Topic 8 Water Vocabulary

1. Aquifer an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock from which groundwater can be extracted using a water well. 

2. Capillarity The process by which water is drawn into openings due to the attractive force between water molecules and the surrounding Earth materials

3. Capillary Water The water held in soil, loose materials, and rock in the zone of aeration as a result of the process of capillarity

4. Groundwater Water that is below Earth’s surface also known as subsurface water

5. Infiltration Water entering or sinking into the ground (the lithosphere) also called seep.

6. Permeability The degree to which a porous material ( such as a rock or soil) will allow fluids, such as water, to pass through it.

7. Porosity Percentage of open space, pores and cracks, in a material compared to its total volume.

8. Run-Off All the natural liquid water flowing at the Earth’s solid surface.

9. Seep Water entering or sinking into the ground (the lithosphere) also called infiltration.

10. Sorting The process by which particles become separated according to size or shape POOR WELL

11. Discharge The amount of water that passes a certain spot in a stream in a specific amount of time, such as liters per minute.

12. Subsurface Below the surface, especially of a body of water.

13. Unsorted When particles are mixed, unorganized; large particles mixed with small; round particles mixed with angular.

14. Water Retention The ability to hold water

15. Water Table The interface (boundary) between the zone of saturation and the zone of aeration

16. Zone of Aeration The soil where the pores are only partly filled with liquid water, air fills the rest.

17. Zone of saturation The portion of the soil where the pores are filled with ground water .