Admin What happens to groundwater if a well is drilled nearby?
Wells can be drilled into the aquifers and water can be pumped out. Precipitation eventually adds water (recharge) into the porous rock of the aquifer. In fact, pumping your well too much can even cause your neighbor’s well to run dry if you both are pumping from the same aquifer.
What is an underground layer of water that can be extracted by a well?
aquifers
An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock, rock fractures or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. The study of water flow in aquifers and the characterization of aquifers is called hydrogeology.
What is the porous rock that holds groundwater called?
An aquifer is a body of porous rock or sediment saturated with groundwater. Groundwater enters an aquifer as precipitation seeps through the soil. It can move through the aquifer and resurface through springs and wells.
What is an alluvial well?
Alluvium. Sedimentary deposits of silt, sand, gravel, that have been transported and then deposited by running water, usually a stream or river. Modern alluvial deposits are found in streambeds, river valleys, flood plains, deltas and estuaries Many ancient geological formations are made up of alluvial sediments.
Is the bottom of a well saturated or impermeable?
The bottom of the well is in an impermeable layer capping an aquifer. All layers underground are impermeable and there is no saturated zone. Which layer would a person drilling a well most likely reach after drilling through the unsaturated zone?
Where does the water in a well come from?
Existing groundwater can be discharged through springs, lakes, rivers, streams, or manmade wells. It is recharged by precipitation, snowmelt, or water seepage from other sources, including irrigation and leaks from water supply systems.
How is the ground saturated with water called an aquifer?
Below a certain depth, the ground, if it is permeable enough to hold water, is saturated with water. The upper surface of this zone of saturation is called the water table. The saturated zone beneath the water table is called an aquifer, and aquifers are huge storehouses of water.
Where does the water come from in an artesian well?
Water in the well rises above the top of the aquifer under artesian pressure, but does not necessarily reach the land surface; a flowing artesian well is a well in which the water level is above the land surface. Streamflow coming from groundwater seepage into a stream or river.