Glossary

Welcome to the glossary at GeologyRocks. We've put together some of the common terms used in the Earth Sciences to help you if you come across a term you've never seen before. To navigate, click a letter or a category from the list on the left to see all the words starting with that letter or in that category. Alternatively, you can search for a word using the search box to the left. If you search for a word that isn't in our database, we will try and put in a definition as soon as we can.

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Here is an example word:

Artisan Well

An artesian aquifer or well (also known as a confined aquifer) is an aquifer that is trapped between two impermeable layers. An unconfined aquifer is recharged rapidly from surface water. A confined aquifer takes much longer to recharge, but this also means it is not responsive to daily, annual or even millennial changes. An example of an artesian aquifer is South Dakota, USA (see diagram below). Note how the Dakota sandstone (the aquifer) is bounded top and bottom by an impermeable rock.

Artisan Well

References

C. Plummer and D. McGeary, 1997. Physical Geology. Buy It

http://water.usgs.gov/pubs/FS/OFR93-643/