Artesian aquifer edit extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia (using Wikipedia Reflection Script)

Geological strata giving rise to an Artesian well.

See Great Artesian Basin for the water source in Australia.

An artesian aquifer is a confined aquifer containing groundwater that will flow upwards through a well without the need for pumping. Water may even spurt out of the ground if the natural pressure is high enough. An aquifer provides the water for an artesian well. An aquifer is a layer of soft rock, like limestone or sandstone, that absorbs water from an inlet path. Porous stone is confined between impermeable rocks or clay. This keeps the pressure high, so when the water finds an outlet, it overcomes gravity and goes up instead of down.

An artesian well.

In recharging aquifers, this happens because the water table at its recharge zone is at a higher elevation than the head of the well.

"Fossil water" aquifers can also be artesian if they are under sufficient pressure from the surrounding rocks. This is similar to how many newly tapped oil wells are pressurized.

Origin

Artesian wells were named after the former province of Artois in France, where many artesian wells were drilled by Carthusian monks since 1126.¹ The technique was also known much earlier in Syria and Egypt,² although whether the monks of Artois learned of it from outside sources or discovered it independently is unknown.

Examples of artesian wells

Australia

• The Great Artesian Basin is the largest and deepest artesian basin in the world, occupying 23% of the continent.

United States

Some towns in the United States were named Artesia after the artesian wells in the vicinity. Other artesian well sites include:

• Pahrump, Nevada
• Fountain Point, Michigan
• Olympia, Washington
• Memphis, Tennessee
• Smoke Hole Caverns, Seneca Rocks, West Virginia
• Evamor, Goodbee, Louisiana
• Black Belt (region of Alabama)
• Potomac, Illinois
• Brown Palace Hotel, Denver, Colorado
• Carmel, Indiana
• La Crosse, Wisconsin
• Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania
• Long Island, New York

Canada

Watershed Park, British Columbia

Italy

• Aquileia, Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Artesian systems in popular culture

As noted above, a number of towns have been named Artesia for their wells.

For many years, Olympia Beer (Tumwater, Washington) was brewed with water obtained from artesian wells. The company's promotions made much of the use of artesian water in the brewing process. However, the advertisements never explained what artesian water was, preferring to claim that the water was controlled by a mythical population of "Artesians".³ Once the brewery was taken over by a larger company, the use of artesian water was discontinued, and so was that advertising campaign.⁴

See also

• Drinking water
• Fluid mechanics
• Great Artesian Basin
• Hydrogeology
• Qanat

• "Artesians" advertisement on Youtube.

Notes

1. ^ Frances Gies and Joseph Gies, Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel subtitled "Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages". Harper Perennial, 1995 ISBN 0-06-016590-1, page 112.
2. ^ For references on ancient uses, see Michel Wuttmann, "The Qanats of 'Ayn-Manâwîr, Kharga Oasis, Egypt", in Jasr 2001, p. 1. and Discoveries in the Western Desert of Egypt
3. ^ Kelley Advertising & Marketing: Olympia Beer: A Good Campaign Accelerates the Death of a Brand . Accessed 2008.11.07.
4. ^ Beer Advocate: Olympia Beer. Accessed 2008.11.07.

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