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HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF HYDROLOGY

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF HYDROLOGY. Prof. Dr. Atıl BULU. It is not easy to answer the question “How and where the science of hydrology began?”. The first settlements began on the banks of rivers because of the crucial importance of water.

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HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF HYDROLOGY

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  1. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF HYDROLOGY Prof. Dr. Atıl BULU

  2. It is not easy to answer the question “How and where the science of hydrology began?”. The first settlements began on the banks of rivers because of the crucial importance of water. The rivers that the first civilizations arouse are; the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia, the Indus in India and the Yellow River in China. The first water structures are built to control the nature such as water supply systems, dams and dikes, river bed improvements, irrigation and drainage channels. (Biswas, 1969).

  3. The first water structures were seen in Egypt as early as 3000 B.C. The records of water levels of the Nile back to 3000-3500 B.C. The device used for water measuring is called Nilometer. Several nilometers were in use during the pre-600 B.C. period. There are flood warning records depending on the nilometer measurements at Memphis. The levels of the Nile were carefully watched and compared with the levels of the previous years during the flood season. Fast rowers were sent from the upstream of nilometers to report the latest level in the capital. These extremely good rowers were faster than the flood velocity to give sufficient warning time to the population of the downstream for the forthcoming flood evacuation.

  4. Understanding and explaining the nature without myths began on the shores of Aegean Sea at Anatolia (Ionia) after 600 B.C. period. The first philosopher accepted by history of scientists is Thales who lived at Miletus (624-548 B.C.). Thales is the first philosopher who proclaimed that water is the original substance of all the things on the earth.

  5. Explanation of the periodic flooding of the Nile was a subject to think about for the early Ionian philosophers. These were Thales, Anaxagoras, Herodotus, Diogenes and Democritus. The first reasonable explanation came from Anaxagoras who suggested that the flooding of the Nile was due to the melting of snow from the peaks of the mountains where the river starts.

  6. THE PERIOD OF PLATON AND ARISTOTELES

  7. Platon is a well known philosopher who lived and lectured at his Academia in Athens (428-348 B.C.). He gave the explanation of hydrologic cycle saying that “rivers and springs originate from rainfall”. Aristoteles (384-322) wrote an article on hydrology entitled “Meteorologica”. He explained the mechanics of precipitation and gave his thoughts on winds and seas. The first measurement of rainfall depth was begun in India during this period. The non-recording type rain gauges were extensively used so that lands could be taxed according to the rainfall the received. (Biswas, 1969).

  8. THE PERIOD OF ROMAN EMPIRE

  9. The Romans were practical engineers. They constructed excellent aqueducts to supply millions of liters of fresh water to the city of Rome, sewerage systems which are still in use and a very fine harbor in the Western Roman Empire. Rome Aqueducts (Lettenmaier, 2004)

  10. They also constructed water supply structures at Istanbul. Emperor Hadriyen (117-138) constructed water canals to bring water to the Golden Horn part of the city. Emperor Valens (364-378) constructed Mazul and Valens aqueducts to supply water to the center of the city (Historical Peninsula). Aqueducts of Valens in Istanbul today

  11. Aqueducts of Valens in Istanbul today

  12. Emperor Teodosius (378-395) constructed another water supply canal to convey water to the city. Eastern Roman Emperors also built open and underground cisterns for emergency cases such as droughts and wars. The most famous of these cisterns are Basilica Cistern with 336 columns and Pileksunus Cistern with 224 columns. There are also many aqueducts in Anatolia coming from Roman time. Bazilika Cistern in Istanbul

  13. Aqueduct in Izmir

  14. One of the chapters of the book entitled “Architectura libri decem” written by Italian architect Vitrivius is about water structures. The major hydrological development of this period is the definition of discharge by Hero of Alexandria. He stated that discharge depends on both velocity and cross-sectional area of a stream. The Romans built great water structures that they did work and served their purposes up to our time. These structures were built by pure empirical methods without understanding physical principles involved (Biswas, 1969).

  15. MIDDLE AGES AND THE RENAISSANCE

  16. Understanding and investigating the nature had almost stopped because of the power of Christian Church. This era is called “scholastic era” lasting almost 13 centuries (200-1500). The scientific development had faded away and therefore the science of hydrology did not progress as well.

  17. The only major development in hydrology was the use of rain gauges as early as 13th century in China. The conical or barrel shaped gauges were installed at every provincial and district capital. They also used snow gauges made of bamboo and placed them on the mountain passes and upland areas. Chinese writer Chhin Chiu-Shao discussed to calculate the amount of rainfall over an area by using measurements of rain gauges.

  18. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) is an artist and scientist of the Renaissance era who also interested in hydrology and hydraulics. He made experiments to measure the velocity of flow by using floating corks . He is the man who justified the continuity equation. Velocity measurements by floats by Leonardo da Vinci (Lettenmaier, 2004)

  19. Water pump drawn by Leonardo (Hamyln,1968) Water mill drawn by Leonardo (Hamyln,1968)

  20. He also developed experiments in glass wall canals to understand the principles of flow by using dye. His studies on water motion is so important in water science but did not affect much on the water science since his notes were not published and can only be read by a mirror. Italian architect Giovan Fontana investigated in detail the flooding of Tiber at Rome in 1598. He carried out systematic measurement and analysis of flood flows and recommended river channel improvement. (Biswas, 1969).

  21. THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

  22. The greatest achievements of this century in hydrology were the general acceptance of the continuity principle and the experimental works of Pierre Perrault, Edmé Mariotte and Edmond Halley. (Biswas, 1969). Benedetto Castelli (1577-1644) published a book titled “Della misura dell’acque correnti” in 1628. Castelli’s book was responsible for the universal acceptance of the discharge equation. He was also the first man in Europe to use a non-recording rain gauge.

  23. Benedetto Castelli (1577-1644) The book of Castelli

  24. Perrault, Mariotte and Halley are the founders of experimental hydrology and established the principles of fundamental hydrology. Pierre Perrault (1608-1680) published a book named “De l’origine des fontaines” in 1674. The book of Pierre Perrault

  25. He showed that rainfall alone is sufficient to support the flow of springs and rivers throughout the year. He calculated the total rainfall on the catchment area of Seine River and then estimated the annual discharge volume in that area and came to the above mentioned conclusion. Edmé Mariotte (1620-1684) also proved experimentally that rainfall was more than enough to sustain the flow of rivers. He also used floats to measure the velocity of flow to estimate discharge. Edmé Mariotte (1620-1684)

  26. Edmond Halley (1656-1742) proved by calculations that enough water evaporates from oceans and rivers to produce rainfall and completed the missing part of hydrologic cycle definition with Perrault and Mariotte. He used evaporation pan to estimate the evaporation rate from the water surface. Hydrologic cycle of Halley Edmond Halley (1656-1742)

  27. Sir Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke developed tipping-bucket type rain gauge. Italian physician Santorio and Robert Hooke devised the current meter in this century. Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723) Robert Hooke (1635–1703)

  28. THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

  29. One of the major developments of this period was the invention of Pitot Tube devised by Henry de Pitot (1695-1771). Velocity distribution in a cross-section had been assumed parabolic with less velocity at the surface and maximum at the bottom. Pitot tube could measure velocities at various depths at a cross-section and the true velocity distribution was established. In the second half of the 18th century, Antoine Chézy (1718-1798) developed the well known Chézy equation. Pierre Lois Georges du Buat (1738-1809) published a book titled “Principes d’Hydraulique” in 1779. Du Buat tried to obtain an universal continuity and velocity equation. The equation he came up with was a different formof Chézy equation and quite complicated for application. John Dalton obtained the Dalton equation to calculate evaporation depth from water surface which is still in use today.

  30. Antoine Chézy (1718-1798) John Dalton (1766–1844) Robert Manning(1816-1897)

  31. THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

  32. Du Buat equation was known and used for discharge calculation in the beginning of 19th century. River discharge recordings began in Germany in this century. The search for a universal discharge equation gained importance in the second half of the 19th century. Two Swiss engineers, Emile Oscar Ganguillet (1818-1894) and Wilhelm Rudolph Kutter (1818-1888), after observations from Swiss river flow data, proposed a new discharge equation which is known as Kutter equation today. Robert Manning (1816-1897) pointed out Kutter’s equation’s dimensional non-homogeneity; he developed the universal Manning equation. Rational method was developed and published by Irish Thomas James Mulvaney in 1851.

  33. Development of groundwater hydrology during this century was quite substantial. Darcy pointed out theoretical aspects of groundwater and came up to Darcy Law. Dupuit (1804-1866) obtained the still used well discharge equations by developing Darcy laws. German Adolph Thiem (1836-1908) developed Darcy’s and Dupuit’s equations and came up with confined and unconfined well discharge equations. The device used by Darcy (Freeze, 1994) Henry Darcy (1803- 1858)

  34. EMPIRICAL ERA (1900-1930)

  35. During this period, hundreds of empirical equations were proposed and the selection of their coefficients and parameters had to depend on engineering judgment and experience (Chow, 1964). Scientific hydrologic studies took momentum when these empirical equations were found to give unsatisfactory results in solving practical hydrologic problems.

  36. RATIONAL ERA (1930-1950)

  37. Sherman developed Unit Hydrograph Theory for translating rainfall excess into runoff hydrograph in 1933. Horton obtained infiltration equation in 1933 to determine rainfall excess. Theis developed new equations in the hydraulic of wells in 1935. Gumbel proposed extreme value distribution for frequency analysis of flood data.

  38. THEORETICAL ERA (1950-today)

  39. Theoretical approaches have been extensively used in hydrologic applications. Mathematical analysis began to be applied to hydrologic systems. Sophisticated instruments and computers are being developed and employed to measure hydrologic phenomena and to solve complicated mathematical equations in the application of hydrologic theories. Examples of theoretical studies are the linear and nonlinear analysis of hydrologic systems, the adoption of transient and statistical concepts in groundwater hydrodynamics, the application of heat and mass transfer theories to evaporation analysis, the sequential generation of hydrologic data and the use of operational research in water resources design. (Chow, 1969).

  40. The development of research and education began on hydrology after the Second World War. Water Resources Development Center (WRDC) was established in the United Nations in 1959. Hydrologic studies were encouraged by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). An International Hydrologic Decade (IHD) was declared in 1961 to coordinate international research and training programs.

  41. References Biswas, Asit K, 1969: A Short History of Hydrology, The Progress of Hydrology, Proceedings of the First International Seminar for Hydrology Professors, Volum II., pp. 914-934, University of Illinois, USA. Chow. V.T., 1964: Hydrology and Its Development, Handbook of Hydrology, McGraw-Hill Book Company, pp. 1-21. Freeze, A., 1994: Henry Darcy and the Fountains of Dijon, Ground Water, Vol. 32, No.1. Hamlyn, P., 1968: The Life and Times of Leonardo, The Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd. Lettenmair, D.P., 2004. The Evaluation of Hydrology in an Interdisciplinary Earth Science Setting, University of Washington, Lecture Notes. Öziş, Ü., 2009: Water as the Historical Scene for the Alliance of Civilization, 5th World Water Forum, Istanbul. Volker, A., 1983: International cooperation in hydrology and water resources development, Hydrological Sciences. Volker, A. & Colenbrander, H. : History of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences, www.cig.ensmp.fr/~iahs/history/history.htm.

  42. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING

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