Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Recharge is the primary method through which water enters an aquifer. This process usually occurs in the vadose zone below plant roots and is often expressed as a flux to the water table surface. Groundwater recharge also encompasses water moving away from the water table farther into the saturated zone. [1]
An unconfined aquifer has no impermeable barrier immediately above it, such that the water level can rise in response to recharge. A confined aquifer has an overlying impermeable barrier that prevents the water level in the aquifer from rising any higher. An aquifer in the same geologic unit may be confined in one area and unconfined in another.
This is an accepted version of this page This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 29 January 2025. Water located beneath the ground surface An illustration showing groundwater in aquifers (in blue) (1, 5 and 6) below the water table (4), and three different wells (7, 8 and 9) dug to reach it. Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in ...
Some water infiltrates deep into the ground and replenishes aquifers, which can store freshwater for long periods of time. Some infiltration stays close to the land surface and can seep back into surface-water bodies (and the ocean) as groundwater discharge or be taken up by plants and transferred back to the atmosphere as water vapor by ...
The aquifers are replenished by streams and from precipitation and can vary in volume considerably as the water table fluctuates. Being shallow, they are susceptible to contamination by fuel spills, industrial discharge, landfills, and saltwater. Parts of southeastern United States are dependent on surficial aquifers for their water supplies.
For other aquifers, like the sand-based Upper Trinity Aquifer, it takes time for the rainfall to actually get down into it, so you would need much more consistent rain.
California passed its landmark groundwater law in 2014. The goals of sustainable management remain a long way off.
The Ogallala Aquifer (oh-gə-LAH-lə) is a shallow water table aquifer surrounded by sand, silt, clay, and gravel located beneath the Great Plains in the United States. As one of the world's largest aquifers, it underlies an area of approximately 174,000 sq mi (450,000 km 2) in portions of eight states (South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas). [1]