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Earth and Space Sciences · Glossary

What is Fossil groundwater?

Definition 9.7 High School Earth and Space Sciences · Chapter 9 — Freshwater Resources

Fossil groundwater is groundwater that entered its aquifer long ago, often under a wetter climate, and that today’s recharge does not renew on the scale of human lifetimes.

Irrigated fields near Sublette, Kansas, seen by the ASTER instrument on NASA’s Terra satellite in June 2001 (about 37\, km across). Each circle is a field watered by a long sprinkler arm turning about its centre; the circles are 800 and 1600\, m across. Image: NASA (public domain).
Irrigated fields near Sublette, Kansas, seen by the ASTER instrument on NASA’s Terra satellite in June 2001 (about 37 km37\,\mathrm{km} across). Each circle is a field watered by a long sprinkler arm turning about its centre; the circles are 800800 and 1600 m1600\,\mathrm{m} across. Image: NASA (public domain).
A hand pump on a well in a dry landscape: the water drawn here comes from the ground below, out of reach of the dry season.
A hand pump on a well in a dry landscape: the water drawn here comes from the ground below, out of reach of the dry season.
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