Groundwater Flow - Aquifers and aquitards
6 important questions on Groundwater Flow - Aquifers and aquitards
What are the three main types of aquifers and their 'also called' names? What's an aquitart and what's an aquiclude?
Confined aquifer
Semi-confined - leaky aquifer
Aquitard: is an absolutely impermeable unit that will not transmit any water. An aquiclude is a formation that has very low hydraulic conductivity and hardly transmits water.
Aquiclude: see book
What belongs to which aquifer type(unconfined, confined, leaky):
1. Aquifers are bounded below and above by an aquiclude (impermeable).
2. is not restricted by any confining unit above it. Its upper boundary is the water tablewhich is free to rise and fall.
3. Bounded by a aquitard that does transmit water
when hydraulic heads above and below the boundary are in disequilibrium.
2. Unconfined
3. Leaky
How does the water in a well behave in different aquifer (unconfined, confined, leaky) types? Relate it to differences in water pressure in these type of aquifers.
Unconfined: Water in a well in the aquifer is at
atmospheric pressure and does rise
to the water table.
Confined: Water pressure in a confining aquifer
is usually higher than that of the
atmosphere so that if a well is drilled
through the confining unit water will
rise above the top of the aquifer.
When water pressure is so high that
water rises till above the surface wespeak of an artesian well.
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How much flow is horizontally flowing
through this aquifer? Use Darcy's Law.
Name the property related to hydraulic head, that becomes clear from this picture. Explain as to why the right angle relates to isotropy.
Groundwater flow is in the direction of a decline in hydraulic head.
Only for isotropic hydraulic properties, isohypses of hydraulic head are at right angles (ie. 90o) to groundwater flow lines.
What's a different name for hydraulic head?
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