Underground Water

Syllabus tag: KCSE | Geography | Form 3 | Topic 26 Underground Water

Lesson objectives

By the end of this topic, you should be able to:

• State the sources of underground water and the factors influencing it.
• Explain the water table, aquifers and the occurrence of springs.
• Describe the conditions necessary for an artesian basin.
• Describe karst features and the significance of underground water.

Summary

Underground water is water held beneath the earth's surface in pores and cracks. It requires permeable rock to store it and impermeable rock beneath to hold it up. The water table is the upper surface of the saturated zone. An artesian basin requires an aquifer sandwiched between two impermeable layers in a syncline.