groundwater module

Question 1

what is the connection between glacial deposits, water supply, and waste disposal

Answer 1

• need to understand deposits to:
• locat, develops and protect aquifers
• indentify groundwater contaminant migrations pathways
• locate suitable future waste disposal sites
• understand what lies beneath the ground surface

Question 2

right to water

Answer 2

• recognizes right to safe clean drinking water that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights
• goal 6: ensure avalibilty and susatinable management of water and sanitation for all

Question 3

groundwater ssytems

Answer 3

• groundwater
• water beneate the surface of earth
• fills cracks, cavities, pore spaces
• moves through sediments and rocks
• moves from areas of rechage to areas of discharge (streams and lakes)

Question 4

aquifer

Answer 4

• a rock or sediment that holds and transmits enough water to be useful as a source of water
• ex. sand, sandstone

Question 5

aquitard

Answer 5

• a rock or sediment with slow rates of water movement
• ex. clay, shale

Question 6

permeability vs porosity

Answer 6

• porosity: volume of open space (pore space) within a body of rock or sediment; all space not occupied by solid material
• permeability: measure of how readilty fluids pass through material. move fast through: sands, gravels (aquifers) and very slow through aquitards

Question 7

how do we know what lies below the ground surface

Answer 7

• look for exposures
• along creeks, lakeshore bluffs, in quarries

Question 8

drilling cores

Answer 8

• taking samples of subsurfe sediment/rock
• coring- south simcoe county
• from this you can get logging core, sedimentary logs,, and subsurface correlation (3d block diagram)

Question 9

geophysics

Answer 9

• geophysical probes can be placed in wells to measure physical properites of the materials

geophysical well logging:
- gamma: measure of natural gamma radiation; high values in clays
- conductivity: high values in clays, low values in sands
- magnetic susceptibilities: measures magnetic properties (minerals)

Question 10

ground penetrating radar

Answer 10

• radar waves used to image the changes in properties of subsurface materials
• used for relatively shallow geological investigations (<25 m)
• location of buried pipes
• archaeological applications

Question 11

what depsosits would we expect in sounthern ontario

Answer 11

• repeated episodies of glaciation over 2 million years
• deltic sands
• lake muds

Question 12

glacial stratigraphy in southern onterio

Answer 12

• alternating layers of: fine-grained sedmient (tills, lake muds) and coarse-grained sediments (sands, gravels)

Question 13

aquifers and aquitards in s ontario

Answer 13

• glacial depsosits from a “layer cake” of auqifers and aquitard
• sands= aquifers
• tills/muds= aquitards

Question 14

why is permafrost important to candadians

Answer 14

• 40%land area unerlain by permafrost. more in the 1970-1990s
• 25% earths total land area
  -permafrost commin in periglacial (cold climate) areas
• canadas pemafrost is melting
• not good
• puts infrastructure at risk