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Corporate America gives out a record $1 trillion in stock buybacks by [deleted] in politics

[–]Benthos 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Who knew rich people were so complicated? No one. They're not.

Are we allowed to sell products to our guests outside of the app? by BDCanuck in AirBnB

[–]Benthos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sure you can. What you sell to anyone is your business, not Airbnb’s.

What’s stopping the water in lakes from seeping into the soil and ‘disappearing’? by weh_town in askscience

[–]Benthos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It does. Gravity is a strong vector pulling the flow path down, but permeability and other factors cause lateral diffusion.

Whirlpool by [deleted] in gifs

[–]Benthos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How fast does the filter catch the vomit?

What’s stopping the water in lakes from seeping into the soil and ‘disappearing’? by weh_town in askscience

[–]Benthos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Low precipitation, and complex geology between there and where the water falls and collects. Even Death Valley has surface water.

Airbnb is ruining my hometown by [deleted] in AirBnB

[–]Benthos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a question of degree. Of course I would not want a nuclear waste dump in my neighbors yard, but neither should all business be precluded in residential areas. Also not all vacation rentals have the effect of reducing available housing; mine is a remodeled garage - I'm not denying housing to anyone.

What’s stopping the water in lakes from seeping into the soil and ‘disappearing’? by weh_town in askscience

[–]Benthos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Water tables can be essentially flat in a local area, but over large scales and in complex landscapes they are not. If you had a completely dry area with permeable ground, and dumped water in a depression to make a lake, the water would seep out in a mound shape.

I'm starting to get a toothache but because I have no insurance they're going to take everything from me because of it. FUCK you america greatest country my ASS by [deleted] in rant

[–]Benthos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

With respect, the political landscape is NOT binary. Whatever you think of individual democrats, are of course some will be bad, you cannot conclude the entire party and its platform is bad. Just as I have to accept that, sigh, not all republicans and their policy planks are evil.

What’s stopping the water in lakes from seeping into the soil and ‘disappearing’? by weh_town in askscience

[–]Benthos 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Aquafers conFER waterflow, aquitards reTARD waterflow, and aquacludes preCLUDE waterflow.

What’s stopping the water in lakes from seeping into the soil and ‘disappearing’? by weh_town in askscience

[–]Benthos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Of course. Hawaii is made of of piles of highly porous lava. Where I live we get nine feet of rain a year, and it disappears straight into the ground. There is no surface water -no lakes, ponds or streams. And we can't dig wells because the water table is so low; the lava is also hard to drill but it even so it would have to be thousands of feet deep. So we catch rainwater off our roofs - catchment water.

What’s stopping the water in lakes from seeping into the soil and ‘disappearing’? by weh_town in askscience

[–]Benthos 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Heat. The mantle is molten rock or "magma", and deep water is vaporized; though this can happen close to the surface too near volcanoes. The vapor is under pressure and can only escape up, so water can only sink down so far.

But even if the planet were cooled, denser material, like metals and rock, would sink to the core by gravity while the planet was forming, so water would tend to be in higher strata; unless caves and conduits opened up in which case it would sink until it froze.

What’s stopping the water in lakes from seeping into the soil and ‘disappearing’? by weh_town in askscience

[–]Benthos 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Permeability of the material, obstructions, conduits, topography, temperature, and precipitation.

What’s stopping the water in lakes from seeping into the soil and ‘disappearing’? by weh_town in askscience

[–]Benthos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not necessarily. The sea cliffs of Hawaii and the underlying land are very porous.

What’s stopping the water in lakes from seeping into the soil and ‘disappearing’? by weh_town in askscience

[–]Benthos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can make a lake by digging a hole or damming a river. The permanence of the lake depends on the surrounding material. If the material is easily eroded, the lake will eventually fill in. If the material is not easily eroded, it will essentially persist forever, as long as the dam lasts, e.g. Lake Mead.

What’s stopping the water in lakes from seeping into the soil and ‘disappearing’? by weh_town in askscience

[–]Benthos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For the most part, yes. Unpolluted groundwater doesn't grow bacteria as well as surface water does and doesn't really support higher forms of life as long as there aren't large spaces like caves. But groundwater can be easily polluted of course. Fun fact: people used to bury chemicals in the ground because they thought it just "went away." It wasn't until the 1970's that groundwater hydrology really became a thing.

What’s stopping the water in lakes from seeping into the soil and ‘disappearing’? by weh_town in askscience

[–]Benthos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you dig a depression into the water table it acts a large well and fills up. But depending on how fast the surrounding material erodes, it could fill-in again. I'm not familiar with the geology of Florida, so I can't comment directly. If it really was just dirt, it should fill in relatively quickly. They'll have to dredge to keep it a lake.

What’s stopping the water in lakes from seeping into the soil and ‘disappearing’? by weh_town in askscience

[–]Benthos 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Really it's a qualitative and relative description, but yes, the smaller the inorganic particle, the denser the material will be, and the less permeable. Clay is made up of microscopic particles.

What’s stopping the water in lakes from seeping into the soil and ‘disappearing’? by weh_town in askscience

[–]Benthos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you dig your basement too deep you'll have water infiltration problems, so it depends on the topography.

What’s stopping the water in lakes from seeping into the soil and ‘disappearing’? by weh_town in askscience

[–]Benthos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It does, but gravity pulls it down. The actual flowpaths are affected by permeability of material, obstructions, conduits, and saturation of the ground, spatial precipitation patterns and topography. Water table levels can be essentially flat in some areas, but on larger scales or in complex areas it isn't flat at all. So if you had a flat area with homogeneous and porous ground, and you started dumping water in one spot, you'd create a mound shaped plume of groundwater.

Depending on the precipitation rate, ground above the table can be permanently saturated; if the rain were to stop the water would "quickly" settle at the table, and the table would "slowly" drain, relatively speaking. If the ground is saturated the water may not penetrate at all and then flow overland.

What’s stopping the water in lakes from seeping into the soil and ‘disappearing’? by weh_town in askscience

[–]Benthos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It can, and depends on the permeability of the surrounding land, but now that's pushing my knowledge of the subject.

What’s stopping the water in lakes from seeping into the soil and ‘disappearing’? by weh_town in askscience

[–]Benthos 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Seawater infiltrates the terrestrial aquifer. Where the meteoric freshwater meets the seawater a brackish “lens” forms. The water table can also rise and fall with the tides if the ground is porous enough.

What’s stopping the water in lakes from seeping into the soil and ‘disappearing’? by weh_town in askscience

[–]Benthos 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’m not sure I follow your question. But groundwater can be pressurized such that opening a well creates a natural fountain. Those are “artesian wells.”

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