ENVIRSC 1C03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Ogallala Aquifer, John Palliser, Aquifer
3 Sep 2018
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Lecture #18: soil and water: stokes law - revisited. After 8 mins, one size fraction has settled to the bottom. After 32 hours the 2nd fraction has settled to the bottom. Ogallala aquifer, us largest aquifer in the world. Major source of freshwater (1/5) for agriculture. Very old and deep aquifer that has taken thousands of years to form. Considered nonrenewable groundwater that the rate at which the aquifer recharges is slower than the rate at which people use the aquifer. Land subsidence soil becomes very fragile when the water table starts to decrease in height. Removing the water removes support from the land. If the rate of discharge = rate of recharge there are no problems (salt water stays below the freshwater bc fresh is less dense: salinization. Salt in the soil which leads to defertilization and depression of the soil. Salt water contains freshwater and salt; fresh is going to evaporate and leave the salt behind.
