GEO 1111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Aquifer, Porosity, Water Table

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Geology
• Course: GEO 1111
• Professor: Robert Jack Cornett

Document Summary

25-40% of canada is reliant on groundwater. Groundwater represents 20% of the worlds freshwater. Around 15% of the precipitation infiltrates the ground and becomes groundwater. Found in pores and fractures of soil and sediment. Dry soil contains only a thin layer of water around the rocks. Saturated soil contains maximum amount of water. Factors controlling infiltration : precipitation, slope (flat systems have lots of time for water to infiltrate, geologic material, vegetation. Conductivity is the capacity of a rock or sediment to transmit a fluid: pore sizes and interconnectivity play a role in this. Water yield of a reservoir will never be 100% because there is always some water particles that adhere to the rock. Best to worst reservoirs : quartz sandstone (very permeable and very porous, fractured crystalline rock (very permeable and not porous, shale (not permeable and very porous, granite (not permeable and not porous)