WELL WATERS: A STUDY 



A. McGiivi., B. A., B. Sc, F. R. S. C, Assistant Analyst 

 TO THE Inland Revenue Department 



When rain falls to the earth it is either absorbed by soak- 

 age, or it flows along the surface to lower levels. Usually both 

 flow and absorption take place, but the ratio between the 

 quantity carried off by surface flow, and that absorbed, varies 

 with the nature of the soil, the degree of slope, and other 

 conditions. 



When the surface is nearly level, and porous, as is the case 

 with ordinary arable land, most of the water will disappear by 

 soakage, and if the rainfall is heavy, the ground will be wetted 

 to a great depth. 



In the diagram (Fig. i) the dotted portion represents a 

 layer of porous soil, S — (which may be sand, loam, gravel, etc.), 

 underneath which lies a non-porous layer, C (clay), represented 



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Fig. I. 

 by short lines, and underneath this again is a layer of. rock — R. 

 The rain which falls on the surface A, will gradually sink 

 through the porous soil till it reaches the impermeable clay ; and 

 shortly after the rain ceases, we may have the state of things 

 represented at the right hand side of the diagram, which shows the 

 porous soil thoroughly soaked from the surface of the clay up 



