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| Groundwater Formation |
Groundwater is fresh water in the rock and soil layers beneath Earth’s land surface. Some of the precipitation (rain, snow, sleet, and hail) that falls on the land soaks into Earth’s surface and becomes groundwater. Water-bearing rock layers called aquifers are saturated (soaked) with groundwater that moves, often very slowly, through small openings and spaces.
This groundwater then returns to lakes, streams, and marshes (wet, low-lying land with grassy plants) on the land surface via springs and seeps (small springs or pools where groundwater slowly oozes to the surface).
Groundwater makes up more than one-fifth (22%) of Earth’s total fresh water supply, and it plays a number of critical hydrological (water-related), geological and biological roles on the continents. Soil and rock layers in groundwater recharge zones (an entry point where water enters an aquifer) reduce flooding by absorbing excess runoff after heavy rains and spring snowmelts.
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Aquifers store water through dry seasons and dry weather, and groundwater flow carries water beneath arid (dry) deserts and semi-arid grasslands. Groundwater discharge replenishes streams, lakes, and wetlands on the land surface and is especially important in arid regions that receive limited rainfall.
Flowing groundwater interacts with rocks and minerals in aquifers, and carries dissolved rock-building chemicals and biological nutrients. Vibrant communities of plants and animals (ecosystems) live in and around groundwater springs and seeps.
Almost all of the fresh liquid water that is readily available for human use comes from underground. (The bulk of Earth’s fresh water is frozen in ice in the North and South Pole regions. Water in streams, rivers, lakes, wetlands, the atmosphere, and within living organisms makes up only a tiny portion of Earth’s fresh water.)
For thousands of years, humans have used groundwater from springs and shallow wells to fill drinking water reservoirs, and water livestock and crops. Today, human water needs far exceed surface water supplies in many regions, and Earth’s rapidly-growing human population relies heavily upon groundwater to meet its ever larger demand for clean, fresh water.
Aquifers: Fresh Water Underground
An aquifer is a body of rock or soil that yields water for human use. Most aquifers are water-saturated layers of rock or loose sediment. With the exception of a few aquifers that have water-filled caves within them, aquifers are not underground lakes or holding tanks, but rather rock “sponges” that hold groundwater in tiny cracks, cavities, and pores (tiny openings in which a liquid can pass) between mineral grains (rocks are made of minerals).
The total amount of empty pore space in the rock material, called its porosity, determines the amount of groundwater the aquifer can hold. Materials like sand and gravel have high porosity, meaning that they can absorb a high amount of water. Rocks like granite, marble, and limestone have low porosity, and make poor groundwater reservoirs.
Aquifers must have high permeability in addition to high porosity. Permeability is the ability of the rock or other material to allow water to pass through it. The pore space in permeable materials is interconnected throughout the rock or sediment, allowing groundwater to move freely through it. Some high-porosity materials, like mud and clay, have very low permeability.
They soak up and hold water, but don’t release it easily to wells or other groundwater discharge points, so they are not good aquifer materials. Sandstone, limestone, fractured granite, glacial sediment, loose sand, and gravel are examples of materials that make good aquifers.
Water enters aquifers by seeping into the land surface at entry points called recharge zones and leaves at exit points called discharge zones. (Some aquifers discharge into the ocean.)
Influent or “ water-losing” streams, ponds, or lakes are bodies of surface water in recharge zones that contribute groundwater from their water supply. Groundwater flows into effluent or “water-gaining” streams and ponds in discharge zones.
For the water level in an aquifer to remain constant, the amount of water entering at recharge zones must equal the amount leaving at discharge zones. (Imagine a bucket punched with holes under a dripping faucet. If water drips in at the same rate that it drips out, the water level stays the same.)
If water discharges or is pumped from an aquifer more quickly than it recharges, the groundwater level (water table) will fall. The time an average water molecule spends within an aquifer is called its residence time.
Water in some fast-flowing aquifers spends only a few days underground, while other rock layers can hold water for ten thousand years. Average aquifers have residence times of about two hundred years.
The water table and unconfined aquifers
Water enters aquifers by moving slowly down through a layer of surface rocks and soil whose pore spaces are partially filled with air (zone of infiltration). The water continues moving downwards until it reaches a level where all the pore spaces are completely filled with water (zone of saturation).
The top of the zone of saturation is called the water table. In some wet, lowland regions, southern Florida for example, the water may be only a few feet (meters) below the surface. In others, like the American Southwest, water-saturated rocks may be hundreds of feet below the land surface.
Groundwater reservoirs that have uniform rock or soil properties (porosity and permeability) throughout are called unconfined aquifers. The water table forms the upper surface of an unconfined aquifer. The shape of the water table in an unconfined aquifer mirrors the shape of the land surface, but its slopes are gentler.
In temperate (moderate) climates that receive moderate amounts of groundwater-replenishing rainfall, water infiltrates into unconfined aquifers in hilltop recharge zones and discharges into effluent streams and ponds in low areas where the water table intersects the land surface. Water will only rise to the level of the water table in a well, so a pump or bucket is required to extract water from an unconfined aquifer.
Confined aquifers and artesian flow
Confined aquifers are pressurized groundwater reservoirs that lie beneath layers of non-permeable rock (granite, shale) or sediment (clay). Groundwater enters a confined aquifer in recharge zones beyond the uphill edges of the confining layer and discharges beyond the downhill edges.
Groundwater trapped beneath an impermeable barrier cannot rise to the height of the water table, so pressure builds up in confined aquifers. Artesian wells are wells drilled in confined aquifers where the pressure is great enough to make water flow at the surface.
