Groundwater

Question 1

What Percent of Fresh Water is Groundwater

Answer 1

22%

Question 2

How is ground water formed?

Answer 2

Groundwater is formed by the infiltration of rain water through soils and unconsolidated surface
materials and also through cracks and openings in bedrock.

Question 3

What two factors control the movement of ground water?

Answer 3

Porosity and Permeability

Question 4

What is porosity?

Answer 4

the percentage of the total volume of a soil, sediment or rock that is taken
up by pores.

Question 5

What has the highest porosity?

Answer 5

Soils and loose sand and gravel

Question 6

What rocks have the highest porosity?

Answer 6

sandstones and sedimentary rocks in general
have the highest porosity (10‐40%)

Question 7

what rocks have the lowest porosity?

Answer 7

igneous and metamorphic rocks the lowest
(1‐2%)

Question 8

What is Permeability?

Answer 8

the ease with which a fluid will pass through the material

Question 9

What is an example of high porosity but low permeability?

Answer 9

Clay beds and shale

Question 10

Ground water sources or aquifers have high ____ and ____?

Answer 10

porosity and permeability

Question 11

What is a water table?

Answer 11

The water table separates the unsaturated zone from the saturated zone.

Question 12

What is the unsaturated zone or zone of aeration?

Answer 12

Lies close to the ground surface with pores that contain some water and some air.

Question 13

What is the saturated zone?

Answer 13

The pores are filled with water

Question 14

What is an Aquifer?

Answer 14

An aquifer is a body of highly permeable rock or sediment that stores large quantities of water that is sufficient to supply water wells.

Question 15

What is an unconfined aquifer?

Answer 15

a body of material that has more or less uniform permeability to the
surface in both recharge and discharge areas.

Question 16

What is a confined aquifer?

Answer 16

permeable unit that is bound above and below by impermeable layers
that restrict the flow of water. Controlled by pressure with wells being drilled into a confined aquifer not requiring a pump.

Question 17

What is an artesian wells?

Answer 17

If a well is drilled into a confined aquifer at a point where the elevation of the ground surface is lower than the elevation of the water table in the recharge area, water will flow out of the well

Question 18

What can excessive water removal from an aquifer cause?

Answer 18

The ground surface above to sink and heave. Additionally may cause increased flow of undesirable fluids.

Question 19

What law can explain the groundwater movement?

Answer 19

Darcy’s Law

Question 20

What human activities can effect groundwater resources?

Answer 20

Urban Developments
Industrial Activity: chemical plants, manufacturing, agriculture, and mining
Septic tanks, land fill sites, mining waste piles, pesticides, buried gasoline tanks, livestock wastes and chemical effluents