Why is it important to understand the relationship between surface water and groundwater?

Why is it important to understand the relationship between surface water and groundwater?

Surface water seeps into the ground and recharges the underlying aquifer—groundwater discharges to the surface and supplies the stream with baseflow. This understanding is used to forecast how the chemical quality of water will change in response to changes in climate, land use, or management practices.

Why is water important in geology?

The hydrosphere (Earth’s water) is an important agent of geologic change. Water shapes our planet by depositing minerals, aiding lithification, and altering rocks after they are lithified. Water carried by subducted oceanic plates causes flux melting of upper mantle material.

Why is it important for scientists to measure and study water on Earth?

Hydrology is an extremely important field of study, dealing with one of the most valuable resources on Earth: water. Hydrologists rely on their understanding of how water interacts with its environment, including how it moves from the Earth’s surface, to the atmosphere, and then back to Earth.

Why is it important to know the position of the water table?

The depth of the water table can be measured in existing wells to determine the effects of season, climate, or human impact on groundwater. Groundwater depletion occurs when the rate of groundwater extraction through wells is higher than the rate of replenishment from precipitation.

What is the relation of the surface of the water in the stream to the water table?

For a stream to gain water, the elevation of the water table in the vicinity of the stream must be higher than the streamwater surface. For a stream to lose water to groundwater, the water table must be below the elevation of the stream-water surface in the vicinity of the stream.

How does water move between groundwater and surface water when the water table is high?

Under the pull of gravity, groundwater flows slowly and steadily through the aquifer. In low areas it emerges in springs and streams. Both surface water and groundwater eventually return to the ocean, where evaporation replenishes the supply of atmospheric water vapour.

How does geology impact water?

As water moves through geologic materials, it dissolves them. The processes of rock weathering on the Earth’s surface are strongly influenced by climatic factors such as temperature and the quantity and distribution of precipitation. Natural water can vary greatly in the dissolved materials that it carries.

Why does the water table mimic the surface topography?

The water table is said to mimic topography, in that it generally lies near the surface of the ground (often tens of feet below the surface, though this can vary greatly with location). The water table receives additional inputs as rainfall infiltrates into the ground (this is called recharge).

Why is the water cycle important to the ecosystem?

Why is the hydrologic cycle important? The hydrologic cycle is important because it is how water reaches plants, animals and us! Besides providing people, animals and plants with water, it also moves things like nutrients, pathogens and sediment in and out of aquatic ecosystems.

Why is it important to study water?

But there are other important reasons to study water quality. Water quality helps us understand what is going on in the subsurface, where and how fast water is moving, what geochemical reactions are occurring, identifying different sources of water, etc.

What is water table in geology?

water table, also called groundwater table, upper level of an underground surface in which the soil or rocks are permanently saturated with water. The water table separates the groundwater zone that lies below it from the capillary fringe, or zone of aeration, that lies above it.

What is the significance of water table in crop production?

Good quality groundwater at an optimum water-table depth can increase crop yields by providing the much needed water to the plant roots in the absence of irrigation or rainfall. Poor quality groundwater will decreases soil health and plant growth when it is shallow enough to be drawn into the rooting zone of crops.