Geology 210        Class Preparation Questions

Soils and Water - Material Properties and Interactions with water.

What are the various global reservoirs which hold freshwater?  What are typical exchanges rates?

What is the difference between a granular material and a fractured solid in terms of arrangement and distribution of pore space?  What is the difference between primary porosity and secondary porosity?  What are some examples of secondary porosity?

How does the grain-size distribution of granular materials control the size, abundance and arrangement of pore space?

What is the water table?  The capillary fringe?  Vadose zone?  Phreatic zone?  Why would we expect the capillary fringe to be thicker in fine-grained materials?

What is the hydrologic cycle?  What are typical movement rates of the various reservoirs?

What is a confining layer? A confined aquifer?  The potentiometric surface for an aquifer?

What are typical porosities of common geological materials?