Groundwater

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Groundwater
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The Worlds Water
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Groundwater Vocabulary

• Aquifer
• Aquitard
• Zone of Aeration
• Zone of Saturation
• Water table
• Recharge zone

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Groundwater Water held in the ground

• Groundwater is water under Earths surface in
  soil or rock.
• The layer of rock or soil that holds groundwater
  is called an aquifer.
• A layer of rock or soil that slows the flow of
  groundwater (but still holds it!!) is an aquitard

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Ogallala Aquifer
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Types of Aquifers

• Unconfined Aquifer
• An unconfined aquifer is open to the earths
  surface, bottom bound by an aquitard
• Not under pressure
• Usually shallow aquifers
• Confined Aquifer
• A confined aquifer is a sandwiched between two
  aquitards
• Under pressure
• Usually deep aquifers
• Associated with artesian wells

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So where does all this groundwater come from?

• RECHARGE AREAS- areas where ground water
  percolates into the earth

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The Water Table

• Zone of Aeration Area between water table and
  surface that can still hold more water.
• AKA unsaturated zone
• Zone of Saturation Area where all the pore
  spaces in the ground are filled with water.
• Water Table Surface of the zone of saturation

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How can you tell where the water table is?

• WELLS
• A hole in the earth from which water is drawn
• Wells tell the level of the water tablewater
  will rise within the well to the level of the
  water table

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Groundwater feeds wells and rivers
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Saltwater Intrusion
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Subsidence
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Groundwater Characteristics

• Groundwater is
• usually cool
• contains minerals from the rock and soil it
  passes through (influenced by Rock type,
  distance traveled, water temperature)
• HARD WATER lots of dissolved ions (especially
  calcium and magnesium)
• SOFT WATER few dissolved ions

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References

• http//www.fayettecountygroundwater.com/educationa
  l_info.htm
• Cone of depression
• http//hays.outcrop.org/gsci100/lecture41s.html
• Saltwater intrusion
• http//www.aegweb.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid4
  076
• subsidence