Our study are situated in the intersection of three areas: the history of science, in particular the history of geology, cognitive science, with special prominence for the theory of the mental models of Jonhson-Laird and the science education. The objectives of the inquiry had been the following ones: the identification of the mental models of the pupils associates to the origin, the storage and the circulation of groundwaters and the eventual detection of evolution of their models, resultants of the diverse interventions. The inquiry was applied to a sample of 38 students of 12th grade of secondary teaching. Finally we are presented the results and suggest the development of proposals of didactical materials, inspired in the history from the geology and theoretically substantiated in this kind of studies.