What factors affect the rate of groundwater flow?

What factors affect the rate of groundwater flow?

Topography and geology are the dominant factors controlling groundwater flow. Storativity describes the property of an aquifer to store water. Hydraulic conductivity is measured by performing a pumping test, i.e. by pumping one well and observing the changes in hydraulic head in neighboring wells.

What major factors control the movement of groundwater?

The two most important forces controlling water movement in rock are gravity and molecular attraction. Gravity causes water to infiltrate until it reaches impermeable zones where it is diverted laterally. Gravity generates the flow of springs, rivers, and wells.

What controls the velocity of groundwater flow?

What controls the velocity of of groundwater flow? Permeability, the pressure of water within the saturated zone, and the elevation of water win the saturated zone. An aquifer is a body of saturated rock or sediment through which water can move easily. Aquifers are both highly permeable and saturated with water.

What causes groundwater to be in rock?

Why is there groundwater? Nothing surprising here – gravity pulls water and everything else toward the center of the Earth. That means that water on the surface will try to seep into the ground below it. The rock below the Earth’s surface is the bedrock.

What influences the movement of water?

The velocity of the water is dependant on steepness of the slope, type of rock or soil, amount of vegetation, shape of stream bed, and obstructions. Surface water provides the liquid where most evaporation takes place.

What causes groundwater to move?

Groundwater is transported through aquifers because of two main reasons: gravity and pressure. In unconfined aquifers, which we concentrate on because they are more likely to be contaminated, water always flows from high points to low points because of gravity.

What two factors affect groundwater velocity?

The velocity of groundwater flow is proportional to the magnitude of the hydraulic gradient and the hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer (see Chapter 12). Groundwater flows faster where the hydraulic gradient and/or hydraulic conductivity are larger.

What is movement of water called?

The water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle or the H2O cycle, describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth.

What are some of the effects of groundwater flow?

Effects of Groundwater Flow. A more general term for a deposit of calcite precipitated by dripping water is dripstone, and as a group, the varieties of dripstone found in caverns are called speleothems. Ribbony, sheetlike calcite deposits that are deposited by a thin film of water running over cave surfaces are called flowstone.

How does the speed of groundwater move through rock?

For water to move through rock, the pore spaces must be connected. Groundwater flows very slowly within the aquifer, and the speed of groundwater movement depends on the size of the spaces within the soil or rock, how well these spaces are connected, and the slope (or pressure gradient) of the water table .

Where does groundwater flow to reach the water table?

In this case, most of the hillside forms the recharge area, where water from precipitation flows downward through the unsaturated zone to reach the water table. The area at the stream or lake to which the groundwater is flowing is a discharge area.

How does groundwater affect the formation of caves?

Effects of Groundwater Flow. The dissolution of calcite from limestone by slightly acidic ground‐water results in the gradual widening of cracks and joints that may ultimately develop into a series of openings, or caves. Most caves develop below the water table.