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Water balance. Groundwater recharge or deep drainage or deep percolation is a hydrologic process, where water moves downward from surface water to groundwater. Recharge is the primary method through which water enters an aquifer. This process usually occurs in the vadose zone below plant roots and is often expressed as a flux to the water table ...
For example, in geology, percolation refers to filtration of water through soil and permeable rocks. The water flows to recharge the groundwater in the water table and aquifers . In places where infiltration basins or septic drain fields are planned to dispose of substantial amounts of water, a percolation test is needed beforehand to determine ...
Water thus returns to the surface, as return flow, before or on entering a stream or groundwater. [1] [2] Once water infiltrates into the soil, it is still affected by gravity and infiltrates to the water table or if permeability varies laterally travels downslope. [1] Throughflow usually occurs during peak hydrologic events (such as high ...
The maximum rate at that water can enter soil in a given condition is the infiltration capacity. If the arrival of the water at the soil surface is less than the infiltration capacity, it is sometimes analyzed using hydrology transport models, mathematical models that consider infiltration, runoff, and channel flow to predict river flow rates ...
The soil and rock in the vadose zone are not fully saturated with water; that is, the pores within them contain air as well as water. The portion of the vadose zone that is inhabited by soil microorganism, fungi and plant roots may sometimes be called the soil carbon sponge .
Surface runoff (also known as overland flow or terrestrial runoff) is the unconfined flow of water over the ground surface, in contrast to channel runoff (or stream flow).It occurs when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other sources, can no longer sufficiently rapidly infiltrate in the soil.
All rock types (igneous rock, metamorphic rock and sedimentary rock) may be broken down into small particles to create soil. Weathering mechanisms are physical weathering, chemical weathering, and biological weathering [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] Human activities such as excavation, blasting, and waste disposal, may also create soil.
The primary conditions for soil development are controlled by the chemical composition of the rock on which the soil will be. Rock types that form the base of the soil profile are often either sedimentary (carbonate or siliceous), igneous or metaigneous ( metamorphosed igneous rocks) or volcanic and metavolcanic rocks.