Lesson 10 Flashcards
What is water beneath the surface ?
groundwater
What is the largest freshwater reservoir for humans?
groundwater
What does the geological role of erosion with dissolving by groundwater produce?
sinkholes/caves
caverns
What is a geological role of groundwater besides erosion?
equalizer of streamflow
What are the order of the zones?
belt of moisture
aeration
water table
saturation
What is the upper limit of the zone of saturation?
water table
Zone that contains plant roots and water available for plant growth?
belt of moisture
Zone that is unsaturated and have pore spaces filled mainly with air?
Zone of aeration
Zone where all pore spaces in the material are filled with water?
Zone of saturation
What type of water is filling the pores in the zone of saturation?
groundwater
What is the ability to transmit water through connected pore spaces?
permeability
What does permeability control?
movement of groundwater
What is the percentage of pore spaces or volume of open spaces?
Porosity
What does porosity determine?
how much groundwater can be stored
What is an impermeable layer of material called?
Aquitard
What is a permeable layer of material called?
Aquifer
Example of an aquitard?
clay
Example of an aquifer?
sand
What are some features associated with groundwater?
springs
wells
artesian wells
Whenever the water table intersects the land surface and a natural flow of groundwater results?
spring
What is an intermittent hot springs called?
Geysers
Name the two types of springs?
hot springs
geysers
How are hot springs heated?
The cooling of igneous rock
What degrees is a hot spring?
6-9 degrees C warmer than mean air temp
Wells withdraw groundwater and create roughly conical depressions in the water table known as ________
cones of depression
What happens with the water at a geyser?
it turns to steam and erupts
What can pumping wells cause?
a drawdown (lowering) of the watertable
What are openings bored into the zone of saturation called?
Wells
What can pumping wells form? Where?
a cone of depression in the water table
What are the types of artisan wells?
nonflowing
flowing
What occurs when water rises above the level at which it was initially encountered?
Artesian wells
What is the source of heat for most hot springs and geysers?
hot igneous rock
What are some of the current environmental problems involving groundwater?
Overuse by intense irrigation (treating it as nonrenewable)
Land subsidence caused by groundwater withdrawal
Contamination
Groundwater is not mildly acidic? T or F.
false
What weak acid does groundwater contain?
weak carbonic acid
What can groundwater dissolve?
calcite in limestone
Most caverns form in ______ at or below the water table when acidic groundwater dissolves rock along lines of weakness, such as _______.
limestone
joints and bedding planes
How are caverns formed?
dissolving rock beneath Earth’s surface
Where are caverns formed?
zone of saturation
Where are the features of caverns found?
zone of aeration
What are common features of a dripstone?
Stalactites hanging from the ceiling and on the cave floor
When calcite deposited as dripping water evaporates?
dripstone
What is formed by dissolving rock at, or near, Earth’s surface?
Karst topography
What are common features of Karst topography?
sinkholes
caves and caverns
Does Karst topography have good surface drainage?
no
What is a surface depressions called?
sinkhole
What are two ways a sinkhole can form?
Dissolving bedrock
Cavern collapse
