potentiometric surface

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potentiometric surface

n.
A hypothetical surface representing the water table in an unconfined aquifer or the level to which groundwater would rise if not trapped in a confined aquifer.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
References in periodicals archive
However, for the 3.5, 3, 2, and 0 Ma models, the eastern BC values were calculated by interpolation between the 4.5 Ma model hydraulic head values and present-day hydraulic head values obtained from potentiometric surface maps of the Wolfcampian and Mississippian (Figures 9 and 11; [7]); see [h.sub.E] = [h.sub.i] arrows in Figure 13.
"We observed that over time the way groundwater moved and where it was present changed significantly," said USGS hydrologist Rachel Powell, lead author of the report Estimated 2012 groundwater potentiometric surface and drawdown from predevelopment to 2012 in the Santa Fe Group aquifer system in the Albuquerque metropolitan area, central New Mexico.
Potentiometric surface analysis and water loss studies indicate that significant spring recharge comes directly from the lower Blanco River (Ogden et al.
As a result of the intensive use, in the 1990s the potentiometric surface sank deeper than 50 m below sea level in the area of Kohtla-Jarve-Johvi, and an extensive drawdown cone was formed.
An analog exists for confined aquifers and is called the potentiometric surface (or piezometric surface).
The potentiometric surface was determined by plotting measurements taken at each of the piezometers.
The Analytic Element Method (AEM) of groundwater modeling was used to generate a steady state potentiometric surface map of the water-table aquifer in the Wadena area of Central Minnesota.
This equation is governed by the Dupuit Assumptions: hydraulic gradient is the slope of the water table or potentiometric surface; hydraulic gradient is invariant with depth; and flow lines are horizontal.
These results are very similar to an earlier 1985 USGS study of computed potentiometric surface for the area.
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