Lindy Newman

Technical Definition
Fall 2014
Potentiometric Surface: A theoretical, three-dimensional surface that describes the pressure in an
underlying aquifer at any given point.

When hydrologists study groundwater, they want to know where it is and how it flows. An aquifer is a
collection of underground rock or soil
that is saturated with water. Aquifers
can be unconfined that is, located
below soil or rock that is permeable
enough to transmit water, but is not
saturated or they can be confined
below a layer of rock that is
impermeable and traps groundwater in.
When a well is drilled into an
Figure 1. A basic diagram of an aquifer system. The dark blue band is a
unconfined aquifer, the water in this
layer of rock that is not able to transmit water, thereby confining the
well will start gathering at the physical
bottom aquifer. The boundary at which the soil or rock is saturated in the
point where the water has saturated the unconfined aquifer marks the water table. Adapted from A brief history.
rock or soil it is in. However, when a well
is drilled into a confined aquifer, the water in the well can shoot up above the aquifers physical
boundary because of the pressure it is under. In each of these situations, the level to which the water
rises in the well is called the hydraulic head (Indiana Department of Natural Resources).
To imagine a potentiometric surface, lets imagine that an acre of land above an aquifer was entirely
packed with wells everywhere a well can be drilled, there is one. If we were to draw an elevation map
based on the height to which
the water in each well rose, i.e.
the hydraulic head, that would
be a map of the aquifers
potentiometric surface. For an
unconfined aquifer, this is more
commonly called the water
table. The potentiometric
surface is an invisible threedimensional surface that
describes the pressure in the
underlying aquifer at any given
point. It is important to
Figure 2. Two aquifers and their respective potentiometric surfaces. Notice that for
understand that the
the confined aquifer, the potentiometric surface can be much higher than the physical
potentiometric surface does
boundaries of the aquifer, causing some wells to overflow. Adapted from Indiana
Department of Natural Resources.

not physically exist, and is only a theoretical construct to help hydrologists better understand where
water is flowing (Indiana Department of Natural Resources).

Glossary
Aquifer: A collection of underground rock or soil that is saturated with groundwater.
Unconfined aquifer: An aquifer buried underneath a layer of rock or soil that is permeable enough to
transmit water, but is not saturated with water.
Confined aquifer: An aquifer buried underneath a layer of rock that is impermeable. Water in a confined
aquifer is trapped and cannot move freely between adjacent rock layers.
Hydraulic head: A measurement that combines water elevation and water pressure, and describes how
high the water would rise in a well drilled in a given area.
Water table: The level to which a well will rise at any point on an unconfined aquifer.
Potentiometric surface: An invisible three-dimensional surface that describes the pressure in the
underlying aquifer at any given point.

References
A brief overview of groundwater. Hill County Water Resources. Retrieved from
http://www.txhillcountrywater.org/general-groundwater/.
Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Potentiometric surface mapping (1:48,000) overview.
Retrieved from http://www.in.gov/dnr/water/7258.htm.