| A | B |
|---|
| aquifer | a body of rock through which large amounts of water can flow and in which much water can be stored |
| porosity | the amount/percentage of open spaces in a given volume of a rock |
| sorting | the amount of uniformity in the size of the particles, or grains, in rock |
| permeability | how freely water passes through the open spaces in it |
| impermeable | water cannot flow through it |
| zone of saturation | the layer of ground where all the pores are filled with water |
| water table | the upper surface of the zone of saturation |
| zone of aeration | the zone that lies between the water table and the earth's surface |
| capillary fringe | the bottom region of the zone of aeration, just above the water table |
| artesian formation | a sloping layer of permeable rock sandwiched between two layers of impermeable rock and exposed at the ground surface |
| hot spring | hot groundwater that rises to the surface before cooling |
| mud pots | weathered rock around a hot spring that mixes with the hot water to form liquid clay that bubbles at the surface |
| geyser | hot springs that erupt periodically |
| hard water | water that contains large amounts of dissolved minerals |
| soft water | water that contains few dissolved minerals |
| sinkhole | circular depression caused when the roof of a cavern collapses |
| stalactite | cone-shaped calcite deposit suspended from the ceiling of a cavern |
| stalagmite | cone-shaped calcite deposit built up from the floor of a cavern |
| karst topography | regions where the effects of the chemical weathering due to ground water are clearly visible at the surface |
