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 California is considering penalizing officials for draining aquifers. Dionne Searcey, New York Times, 9 Mar. 2024 Even modest falls in water tables in the continent’s many shallow aquifers could dry up wells that sustain many of the 255 million people living in poverty above them, warns the World Bank. Fred Pearce, WIRED, 9 Mar. 2024 When growers and investment companies bought land and drilled wells to pump groundwater in the Central Valley, the expanding nut orchards locked in long-term water demands and added to the strains on the state’s declining aquifers. Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 4 Mar. 2024 Humanity’s biggest source of fresh water — representing just 0.8% of Earth’s total water — is in underground aquifers. Mark Gongloff, Twin Cities, 6 Feb. 2024 Well: This means the home has access to groundwater from the local aquifer. Sasha Hupka, The Arizona Republic, 31 Jan. 2024 The new research shows that crucial aquifers around the world are drying up. Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 24 Jan. 2024 These plans would create snaking tunnels and require highly caustic acids to be injected into the ground, threatening perhaps one of the most important resources we Floridians have: our aquifers. Talbert Cypress, Sun Sentinel, 11 Jan. 2024 Recharging aquifers this way helps prevent the over-extraction of groundwater, which is causing the land itself to sink, known as subsidence. Matt Simon, WIRED, 29 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'aquifer.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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 19 Mar. 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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