Transcript of How Groundwater Moves in the Karst Landscape (A Short Animation)

[Music] the karst landscape is located throughout southeast minnesota over thousands of years carbonate bedrock also called limestone is eroded away by slightly acidic water in rain and soil creating karst features karst features include enlarged fractures sinkholes caves springs and disappearing streams a thin layer of top soil allows water to easily soak into the underlying bedrock once in bedrock water moves quickly to shallow drinking water wells springs and streams although some rain and melting snow moves from the surface to groundwater through sinkholes most soaks into the ground across the entire land surface the distinction between groundwater and surface water is not always clear groundwater may emerge as a spring flow a short distance in a stream and then disappear this same water could then re-emerge within hours or days farther downstream again as surface water [Music] layers of shale are less permeable than limestone and hinder the downward movement of water instead water travels sideways following the easiest path across the shale [Music] in areas of the landscape where the shale has been removed by streams or erosion younger local groundwater from above the shale mixes with older and deeper regionally sourced groundwater [Music] younger water is often from aquifers located above shale layers and can be just days to decades old bolder water is typically contained deeper in the glacial till and bedrock layers and can be decades to centuries old in many cases drinking water is a mixture of both younger and older water [Music] you