aquifer

noun

aqui·​fer ˈa-kwə-fər How to pronounce aquifer (audio)
ˈä-
: a water-bearing stratum of permeable rock, sand, or gravel
aquiferous adjective

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Aquifer and Agriculture

The vast but relatively shallow Ogallala Aquifer lies beneath the Great Plains, under portions of eight states. Its thickness ranges from a few feet to more than a thousand feet. The Ogallala yields about 30 percent of the nation's groundwater used for irrigation in agriculture, and provides drinking water for most of the people within the area. But for many years more water has been extracted from the Ogallala than has been returned, and the situation today is of great concern.

Examples of aquifer in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
The aquifer stood at 625 feet as of Tuesday, per the EAA. Megan Stringer, Axios, 23 Oct. 2024 At the time, the field of hydrogeology—which includes the study of how water flows into and through aquifers—had barely begun, and Bjornerud herself was still a kid. Kathryn Schulz, The New Yorker, 26 Aug. 2024 The team used this data and fed it into a mathematical model of rock physics, which is used on Earth to map underground oil fields and aquifers. Ashley Strickland, CNN, 12 Aug. 2024 In water quality tidings: Honeywell International Inc. — whose predecessors polluted the San Fernando Valley aquifer — has agreed to pay for groundwater cleanup. Sammy Roth, Los Angeles Times, 8 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for aquifer 

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French aquifère "water-bearing," from aqui- (from Latin aqua "water" + -i- -i-) + -fère "bearing" — more at aqua, -fer

Note: The term was introduced into English by the geologist William Harmon Norton (1856-1944) in "Artesian Wells of Iowa," Iowa Geological Survey, vol. 6, Report on Lead, Zinc, Artesian Wells, etc. (Des Moines, 1897), p. 130: "The sand represents the permeable water-bearing layer, the aquifer, to revive a term of Arago's, and its outcrop between the basin rims the area of supply." "Arago" is the French physicist François Arago (1786-1853), whose essay "Sur les puits forés, connus sous le nom de puits artésiens, des fontaines artésiennes, ou de fontaines jaillissants" (Bureau des Longitudes, Annuaire pour l'an 1835 [Paris, 1834], pp. 181-258), is cited earlier in Norton's paper. As noted by Alfred Clebsch ("Analysis and Critique of 'Aquifers, Ground-Water Bodies, and Hydrophers' by C. V. Theis," Selected Contributions to Ground-Water Hydrology by C. V. Theis, and a Review of His Life and Work [U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 2415] [Denver, 1994], pp. 39-43), Norton is not strictly speaking "reviving" anything used by Arago, who only uses aquifère as an adjective in the collocations nappe aquifère and couche aquifère (both meaning approximately "water-bearing layer"). Note that in an English translation of Arago's article ("On Springs, Artesian Wells, and Spouting Fountains," Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, vol. 18, no. 36 [April, 1835]) there is no direct equivalent of aquifère, as couches aquifères is rendered by "water bearing beds" and nappe aquifère as simply "water."

First Known Use

1897, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of aquifer was in 1897

Dictionary Entries Near aquifer

Cite this Entry

“Aquifer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aquifer. Accessed 14 Nov. 2024.

Kids Definition

aquifer

noun
aqui·​fer ˈak-wə-fər How to pronounce aquifer (audio)
ˈäk-
: a water-bearing layer of rock, sand, or gravel capable of absorbing water
aquiferous adjective

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