aquifer

UK/ˈækwɪfə/US/ˈɑkwɪfɝ/

nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,629 of 15,258mostly written

Other forms: aquifers

An aquifer is a layer of rock or gravel that holds water underground. Tap the aquifer, a chalk aquifer, the aquifer is falling.

Much of the world's drinking water is pumped out of one, and some are drained far faster than rain can refill them. The rock is not hollow, since the water sits in the spaces between the grains.

Definitions of aquifer

1nounaquiferA layer of rock holding water underground.C1
“The town's wells draw on a chalk aquifer beneath the hills.”

aquifer is a rock layer.

Where it comes from

From aqui- + -fer.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Rocks & Minerals

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aquifer in the wild

The Ogallala Aquifer is a shallow water table aquifer surrounded by sand, silt, clay, and gravel located beneath the Great Plains in the United States.
Ogallala Aquifer
The aquifer is part of the High Plains Aquifer System, and resides in the Ogallala Formation, which is the principal geologic unit underlying 80% of the High Plains.
Ogallala Aquifer
A well drilled into such an aquifer is called an artesian well.
Artesian well
If water reaches the ground surface under the natural pressure of the aquifer, the well is termed a flowing artesian well.
Artesian well
Some aquifers are hundreds of meters deep and underlie vast areas of land.
Fossil water

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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