You are browsing the archive for Groundwater Archives - Page 5 of 11 - Water Underground.
June 26, 2017
What is the difference between ‘water withdrawal’ and ‘water consumption’, and why do we need to know?
Last week I had to teach my first class in global hydrology. When I showed the global trend on increasing demands and withdrawals I needed to explain the different terms as sometimes the term “water use” gets, well, misused.
June 10, 2017
Is highway de-icing ‘a-salting’ our aquifers?
If you live in a cold climate, have you ever wondered where all the de-icing salt (or ‘grit’ as we call it in the UK) that gets spread on the roads in winter time ends up, aside from that accumulating salty grime that coats your car? As you might expect, most of the salt gets washed off the highways as the salt has the desired effect of melting the ice, or carried away by rain. This salty ‘runoff’ ends up in streams nearby via pipes which drain the highway.
June 2, 2017
Fire and groundwater
Post by Andy Baker, University of New South Wales The effects of fire on the surface environment are clear to see. Landscapes are coated in ash. Intense fires can destroy all vegetation and alter soil properties. Less intense fires destroy just the surface leaf litter, grasses and shrubs. Grass fires can be fast moving, destroying buildings and threatening lives. Intense fires can even form their own local weather systems. But …
May 15, 2017
Squeezed by gravity: how tides affect the groundwater under our feet
While we don’t tend to notice Earth and atmospheric tides, they do affect both the land and the world’s largest freshwater resource located underneath our feet: groundwater. This occupies the pores that exist in geological materials such as sand or soil, much like water in a kitchen sponge.
May 11, 2017
Groundwater Speed Dating! Can you find a match?
Welcome to the first edition of groundwater speed dating. In today’s post I introduce you to a motley crew of isotopes and chemicals that hydrogeologists and geochemists use to date the age of groundwater.
May 4, 2017
Monitoring groundwater drought without measuring it
Seventy-five percent of EU inhabitants depend on groundwater for their water supply, which makes groundwater management extremely important. To manage groundwater effectively during drought periods like 2015, data about groundwater levels are needed in (near-) real time.
April 24, 2017
Global fossil groundwater resources—the grandkids like hanging out with the grandparents!!!
Post by Scott Jasechko, University of Calgary Groundwater is the world’s largest family of fresh and unfrozen water, and its members range from young to old. There are toddler groundwaters recharged more recently than the year ~1960. Our earlier research showed that these modern groundwaters make up only a small share of global groundwater stocks (Ref. 1 and Water Canada). But what of ancient ‘fossil’ groundwater—defined as groundwater that first …
April 12, 2017
Musical groundwater?
Post by Kevin Befus, University of Wyoming I don’t mean to get your hopes up, but keep them up there. I’m not talking about recording the sonorific excitement that is groundwater flow. And, I’m not talking about the squeak of a pump handle, the gurgling of a spring, the grumble of a generator, or the roar of a drill rig. Rather, I want to share with you some songs that …
April 7, 2017
Of Karst! – short episodes about karst
Writing my first contribution to the Water Underground blog I want to take advantage of this less formal environment. I will introduce karst as I and many others around the world see it. As the most beautiful environment to explore and study.
