Which rocks are aquifers?

Which rocks are aquifers?

An aquifer is a body of saturated rock through which water can easily move. Aquifers must be both permeable and porous and include such rock types as sandstone, conglomerate, fractured limestone and unconsolidated sand and gravel. Fractured volcanic rocks such as columnar basalts also make good aquifers.

Does basalt make a good aquifer?

Basaltic rocks are the most productive aquifers in volcanic rocks. This map of igneous and metamorphic-rock aquifers in the United States shows the shallowest principal aquifer.

What is a basalt classified as?

Basalt is a dark-colored, fine-grained, igneous rock composed mainly of plagioclase and pyroxene minerals. It most commonly forms as an extrusive rock, such as a lava flow, but can also form in small intrusive bodies, such as an igneous dike or a thin sill.

Which rock is not good for aquifer?

Good aquifers are those with high permeability such as poorly cemented sands, gravels, or highly fractured rock. An aquitard is a body of material with very low permeability. In general, tightly packed clays, well cemented sandstones, and igneous and metamorphic rocks lacking fractures are good aquitards.

What rock is the best aquifer?

Sandstone
Sandstone: Fine-grained rocks such as sandstone make good aquifers. They can hold water like a sponge, and with their tiny pores, they are good at filtering surface pollutants.

What material makes the best aquifer?

Unconsolidated materials like gravel, sand, and even silt make relatively good aquifers, as do rocks like sandstone. Other rocks can be good aquifers if they are well fractured.

Which type of material would make the best aquifer?

Gravel makes a good aquifer because it is extremely permeable and porous. The large pieces of sediment create significant pore spaces that water can travel through. Often, gravel must be surrounded by a less permeable soil type, such as rich clay or impenetrable rock.

Is basalt Metamorphic?

Intense heat or great pressure transforms basalt into its metamorphic rock equivalents. Basalts are important rocks within metamorphic regions because they can provide vital information on the conditions of metamorphism that have affected the region.

Is Basalt A White rock?

Basalt is usually dark grey to black in colour, due to its high content of augite or other dark-coloured pyroxene minerals, but can exhibit a wide range of shading.

Where is the basalt aquifer in Nevada located?

The basalt aquifer is located beneath the Carson Desert, near Fallon, Nevada, and is the sole source of drinking water for the City of Fallon, the Naval Air Station (NAS) Fallon, and the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe.

What kind of rock is in a basaltic rock aquifer?

The Pliocene and younger basaltic-rock aquifers consist primarily of thin basalt flows with minor beds of basaltic ash, cinders, and sand. The basalts were extruded as lava flows from numerous vents and fissures which are concentrated along faults or rift zones in the Snake River Plain.

Where does Lewiston Basin aquifer get its water?

The Lewiston Basin Aquifer (previously called the Russell Aquifer) was designated a sole source aquifer in 1988. The aquifer provides all domestic water to Clarkston, Washington, and the Lewiston Orchards Irrigation District in Idaho, in addition to providing some domestic water for the city of Lewiston, Idaho.

Where are the sole source aquifers in Idaho?

View a map of Sole Source Aquifers in EPA Region 10 (including Idaho). The Eastern Snake River Plain Aquifer was designated a sole source aquifer in 1991. It provides the sole source of drinking water for nearly 200,000 people in southeastern and south central Idaho.