Question

How does water flow underground?

Answer 1

Hint: After a rain, the excess water enters the surface of the earth, the groundwater acts like a sponge and it takes the spaces between the cracks in the rocks. Gravity and pressure determine the movement.

Complete answer: The water present beneath the surface of the earth in soil pores spaces and in the fractures of rock formations is known as Groundwater. The underground water is generally used for agricultural, industrial purposes, etc.
After heavy rain, water that doesn’t flow into lakes or rivers slowly escapes through the surface of the earth and enters the earth’s surface or gets absorbed by plants. An Aquifer is a water that moves into a natural storage area.
Water that enters the surface in great quantities moves underground downwards and sideways. It happens because of the pressure and gravity. Below the saturated soil, the water meets the water table and flows vertically and horizontally.
The water that flows downwards meets more dense and water-resistance non-porous rock and soil. The water flows in a more horizontal way mainly in streams, the ocean, or deeper into the earth.
The movement of groundwater or the direction or speed is influenced by various features of aquifers and confining layers of subsurface rocks in the ground. The porosity (the amount of open space in the material) of the subsurface rock and the permeability (how difficult or easy it is for water to move) of the rock influences the flow of the groundwater.

Note: Around sixty-five percent of the irrigation is from the underground in our country. The organizations like the Central Water Commission, Central Ground Water, etc control the groundwater regulations.