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Chapter 16
Groundwater
19
Geology
Undergraduate 2
03/14/2011

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Term
Porosity
Definition
Total volume of empty space in a material. Sand and Mud have high porosity. Granite, Igneous, and Metamorphic rock have low porosotu.
Term
Permeability
Definition
Measure of the ease with which fluid flow through a porous material. Sandstone has high permeability, mudstone low.
Term
Aquifer
Definition
Sediment or rocks that transmit water easily.
Term
Aquiclude
Definition
An impermeable body of rock or stratum of sediment that acts as a barrier to the flow of groundwater.
Term
Water Table
Definition
Boundary above which pore spaces contain mostly air and below which they contain only water.
Term
Zone of Aeration
Definition
The pore space that contains air.
Term
Zone of Saturation
Definition
Pore space that contains only water.
Term
Effluent Stream
Definition
Water table comes above the ground.
Term
Influent Stream
Definition
Water table is below ground. When it rains, water table comes above ground and stream forms, when it stops raining, stream dries and water table lowers back below ground.
Term
Perched Water Table
Definition
Top surface of groundwater that has been trapped above the regional water table.
Term
Spring
Definition
Natural outlet from which groundwater flows.
Term
Artesian Well
Definition
Penetrates confined aquifers, in which water is under enough pressure to cause the water to rise on its own to a level above the surface of the aquifer.
Term
Oasis
Definition
A wet area, where plants can grow, in an otherwise bone-dry region.
Term
Cone of Depression
Definition
If users pump water out of a well too fast, then the water table sinks down around the well, a process called drawdown, so that the water table becomes a downward-pointing, cone shaped surface.
Term
Subsidence
Definition
Motion of the earth’s surface as it shifts downward as water table levels decrease.
Term
Karst Landscapes
Definition
Kras plateau in which surface features reflect the dissolution of bedrock below.
Term
Hard Water
Definition
Water with high mineral content.
Term
Infiltration
Definition
Downward process by which water on the ground surface enters the soil.
Term
Run-Off:
Definition
Process by which water runs off slopes instead of seeping into the ground.
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