Book 16, Question 105
How Does Water Hide Underground in a Desert?
Water hides underground in a desert by soaking into sand and rock, like water in a wet sponge! This hidden water is called groundwater. It can stay there for a very long time.
More fun facts
- Some people think groundwater sits in underground lakes or rivers, but mostly it does not.
- Groundwater is spread unevenly, so some places have much more of it, and better water, than others.
- Rain and melted snow refill groundwater, but only some of the water soaks in; the rest evaporates, is used by plants, or runs off.
- The first water to soak into dry soil just replaces what plants and evaporation used up.
- Between the ground surface and the water below is a layer that hydrologists call the unsaturated zone.
- Wells in an aquifer can give anywhere from a few hundred gallons a day to several million gallons a day.
Sources: U.S. Geological Survey
Questions kids ask
What is the water table?
It is the top of the zone underground where all the spaces in the rock and soil are filled with water.