Groundwater

1. Where is the water beneath us?

a. Much of the water in soil seeps downward until it reaches the zone of
saturation
b. The zone of saturation is the area where water fills all of the open
spaces in sediment and rock
i. Groundwater is the water within this zone
ii. The water table is the upper level of the saturation zone
c. Movement
i. Groundwater moves by twisting and turning
through interconnected small openings.
ii. The groundwater moves more slowly when the
pore spaces are smaller.
iii. Porosity
1. The percentage of pore spaces
2. Determines how much groundwater can be stored
iv. Permeability
1. Ability to transmit water through connected
pore spaces
2. Aquifers are permeable rock layers or sediments that
transmit groundwater freely
3. Springs
4. A spring forms whenever the water table intersects the
ground surface.
5. Hot Springs
a. Water is 69C warmer than the mean air
temperature of the locality.
b. Water is heated by cooling of igneous rock.
6. Geysers
a. Intermittent hot springs
b. Water turns to steam and erupts
7. Wells
a. A well is a hole bored into the zone of saturation.
b. An artesian well is any formation in which
groundwater rises on its own under pressure
c. Pumping can cause a drawdown (lowering) of
the water table.
d. Pumping can form a cone of depression in the
water table.
2. Environmental Problems Associated with Groundwater
a. Overuse and contamination threatens groundwater supplies in some
areas.
i. Treating it as a nonrenewable resource
ii. Land subsidence caused by its withdrawal
iii. Contamination
3. Caverns
a. A cavern is a naturally formed underground chamber.

4.

b. Erosion forms most caverns at or below the water table in the zone of
saturation.
c. Travertine is a form of limestone that is deposited by hot springs or as
a cave deposit.
d. Characteristics of features found within caverns
i. Formed in the zone of aeration
ii. Composed of dripstone
iii. Formed from calcite deposited as dripping water evaporates
iv. Common features include stalactites (hanging from the ceiling)
and stalagmites (growing upward from the floor).
Karst Topography
a. Formed by dissolving rock at, or near, Earth's surface
b. Common features
i. Sinkholessurface depressions
1. Sinkholes form when bedrock dissolves and caverns
collapse.
ii. Caves and caverns
c. Area lacks good surface drainage.