Janet,
As you say variations from site to site are important
considerations - what applies to one site may not to another.
Water, not being static, will always find its own level - but
what happens in between can be quite complex.
Re recommended references, I'm afraid most of my reading
is technical (remember I worked in the geophysics dept. at UCLA
for Willard Libby on the Apollo Space program) and I used to
ghost-write articles for him in relevant journals.
When I approach a new discipline I like to do it, as it were,
through a child's eyes to get the basics. But I have been at this for
quite a few decades now and read a lot of technical reports and texts on
geology as it relates to Droitwich and my own subject. I also try to
reach geology and geochemistry experts working in the field who can
resolve the questions I have. This usually works better if you have
something to contribute to the discussioon.
Textbooks are always a good source (Conrad B. Krauskopf,
Introduction to Geochemistry (Evaporites), McGraw Hill 1967.
But you could check Scientific American and National Geographic
on hydrology (the latter with lots of pictures) which is quite readable,
or Science magazine which is a little more technical (Lawrence A. Hardie
and Hans P. Eugster, vol.208, 2nd May 1980 article: "Evaporation of
Seawater: Calculated Mineral Sequences"). Although geology changes
little over time, our understanding of it improves with time, so there's
always hope.
Something to think about in the literature: it has been calculated
by one writer that erosion from stream water amounts to 80 tons per
square mile/year, amounting to an average lowering of the land surface by
lft. in every 30,000 years. This boils down to 1.2" in 3,000. What is
not taken into account in this model is uplift which adds land, or coral
reefs that
isolate lagoons in the sea, or wind that blows dust particles onto the
land.
I have first hand experience of this. A friend owned a house by the sea
right next to an area with slippage. The land beneath over which the
upper surface slid, gradually added more land to his property, and
despite the
slippage the surface area kept getting higher and utilities had to be
placed
on stilts on the surface to allow for rapid change (within months).
We used to have a famous scholar at UCLA called Rubey who calculated
how long various minerals remained in the ocean or were deposited on
land, or were re-cycled and it turned out 30 years after his original
prediction that he was correct in his calculations. But who knows,
without new world environment this could change.
Sorry to go on - probably not everyone's bag on this list....but all
fascinating to me!
Bea
On 2/11/01 2:03 PM Janet Kaiser writes:
>On the whole, it is ridiculous even trying to
>explain the complexity of springs and water
>sources, because each site is going to be
>completely different and have so many variants
>and variables as to make it almost unique.
>General rules and theories are probably to be
>viewed with some caution, although given the
>research one would expect in these days of
>acute water shortages world-wide, there appears
>to be little accessible new information for
>people like me who do not enjoy reading
>technical theses and specialist books.
>
>Can you by any chance recommend any
>Ladybird-type books on the subject? With lots of
>colour pictures and diagrams? :-)
Beatrice Hopkinson 73071,327@compuserve
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