| A | B |
|---|
| ground water | Natural water found underground producing up to 96% of the world's fresh water not locked up in glacial ice. |
| water cycle | The continuous moveent of water from the oceans to the atmosphere by evaporation and precipitation onto the continents and return to the oceans by stream. |
| water table | The water surface of a groundwater reservoir. |
| zone of aeration | Porous rock and soil above the water table. |
| permeability | A property of rock and soil relating to the ability for water to move through pores and cracks in ground materials. |
| aquifer | A stratum of permeable rock sandwiched between impermeable strata that stores and transports ground water. |
| cone of depression | A cone shaped dip in a water table, deepest at a well pipe; results when water is pumped out at a higher rate than percolation can replenish |
| recharge zone | An area on the land's surface that resupplies groundwater, such as a forest or lake. |
| solvent | A substance, usually a liquid, that dissolves other substances. |
| hardness | A description of the amount of dissolved minerals in groundwater. |
| irrigation | Artificial method for supplying water to crops; used to for making dry but fertile land agriculturally productive. |
| pollution | The addition of anything to a resource that reduces its usefulness. |
| cave | A naturally occurring underground space. |
| solution cave | A cave that appears to have formed when native rock was dissolved by acidic groundwater. |
| speleologist | A professional scientist who studies caves. |
| speleothem | A cave formation made of precipitated minerals deposited by dripping or flowing groundwater. |
| stalactite | An icicle-like speleothem that hangs down from a cave's ceiling. |
| stalagmite | A conical speleothem that grows from a cave's floor. |
| karst topography | Distinct topography produced by the erosion and collapse of solution caves in thick strata of chemical sedimentary rocks. |
