Ground or subterranean water is water that is found below the earth’s surface. Groundwater is simply water under the ground where the soil is completely filled or saturated with water. This water is also called an “aquifer.”
The following are four types of ground water:
Connate water
It may also refer as fossil water. This is water trapped in the pores of the rock during the formation of rocks.
The chemical composition of water changes with the changes that the rock undergoes. Most connate water is saline.
Meteoric water
This refers to groundwater that originates from rainfall and other forms of precipitation such as hailstorms and snowfall. It is the result of precipitation water seeping into the ground
Juvenile water
It is also referred to as magmatic water. This is water that is brought closer to the earth’s surface due to volcanic activities. It usually has high mineral content
Oceanic water
This is groundwater that results from the seepage of groundwater into the ground. It is common in the coastal areas where ocean water seeps horizontally into the ground from the ocean
Sources of Ground Water
Rain Water
Some rain water which percolates and is trapped after meeting an impermeable rock.
Melt Water
Water that infiltrates into the ground when snow melts during spring and summer.
Surface Water
Water from rivers, seas, swamps, oceans, lakes and ponds that seep into the ground.
Magmatic/Plutonic Water
Water trapped in rocks beneath surface during vulcanicity
Springs
Place where water flows out naturally onto the earth‟s surface along a slope.
Ways/Modes Formation
Hillside Spring
Type formed where a permeable rock lies above an impermeable one on a hill and water comes out at the junction of those two rock layers.
Dyke Spring
Type formed where an igneous dike cuts across a layer of permeable rock.
- Groundwater on the upslope side is trapped causing the water table on that side to rise.
- A spring develops where the water table is exposed on the surface.
Vauclusian Spring
Type formed on a limestone hill or escarpment overlying an impermeable layer.
- Limestone rock becomes saturated with water.
- Water comes out of the ground where water table appears on the surface.
Valley Spring
Type formed where the water table intersects the surface along the side of the valley.
Artesian Basins
Saucer-shaped depression consists of a layer of permeable rock sandwiched between two impermeable rocks and the whole system forms a syncline.
Characteristics
- One or both ends are exposed on the surface on a rainy area or beneath a lake.
- Water enters at the exposed end or ends.
- With time the permeable rock is saturated with water and becomes an aquifer e.g. between Chad and Egypt across Quattara depression.
Artesian well
Well sunk into the aquifer of an artesian basin from which water will come out without being pumped.
Problems Associated With Artesian Wells
- Water may be hot due to high temperatures.
- Water may be salty because water takes a long to percolate through rocks thus dissolving large quantities of mineral salts.
- Water may fail to come out naturally when water is drawn faster than it’s being replaced in the source region and necessitating pumping
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