Lecture 16 - Water 3 Flashcards
where does water exist
✓ Freshwater in rivers and lakes
✓ Frozen water in glaciers and ice caps
✓ Soil moisture and GROUNDWATER AQUIFERS
✓ WATER VAPOR in ATMOSPHERE
what is freshwater
water containing less than 1,000 milligrams per liter of dissolved solids, most often salt.
how much of eaths water is freshwater
3%
where is the 3% of freshwater found
> 68% found in glaciers/ice caps
30% found in groundwater
0.3% found in surface water
what are pore spaces
the space that exists between soil particles
what is pore size
size of spaces that exist between soil particles
what is the order of pore size in sand silt gravel and clay
GRAVEL > SAND > SILT > CLAY
what does it mean when all pore spaces (ie. entire pore volume) filled with water
soil is saturated
what do we refer water found in saturated pore spaces as
groundwater
what is groundwater
Water that exists underground in SATURATED ZONES (i.e., areas where soil
PORE SPACES are SATURATED/COMPLETELY FILLED with water).
unsaturated zones lie ____
above saturated zones
in unsaturated zones, pore spaces are filled with ___ and ___
water and air
Upper surface of the saturated zone (i.e., boundary between saturated zone and unsaturated zone) is referred to as
the water table
what does groundwater do
does not form underground rivers, it simply fills pores (and fractures) in underground materials
You can compare groundwater to water filling a sponge in your kitchen.
what is an aquifer
def 1: An underground layer of water SATURATED
porous rock, rock fractures and/or UNCONSOLIDATED
materials (e.g., gravel, sand, silt, clay).
def 2: Underground formation of permeable rock or loose materials capable of producing useful quantities of water for consumption.
TEACHER SAID HE LIKES DEF 2 MORE AND IT WILL BE ON TEST
Around the world, endless wells pump water out of
______ for a variety of uses.
groundwater aquifers
A very large proportion of groundwater is used in
_____
agriculture to water crops and livestock
how fast can groundwater move
can move at different speeds (generally very slowly) depending on pore sizes and how well connected pores and fractures are
where does groundwater come from
A fraction of PRECIPITATION (i.e., rain, snow) that falls to
Earth seeps its way down into ground, ultimately reaching
the WATER TABLE, thus joining GROUNDWATER
AQUIFER.
what can also glow down into aquifers and how
Surface water (e.g., river or lake water) can also flow
down into AQUIFERS through rock fractures/sediment
below it.
how long can water stay in aquifers
for 1000s of years
what do we call adding new water to aquifers
the recharging of aquifers
what is a groundwater scientist known as
hydrogeologist
how big are groundwater aquifers
- come in many different sizes,
from a few thousand square meters to thousands of square kilometers - can also be just a few meters
thick to 100’s of meters thick from top to bottom.
