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Seep is often used in environmental sciences to define an exfiltration zone (seepage zone) where contaminated water, e.g., from waste dumps, leaves a waste system area. Seeps are often important smaller wildlife water sources, and indicated by lower riparian vegetation.
Groundwater is water that is found underground in cracks and spaces in the soil, sand and rocks. Where water has filled these spaces is the phreatic (also called) saturated zone. Groundwater is stored in and moves slowly (compared to surface runoff in temperate conditions and watercourses) through layers or zones of soil, sand and rocks: aquifers.
The top flow line of a saturated soil mass below which seepage takes place, is called the Phreatic line. Hydrostatic pressure acts below the phreatic line whereas atmospheric pressure exists above the phreatic line. This line separates a saturated soil mass from an unsaturated soil mass. It is not an equipotential line, but a flow line.
Internal erosion is the formation of voids within a soil caused by the removal of material by seepage. [1] It is the second most common cause of failure in levees and one of the leading causes of failures in earth dams, [2] responsible for about half of embankment dam failures. [3]
Soil consolidation refers to the mechanical process by which soil changes volume gradually in response to a change in pressure. This happens because soil is a three-phase material, comprising soil grains and pore fluid, usually groundwater [ clarification needed ] .
Canal Lining. Canal lining is the process of reducing seepage loss of irrigation water by adding an impermeable layer to the edges of the trench. Seepage can result in losses of 30 to 50 percent of irrigation water from canals, so adding lining can make irrigation systems more efficient.
If the soil particles in a sample are predominantly in a relatively narrow range of sizes, the sample is uniformly graded. If a soil sample has distinct gaps in the gradation curve, e.g., a mixture of gravel and fine sand, with no coarse sand, the sample may be gap graded. Uniformly graded and gap graded soils are both considered to be poorly ...
The successful soil mechanics and foundation engineering programme at Harvard was hence often credited to Casagrande, and its particular emphasis on laboratory courses and seepage being an integral part of the curriculum would later form the basis of similar courses around the world.