unconfined aquifer
Open underground water
An unconfined aquifer is an underground water-bearing layer with no impermeable rock or clay above it, allowing water to seep directly down from the surface.
The water table—the top of the saturated zone—rises and falls with rainfall and drought.
Wells in unconfined aquifers are vulnerable to contamination from surface pollutants.
Contrast with confined aquifers, which are capped by impermeable layers and often under pressure.
- groundwaterWater in underground rock
- rechargeRestore electrical capacity
- well drillingExcavating for underground water
- sedimentary rockLayered geological formation
- porosityVoid space density
permeability · water table · sandstone · infiltration · boreholes · wetlands · precipitation · water level · contamination · drinking water · freshwater supply · limestone · irrigation systems · gravel · artesian · water well · sustainable yield · rainfall
- hydrologyrivers, streamflow, aquifers, lakes, watershed
- underground waterunderground river, underground lake, underground stream, groundwater, water table
- hydrogeologyaquifers, permeability, porosity, water table, seepage
- Aquifersgroundwater, water table, artesian wells, drawdown, freshwater
- groundwateraquifers, water table, recharge, wells, underground streams
- groundwater modelingtransmissivity, boundary conditions, finite element, drawdown, water table
unconfined aquiferconfined aquifer
Groundwater layer between impermeable strata