Groundwater as an erosional agent

Question 1

How does groundwater move through the Earth?

Answer 1

Through percolation

Question 2

How does groundwater erode?

Answer 2

Largely by solution

Question 3

What is the role of porosity in groundwater movement?

Answer 3

Measures of open space in a rock or grain of soil

Question 4

What’s the role of permeability in groundwater movement?

Answer 4

Measures the connectedness of the pores between grains of soil or rock

Question 5

What’s the difference between zone of aeration and zone of saturation?

Answer 5

Zone of aeration- is air between most of the grains

Zone of saturation- water between all of the pores

Question 6

Why is Kentucky a karst area?

Answer 6

Because it haves lots of limestone

Question 7

How does groundwater transport its load?

Answer 7

Through a dissolved load

Question 8

How does groundwater deposit?

Answer 8

Through speleothems

Question 9

What are some examples of groundwater deposit?

Answer 9

Stalactites, stalacmites, columns, flowstone, straws, and drapery

Question 10

What is the possibility of polluting an artesian system?

Answer 10

Sewers, septic tanks, waste dumps, gas tanks, salt water contamination, fertilizers, pesticides, leafs, and biological waste products, vegatation (cutting of trees) , and soil

Question 11

What’s an aquifer?

Answer 11

A body of rock with enough permeability to conduct water

Question 12

What’s an aquiclude (confining layer)?

Answer 12

A rock unit that will not transmit water

Question 13

What’s percolation?

Answer 13

When water moves down from the surface into the subsurface or slow movement of water through porous substances

Question 14

What’s groundwater?

Answer 14

Subsurface water what moves in the zone of saturation

Question 15

How is percolation controlled?

Answer 15

By porosity and permeability

Question 16

What’s porosity?

Answer 16

A measure of open space in a rock, % of material that is porous

Question 17

What’s permeability?

Answer 17

A measure of connectedness of pores between grains of soils or rock s

Question 18

What’s an example of a substance with low porosity and low permeability?

Answer 18

Crystalline Igneous rock and glacial till

Question 19

What’s an example of a substance with high porosity and high permeability?

Answer 19

Quartz sandstone

Question 20

What’s an example of a substance with high porosity and low permeability?

Answer 20

clay-rich layer

Question 21

What’s a watertable?

Answer 21

The surface that separates the unsaturated zone from the saturated zone

Question 22

What’s the zone of aeration (unsaturated zone)?

Answer 22

Air between most of the grains

Question 23

What’s the zone of saturation (saturated zone)?

Answer 23

Water between all of the pores

Question 24

What’s an artesian well?

Answer 24

A well that flows naturally because of confined water and hydrostatic pressure

Question 25

What’s a karst?

Answer 25

An area of solutional erosion and is rich in sinkholes

Question 26

What’s speleothem?

Answer 26

Groundwater deposition as stalactites, stalacmites, columns, and flowstone

Question 27

What leads to the deposition of speleothems (CaCo3)?

Answer 27

Evaporation of water

Question 28

What secondary mineral(s) are deposited in a cave?

Answer 28

Calcite and gypsum (CaSO4)

Question 29

What are some examples calcite speleothems?

Answer 29

Flowstone, drapers, columns, stalagmites, straws, stalactites

Question 30

What are some examples gypsum speleothems?

Answer 30

Pointy things