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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 ] .
The available volume for additional water in the soil depends on the porosity of the soil [7] and the rate at which previously infiltrated water can move away from the surface through the soil. The maximum rate at that water can enter soil in a given condition is the infiltration capacity.
A simplified version of the Emerson soil dispersion test [3] can be completed in the field on a 20-minute to two-hour timescale. Laboratory tests used to diagnose a soil as dispersive focus on the cation exchange capacity of a soil sample and its cation breakdown. Soil cations are dominated by Ca 2+, Mg 2+, K +, and Na +, as well as H + in ...
Groundwater pollution (also called groundwater contamination) occurs when pollutants are released to the ground and make their way into groundwater.This type of water pollution can also occur naturally due to the presence of a minor and unwanted constituent, contaminant, or impurity in the groundwater, in which case it is more likely referred to as contamination rather than pollution.