Geology 1103 test 3

Porosity

The proportion of void space in a material.

Permeability

A measure if how readily fluids pass through the material.

Saturated or phreatic zone

The zone in which all the soil or rock is water-saturated.

Groundwater

The water that is in the saturated zone.

Unsaturated or vadose zone

The zone above the saturated zone in which soil and rock are partly filled with air and part water.

Soil Moisture

The water in the unsaturated zone.

Water Table

The top surface of the saturated zone where the zone is not confined by overlaying impermeable rock.

Recharge

The process of infiltration and migration or percolation by which ground water is replaced.

Discharge

Where ground water flows into a stream, escapes at the surface in a spring, or otherwise exits the aquifer.

Aquifer

A rock that holds enough water and transmits it rapidly enough to be useful as a source of water.

Aquitard

A rock that may store a considerable quantity of water, but in which water flow is slowed.

Unconfined Aquifer

When an aquifer is directly overlain by permeable rocks and soil.

Confined Aquifer

Bounded above and below by low permeable rocks (aquitards).

Artesian System

When a well is drilled into a confined aquifer, the water can rise above its level in the aquifer because of the extra hydrostatic (fluid) pressure.

Potentiometric Surface

The height to which the water's pressure would raise the water if the water was unconfined.

Hydraulic Head

The potential energy of how rapidly groundwater flows.

Cone of Depression

Circular lowering of the water table immediately around the well in an unconfined aquifer.

Salt Water Intrusion

When salt water mixes with the ground water in coastal areas.

Karst

When dissolution of rocks by subsurface water and occasional collapse of the ground surface forms this distinctive terrain.

Sinkhole

When the ground suddenly collapses as a result of dissolution of the rocks underneath the hole.

Hard Water

Water that contains substantial amounts of dissolved calcium and magnesium.

Mechanical Weathering

Also called physical weathering. The physical breakup of rocks without changes in the rocks composition.

Chemical Weathering

Involves the breakdown of minerals by chemical reaction with water, with other chemicals dissolved in water, or with gases in the air.

O Horizon

Consists wholly of organic matter, whether living or decomposed. Growing plants, decaying leaves, and so on.

A Horizon

Below the O Horizon consists of mostly intensely weathered rock material because it is the zone most exposed to surface processes.

Leaching

When water comes through the A Horizon dissolving soluble minerals and carry them away.

E Horizon

Below the A horizon, known as the zone of leaching.

B Horizon

Also known as the zone of accumulation because it collects the leached materials through E Horizon.

C Horizon

The base of the soil profile.

Pedalfer

Soils were seen as characteristic of more humid regions. The climate is wetter, there is naturally more extensive leaching of the soil.

Pedocal

The soil of a dry climate.

laterite

An extreme type of pedalfer. Forms in forms in Tropical Climates with high temperatures.

Pegmatite

The term given to unusually coarse-grained igneous intrusions.

Kimberlites

Igneous rocks that occur as pipe-like intrusive bodies that must have originated in the mantle.

Hydrothermal

Literally hot water.

Banded Iron Formation

Layered sedimentary iron ores.

Evaporite

When a body of seawater trapped in a shallow sea dries up, it deposits these minerals.

Placers

Formed from coastal currents causing sediment sorting and selective concentration of minerals.

Remote Sensing

Investigation without direct contact, as by using aerial or satellite photography, radar, and so on.

Darcy's Law

Relationship of groundwater flow rate between two points to the difference in hydraulic head between them.

Manganese Modules

Lumps up to about 10 centimeters in diameter, composed mostly of manganese materials.

Tailings

Waste materials that may end up heaped around a processing plant to weather and wash away much like spoil banks.

Fossil Fuels

Energy sources that formed from the remains of once-living organisms.

Petroleum

Liquid Hydrocarbons derived from organic matter and used as fuel.

Oil

Any of various liquid hydrocarbon compounds.

Non-Renewable

Not being replenished or formed at any significant rate on a human timescale.

Coal-Bed Methane

Treated as a hazardous nuisance, potentially explosive, and its incidental release when coal mining has contributed to rising methane concentration in the atmosphere.

Geopressurized Zones

Zones that contain large amounts of recoverable gas.

Methane Hydrates

Crystalline solids of gas and water molecules.

Anaerobic

Condition in which oxygen is nearly or completely absent since reaction with oxygen destroys the organic matter.

Gastification

When a material is converted to natural gas through processes.

Liquefaction

When a material is converted to a liquid through processes.

Kerogen

A waxy solid in the potential fuel of an oil shale.

Tar Sands

Also known as oil sands, are sedimentary rocks containing a very thick, semisolid, tar-like petroleum.

Bitumen

A tar like petroleum found in tar sands.

Fission

The splitting apart of atomic nuclei into smaller ones, with the release of energy.

Fusion

The combining of smaller nuclei into larger ones, also releasing energy.

Chain Reaction

Happens when newly released neutrons induce fission in other minerals which then releases more neutrons.

Breeder Factor

Can maximize the production of new fuel.

Core Meltdown

When the there is overheating of the core in which the fuel and core materials would deteriorate into a molten mass that might or might not melt its way out the containment building.

Decommissioned

When plants are taken out of operation, broken down, and the most radioactive parts are disposed opt properly.

Photovoltaic Cells

Also known as solar cells, direct production of electricity using sunlight.

Geothermal Energy

Heat from cooling magma heats nearby groundwater.

Geothermal Gradient

The rate of increase of temperature with increasing depth in the earth.

Hot-Dry-rock

Type that shows the potential geothermal resource.

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion

Another clean, renewable technology that is currently in the developmental stages.

Biofuels

Fuels derived from living organisms or from organic matter.