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Glossary
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Below you will find key words and concepts that you should remember from this chapter.
aquifer  A body of saturated rock or sediment through which water can move readily.
(See page(s) 263)
artesian well  A well in which water rises above the aquifer.
(See page(s) 265)
cave (cavern)  Naturally formed underground chamber.
(See page(s) 273)
concretion  Hard, rounded mass that develops when a considerable amount of cementing material precipitates locally in a rock, often around an organic nucleus.
(See page(s) 275)
cone of depression  A depression of the water table formed around a well when water is pumped out; it is shaped like an inverted cone.
(See page(s) 265)
confined (artesian) aquifer  An aquifer completely filled with pressurized water and separated from the land surface by a relatively impermeable confining bed, such as shale.
(See page(s) 264)
drawdown  The lowering of the water table near a pumped well.
(See page(s) 265)
gaining stream  A stream that receives water from the zone of saturation.
(See page(s) 267)
geode  Partly hollow, globelike body found in limestone or other cavernous rock.
(See page(s) 275)
geyser  A type of hot spring that periodically erupts hot water and steam.
(See page(s) 276)
ground water  The water that lies beneath the ground surface, filling the cracks, crevices, and pore space of rocks.
(See page(s) 260)
hot spring  An area of volcanic eruptions and high heat flow above a rising mantle plume.
(See page(s) 276)
karst topography  An area with many sinkholes and a cave system beneath the land surface and usually lacking a surface stream.
(See page(s) 274)
losing stream  Stream that loses water to the zone of saturation.
(See page(s) 267)
perched water table  A water table separated from the main water table beneath it by a zone that is not saturated.
(See page(s) 261)
permeability  The capacity of a rock to transmit a fluid such as water or petroleum.
(See page(s) 260)
petrified wood  A material that forms as the organic matter of buried wood is either filled in or replaced by inorganic silica carried in by ground water.
(See page(s) 275)
porosity  The percentage of a rock’s volume that is taken up by openings.
(See page(s) 260)
recharge  The addition of new water to an aquifer or to the zone of saturation.
(See page(s) 265)
saturated zone  A subsurface zone in which all rock openings are filled with water.
(See page(s) 261)
sinkhole  A closed depression found on land surfaces underlain by limestone.
(See page(s) 274)
speleothem  Dripstone deposit of calcite that precipitate from dripping water in caves.
(See page(s) 274)
spring  A place where water flows naturally out of rock onto the land surface.
(See page(s) 267)
stalactite  Iciclelike pendant of dripstone formed on cave ceilings.
(See page(s) 274)
stalagmite  Cone-shaped mass of dripstone formed on cave floors, generally directly below a stalactite.
(See page(s) 274)
unconfined aquifer  A partially filled aquifer exposed to the land surface and marked by a rising and falling water table.
(See page(s) 264)
vadose zone  A subsurface zone in which rock openings are generally unsaturated and filled partly with air and partly with water; above the saturated zone.
(See page(s) 261)
water table  The upper surface of the zone of saturation.
(See page(s) 261)
well  A hole, generally cylindrical and usually walled or lined with pipe, that is dug or drilled into the ground to penetrate an aquifer below the zone of saturation.
(See page(s) 265)







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