hidrologic measurements
• Infiltration
• Hidrogeological characteristics of sediments and rocks
• Acquifiers
• Groundwater outflow
• Water balance
• Karst hidrology
• Statistical methods and hidrologic modelling
• Hidrogeochemistry
• Pollution and water protection
• Water sources management

Knowledge and understanding:
• Students know basic terms used in hidrology;
• students understand the principle of water flow in the nature;
• students understand the structure and activities of various types of acquifiers;
• students know basic methods for measuring and analysing hidrologic parameters;
• students understand the importance of water sources and know how to adequately protect them.

Basic:

• Brilly, M., Šraj, M.: Osnove hidrologije. Ljubljana: FGG, 2000. Catalogue

Additional:

• Dingman, S.L.: Physical Hydrology. Third Edition.- Waveland Press Inc., Long Grove, Illinois, 2014. E-version
• Younger, P.L.: Groundwater in the Environment. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK & Malden, Massachusetts, 2007. Catalogue
• Hydrological and meteorological data: www.arso.gov.si, www.meteo.si.

Written examination (70%), colloquium from exercise part (30%)

Full Professor in the field of karstology at the University of Nova Gorica

• PETRIČ, Metka, RAVBAR, Nataša, GOSTINČAR, Petra, KRSNIK, Petra, GACIN, Marina. GIS database of groundwater flow characteristics in carbonate aquifers : tracer test inventory from Slovenian karst. Applied geography. [Print ed.]. May 2020, vol. 118, 8 str. DOI: 10.1016/j.apgeog.2020.102191. [COBISS.SI-ID 46123309],

• ĆUK, Marina, PETRIČ, Metka, JEMCOV, Igor, MULEC, Janez, MAZEJ, Zdenka, MAYAUD, Cyril, BLATNIK, Matej, KOGOVŠEK, Blaž, RAVBAR, Nataša. Multivariate statistical analysis of hydrochemical and microbiological natural tracers as a tool for understanding karst hydrodynamics (the Unica springs, SW Slovenia). Water resources research. November 2022, vol. 58, issue 11, e2021wr031831, str. 1-20. DOI: 10.1029/2021WR031831. [COBISS.SI-ID 130909443]

• KOGOVŠEK, Blaž, JEMCOV, Igor, PETRIČ, Metka. Advanced application of time series analysis in complex karst aquifers : a case study of Unica springs (SW Slovenia). Journal of hydrology. [Print ed.]. Nov. 2023, vol. 626, part a, [article no.] 130147, str. 1-15. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2023.130147. [COBISS.SI-ID 168207363]

• VILHAR, Urša, KERMAVNAR, Janez, KOZAMERNIK, Erika, PETRIČ, Metka, RAVBAR, Nataša. The effects of large-scale forest disturbances on hydrology : an overview with special emphasis on karst aquifer systems. Earth-science reviews. [Print ed.]. 2022, vol. 235, str. 1-21. DOI: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2022.104243. [COBISS.SI-ID 130697987]