After some prodding by a very good friend,  I have decided to enter the "blogging"world by writing about what I know and what I do for a living and that is soil, geology, groundwater and environmental consulting.  

For the early stages I will focus on groundwater; specifically, groundwater in the crystalline piedmont of the east coast.  Where it comes from, where it resides, how it behaves, where to find it and how to use it in a sustainable manner.

Rather than get into the question(s) of why the earth has so much water, I will start with the fact that the oceans are the source for most of the water we find in the ground. 

This blog will focus on the water cycle and where the water is stored in crystalline and/or fractured bedrock aquifers.

The water cycle graphic below (thank you USGS) illustrates how this occurs:



Water is stored in the ocean and is evaporated by the sun and condenses into clouds which become saturated and release the moisture as rain or snow, or some form of precipitation.  The rain infiltrates the ground (recharge)and the pore spaces in the weathered material above the solid rock (the regolith) become filled.  A picture is worth a thousand words, the USGS graphic below illustrates it very well:




When the aquifer fills up, the water begins to flow from the ground into streams (discharge) as baseflow contributions. Heres a picture of a stream during normal baseflow periods (courtesy USGS):



When there is a drought, the aquifer (reservoir) begins to fall and the stream responds by dropping water levels (USGS):

 
For the purposes of this discussion, let's assume that the water level in the picture above is due to reduced baseflow contributions.....the aquifer is receding (verically) into the earth. 

Ok, that's it for today....I'm going to find out who our president is now.

Vludlow