Exam 17: Groundwater

Which countries/regions outside the United States are famous for their geothermal activity?

Explain the process of cave formation.

The ________ is the point in the subsurface where 100% of the pore spaces are filled with water.

Some bottled water companies advertise that their product is clean and pure because it comes from an artesian well.Discuss the validity of this statement.

How will the water table respond if it is a wet spring?

Which 19^th-century scientist developed the following equation that determines the discharge of an aquifer?

What percentage of Earth's liquid freshwater is in the form of groundwater?

The general term used to describe cave deposits is ________.

If gravity pulls infiltrating water downward, what force allows water to be pulled upward at the capillary fringe?

Assume that chemical pollutants have been illegally dumped in the major river on the left side of this image.Will those pollutants infiltrate and contaminate any other bodies of water? If so, which ones?

This image shows the gradient of the water table between Well A and Well B.Please note that the label for each well also displays the elevation of the water table in that well.Using the information present in the figure, calculate the hydraulic gradient of this cross section.

Most caverns are created at or near the water table.

A severe drought in 2012 devastated much of the United States, causing crop failure, lower stream levels, and the drying and cracking of the ground.Obviously, a great deal of water was needed to end this drought.At the end of August of that year, Hurricane Isaac made landfall along the Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Mississippi and proceeded to move up the Mississippi River and across central and northern Illinois by August 31 and September 1, precipitating large volumes of rain as it moved.How did the transit of Hurricane Isaac affect the drought (Did it end the drought?)? How would groundwater levels change? Explain your answers.

Which of the following uses the largest percentage of the Earth's groundwater?

What percentage of the Earth's total freshwater is in the form of groundwater?

What is porosity?

The water in the majority of wells cannot rise above the level of the water table on its own.

Caves can only form in limestone.

A geyser is a type of artesian well.

Wells are drilled into the subsurface to remove water from the unsaturated zone.