Week 8: Groundwater, Non-renewable Energy, Geophysical Exploration Flashcards
Groundwater consists of ___% of the world’s fresh water supply.
24%
What is the “water table”?
The “surface” where the groundwater is at zero pressure.
Define zone of “aeration”, zone of “saturation”, and “porosity”.
Zone of aeration: the zone above the water table in which water cannot be pumped by wells (not deep enough).
Zone of saturation: open spaces in sediment and rock that are completely filled with water (groundwater)
Porosity: determines the storage capacity for water.
Differentiate between primary and secondary porosity.
Primary: water stored between pebble-like sand grains.
secondary: water stored in the fractures of rock and sediment.
What are “aquitards” and “aquifers”?
Aquitard: impermeable layers that prevent water movement (ex. clay)
Aquifer: permeable rock strata/sediment that transmits water freely (sands, gravels)
What are the causes of karst openings, sinkholes and caverns?
Groundwater weathering and erosion (ex. stalactites on cave ceilings).
What is the driving force for the movement of groundwater?
Gravity.
What two major factors influence the storage and movement of groundwater?
Porosity (percentage of total volume of rock that consists of pore spaces).
Permeability (ability of a material to transmit a fluid).
What is the equation for the “Hydraulic head”, the height of the water table from sea level?
Total hydraulic head (h) = Elevation head (z) + Pressure head (w)
Elevation head = height from sea level to the tip of the measurement (drill)
Pressure head = height of the tip of the measurement to the top of the water table.
What is Darcy’s Law?
Hydraulic gradient (i) = the “slope” of the water table; total hydraulic head / distance
v = k (h/L) = k (i)
Where v is the speed (m/s), k is the coefficient of permeability, h is the hydraulic head and L is the distance between the two drill-points.
greater difference in h = faster groundwater flow.
greater difference in height of water table = faster groundwater flow.
greater coefficient of permeability = faster groundwater flow.
Define “artesian”.
Artesian: any groundwater under pressure in a confined aquifer that rises above the level of the aquifer.
What is a consequence of over-pumping groundwater using wells?
Drawdown (lowering) of the water table.
The water available to recharge the aquifer is much less than that withdrawn (may cause drought).
The ground sinks when water is pumped faster than natural recharge can replace.
What are some ways groundwater may be contaminated?
- Highway salt
- Fertilizers
- Organics and Bacteria
- Pesticides
- Chemical and industrial materials
- Leachate from landfills
- Heavy metals from mining
- Acid drainage
- Biological contamination (leaking septic tank in permeable rock)
What are two modes of contaminant migration by groundwater?
- Advection (contaminants “go with the flow”, move according to Darcy’s Law)
- Diffusion (movement under concentration gradient)
f = -D(dC/dx)
f = mass transfer per area per unit time C = concentration D = diffusion coefficient
What are LNAPLs?
Light Non-Aqueous Phase Liquid: do not dissolve, but have some soluble components. Lighter than water and floats to top of water table.
What are DNAPLs?
Dense Non-Aqueous Phase Liquids: do not dissolve, but have some soluble components. Heavier than water and sink until they reach the aquitard.
What are some solutions to groundwater contamination?
- Natural attenuation (solution to pollution is dillution!)
- Excavation
- Pump and treat
- Chemical flushing
- Injection steam flushing
- Vapour extraction
Which period does almost all the world’s coal supply come from?
Carboniferous period.
How does petroleum form?
Gradual “cooking” of simple aquatic organisms concentrated in source rocks (may produce biogenic gas, methane.)
Where may we find petroleum and other geologically-sourced oils?
Structural traps: oil is less dense than water, so it may rise to the top of domes caused by 3D foliation (ex. Zagros Mountains in Iran provided easily-accessible oil) > porous, cap rock is impermeable to oil & gas
Name the types of petroleum traps.
Stratigraphic traps (pinch-out, unconformities, reefs).
Structural traps (anticlines, fault traps, salt domes).
Describe “seismic exploration”.
- Analyze geometry of rock [for petroleum traps]
- Ships send shockwaves which bounce off and come back (echolocation)
- Trucks thump repeatedly at low frequency to go deep into ground
List two examples of unconventional fossil fuel deposits.
- Heavy oil sands (tar sands, contain sediment, water and bitumen)
- Oil shale (not shale but fine-grained limestones that contain enormous amounts of kerogen).
- Shale gas (methane trapped in pores of shale or other fine sedimentary rock
What is “fraccing”, and what are the consequences associated with it?
Aquitard rock is split open with high pressure water blasted through a tube with lacerations. Aquitard then becomes aquifer.
- permanently fractures shale rock
- groundwater may become contaminated
- don’t have a whole lot of information on how fraccing can impact surrounding geological environment
