{"id":608,"date":"2017-01-30T18:30:58","date_gmt":"2017-01-30T18:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/physicalgeology\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=608"},"modified":"2017-01-30T18:56:55","modified_gmt":"2017-01-30T18:56:55","slug":"introduction-6","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-purchase-physicalgeology\/chapter\/introduction-6\/","title":{"raw":"Introduction","rendered":"Introduction"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3><strong>Learning Objectives<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nAfter reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the end, you should be able to:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Explain the concepts of porosity and permeability and the importance of these to groundwater storage and movement<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Describe the relative porosities and permeabilities of some common geological materials<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Define aquifers, aquitards, confining layers, and the differences between confined and unconfined aquifers<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Explain the concepts of hydraulic head, the water table, potentiometric surface, and hydraulic gradient, and apply the Darcy equation for estimating groundwater flow<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Describe the flow of groundwater from recharge areas to discharge areas<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Describe the nature of groundwater flow in karst systems<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Explain how wells are used to extract groundwater and the implications of over-pumping a well<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Describe how observation wells are used to monitor groundwater levels and the importance of protecting groundwater resources<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Distinguish between natural and anthropogenic contamination of groundwater<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Describe some of the ways that groundwater can become contaminated, and how contamination can be minimized<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_850\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"400\"]<a href=\"http:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/geology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/110\/2015\/08\/limestone-cave-on-Quadra-Island.jpg\"><img class=\"wp-image-850\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1462\/2017\/01\/30182813\/limestone-cave-on-Quadra-Island.jpg\" alt=\"Figure 14.1 A spring flowing from a limestone cave on Quadra Island, B.C. [SE]\u00a0\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a> Figure 14.1 A spring flowing from a limestone cave on Quadra Island, B.C. [SE][\/caption]&nbsp;\r\n\r\nAs we saw in Chapter 13, fresh water makes up only 3% of the water on Earth. Approximately two-thirds of that is glacial ice and most of the rest is groundwater. We can\u2019t live without water, and it\u2019s easy to see that groundwater represents a critically important component of our water supply. Groundwater is not as easily accessed as surface water, but it is also not as easily contaminated as surface water. If more than 7 billion of us want to continue living comfortably here on Earth, we have to take great care of our groundwater and learn how to use it sustainably.","rendered":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3><strong>Learning Objectives<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>After reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the end, you should be able to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Explain the concepts of porosity and permeability and the importance of these to groundwater storage and movement<\/li>\n<li>Describe the relative porosities and permeabilities of some common geological materials<\/li>\n<li>Define aquifers, aquitards, confining layers, and the differences between confined and unconfined aquifers<\/li>\n<li>Explain the concepts of hydraulic head, the water table, potentiometric surface, and hydraulic gradient, and apply the Darcy equation for estimating groundwater flow<\/li>\n<li>Describe the flow of groundwater from recharge areas to discharge areas<\/li>\n<li>Describe the nature of groundwater flow in karst systems<\/li>\n<li>Explain how wells are used to extract groundwater and the implications of over-pumping a well<\/li>\n<li>Describe how observation wells are used to monitor groundwater levels and the importance of protecting groundwater resources<\/li>\n<li>Distinguish between natural and anthropogenic contamination of groundwater<\/li>\n<li>Describe some of the ways that groundwater can become contaminated, and how contamination can be minimized<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_850\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/geology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/110\/2015\/08\/limestone-cave-on-Quadra-Island.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-850\" class=\"wp-image-850\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1462\/2017\/01\/30182813\/limestone-cave-on-Quadra-Island.jpg\" alt=\"Figure 14.1 A spring flowing from a limestone cave on Quadra Island, B.C. [SE]\u00a0\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-850\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Figure 14.1 A spring flowing from a limestone cave on Quadra Island, B.C. [SE]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As we saw in Chapter 13, fresh water makes up only 3% of the water on Earth. Approximately two-thirds of that is glacial ice and most of the rest is groundwater. We can\u2019t live without water, and it\u2019s easy to see that groundwater represents a critically important component of our water supply. Groundwater is not as easily accessed as surface water, but it is also not as easily contaminated as surface water. If more than 7 billion of us want to continue living comfortably here on Earth, we have to take great care of our groundwater and learn how to use it sustainably.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-608\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Physical Geology. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Steven Earle. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: BC Campus. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/geology\/\">https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/geology\/<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":17,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Physical Geology\",\"author\":\"Steven Earle\",\"organization\":\"BC Campus\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/geology\/\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-608","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":532,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-purchase-physicalgeology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-purchase-physicalgeology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-purchase-physicalgeology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-purchase-physicalgeology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-purchase-physicalgeology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1116,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-purchase-physicalgeology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/608\/revisions\/1116"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-purchase-physicalgeology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/532"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-purchase-physicalgeology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/608\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-purchase-physicalgeology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-purchase-physicalgeology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=608"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-purchase-physicalgeology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=608"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-purchase-physicalgeology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}