Abstract
“THE Motions of Underground Waters” is the title of an essay by Mr. Charles S. Slichter, and it is issued as No. 67 of the Water Supply and Irrigation Papers of the United States Geological Survey. The author, in the first place, discusses the origin and extent of underground waters, remarking that these are included only in the zone of saturated rocks, the surface of which is known as the water table or water plane. The lowest depth at which ground waters can exist is regarded as approximately six miles. The region above this limit is distinguished as the zone of fracture, for in it pressures and stresses result in the breaking of the rocks. Below, all cavities and pores in the rock are completely closed. The amount of ground water within the crust of the earth is estimated to be nearly one-third the amount of the oceanic water, and to be sufficient to cover the entire surface of the earth to a uniform depth of from 3000 to 3500 feet. But these “waters under the earth” are, of course, only recoverable in useful quantities at limited depths; even the thermal springs arise from a level much above the geologic limit of depth.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
W., H. Underground Waters . Nature 67, 547–548 (1903). https://doi.org/10.1038/067547b0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/067547b0