Why doesn’t the water in lakes and rivers get absorbed into the ground?
In: Chemistry
Some do lose water due to seepage. They lose more or less depending on what kind of rock and sediment lies beneath the lake. A rocky bottom holds water better than a sandy bottom.
Lakes are also subject to evaporation from their surfaces – especially in a dry places – for example, the American West.
So why don’t lakes just dry up? Some do. For a lake to keep its water over time, it has to be replenished. There are both natural and man-made lakes. The main way that water gets into reservoirs and man-made lakes is from the rivers and streams that were dammed to create them. Like man-made reservoirs and lakes, natural lakes may also be replenished by rivers and streams.
Natural lakes have another advantage, when it come to holding their water. They tend to form in the lowest elevations in a given area. So these sorts of lakes may also get underground water that flows in from underneath the lake – the lake floor may be an area of water input, rather than a drain for the lake.
At some point, the ground cant absorb more water, just like a sponge in a sink full of water
It does actually get absorbed. A lake or River is simply where the below ground water table is either forced to to the surface due to underlying obstacles like impermeable rocks, or the surface is depressed enough due to erosion to meet the water table.
Water flows underground *through* the soil and rock in most places. That’s actually where a lot of it is.
They do, until the soil is wet and cannot carry more water.
the soil is wet ALL THE WAY DOWN, until, the earth mantle, where it exist as steam. When volcano happens, the waters are returned to the surface https://wileyearthpages.wordpress.com/2014/02/11/subduction-and-the-water-cycle/
What is an old abandoned rock quarry called when it is full of water?
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