Groundwater

Question 1

Where can you find groundwater?

Answer 1

Where the material of the crust has pores or fractures

Question 2

Unsaturated zone

Answer 2

Where water and air fill up the pore spaces

Question 3

Saturated zone

Answer 3

Where water fills all pore space

Question 4

The boundary between the unsaturated and saturated zones

Answer 4

Capillary fringe

Question 5

What happens to the water table throughput seasons

Answer 5

It rises and falls

Question 6

Where does water flow the fastest?

Answer 6

At the surface level

Question 7

Porosity

Answer 7

Total volume of open space

Question 8

Pores

Answer 8

Open spaces within any sediment or rock

Question 9

Primary porosity

Answer 9

Originally formed with the material (voids in sediment, vesicles in basalt)

Question 10

Secondary porosity

Answer 10

Formes later separate from the sediment itself (fracturing, faulting, dissolution)

Question 11

Permeability

Answer 11

The ease of water flow due to pore interconnectedness
Highly permeable - allows water to flow readily, impermeable - water cannot flow through
Many large and straight flow paths enhance permeability

Question 12

Aquifer

Answer 12

Sediment or rock that transmits water easily

Question 13

Aquitard

Answer 13

Impermeable or low permeability sediment that stops water flow

Question 14

Unconfined aquifer

Answer 14

Intersects with the surface in contact with the atmosphere, can be easily polluted (on top of the aquitard and connected to the surface)

Question 15

Confined aquifer

Answer 15

Beneath an aquitard (isolated from the surface), less susceptible to pollution

Question 16

Hydraulic gradient

Answer 16

The slope of the water table

Question 17

Darcy’s Law

Answer 17

V=K(h2-h1)/L
V= groundwater flow velocity
K=coefficient of permeability
(h2-h1)/L=hydraulic gradient

Question 18

Gaining stream

Answer 18

When groundwater contributes to the base flow of a stream (groundwater going to stream water)

Question 19

Losing stream

Answer 19

When the stream is losing water to the water table or groundwater

Question 20

Difference between a connected and a disconnected losing stream?

Answer 20

A connected stream is when the stream is connected to the water table, a disconnected losing stream has an unsaturated layer of the ground in between the stream and the water table

Question 21

Why are wetlands important?

Answer 21

They help store surface and ground water

Question 22

Hydraulic pressure

Answer 22

Water moves in response to gravity and hydraulic pressure (slide 21)

Question 23

Hard water

Answer 23

Groundwater contains a wide range of dissolved ions, most at levels that are higher than in surface water, which is why “hard water” usually contains coatings of white mineral precipitates

Question 24

Salt Contamination

Answer 24

In icy conditions, it is common to spread salt on roads and highways, which results in salty runoff that percolates into the unsaturated zone

Question 25

Treatments for groundwater remediation (polluted groundwater)

Answer 25

Air sparging, extraction wells, recirculation wells, aquifer fracturing, injection wells, permeable reactive barriers, bioremediation, phytoremediation, thermal or electrical treatments

Question 26

Other products of groundwater

Answer 26

Karst, hydrothermal activity (geyser, fumarole, hot spring), speleothems