Water Movement In the Ground Earth Science Mr. Cloud

Four Things That Could Happen When Precipitation Hits the Ground 1. Water Retention: water is stored as ice or snow 2. Runoff: flow over Earth’s surface 3. Evaporation/Transpiration: liquid water changing to gas **4. Infiltration: seeping into the lithosphere under the force of gravity

Where does NYC get its famous drinking water? Pepacton Reservior Delaware County, NY Carrying Capacity 142 Billion Gallons!

Zones of the Lithosphere

Factors Affecting Infiltration 1. Slope of the Land 2. Degree of Saturation 3. Porosity 4. Permeability 5. Capillarity

Porosity The percentage of open space in a material compared to its total volume. The greater the porosity, the greater the amount of infiltration. ***Particle size itself does not affect porosity. ***

Permeability The ability of a material to allow fluids such as water to pass through Permeability rate: is the speed at which fluids flow through a material The larger the particle size, the faster the permeability rate and infiltration

Capillarity The attractive force between water molecules and the surrounding Earth materials As water infiltrates the ground, it can be slowed by the attractive force between water and surrounding Earth materials Capillary Migration (Action): upward movement of water due to the attractive force between water and its surrounding particles When particle size becomes smaller capillary migration becomes greater

Which tube has a higher capillarity? Why?