Fissure springs and artesian wells.  The deeper zones of flow lie in pervious strata which are overlain by some impervious stratum.  Such layers are often carried by their dip to great depths, and water may circulate in them to far below the level of the surface streams and even of the sea.  When a fissure crosses a water-bearing stratum, or AQUIFIER, water is forced upward by the pressure of the weight of the water contained in the higher parts of the stratum, and may reach the surface as a fissure spring.  A boring which taps such an aquifer is known as an artesian well, a name derived from a province in France where wells of this kind have been long in use.  The rise of the water in artesian wells, and in fissure springs also, depends on the following conditions illustrated in Figure 29.  The aquifer dips toward the region of the wells from higher ground, where it outcrops and receives its water.  It is inclosed between an impervious layer above and water-tight or water-logged layers beneath.  The weight of the column of water thus inclosed in the aquifer causes water to rise in the well, precisely as the weight of the water in a standpipe forces it in connected pipes to the upper stories of buildings.

Which will supply the larger region with artesian wells, an aquifer whose dip is steep or one whose dip is gentle?  Which of the two aquifers, their thickness being equal, will have the larger outcrop and therefore be able to draw upon the larger amount of water from the rainfall?  Illustrate with diagrams.

The zone of solution.  Near the surface, where the circulation of ground water is most active, it oxidizes, corrodes, and dissolves the rocks through which it passes.  It leaches soils and subsoils of their lime and other soluble minerals upon which plants depend for their food.  It takes away the soluble cements of rocks; it widens fissures and joints and opens winding passages along the bedding planes; it may even remove whole beds of soluble rocks, such as rock salt, limestone, or gypsum.  The work of ground water in producing landslides has already been noticed.  The zone in which the work of ground water is thus for the most part destructive we may call the zone of solution.

Caves.  In massive limestone rocks, ground water dissolves channels which sometimes form large caves (Fig. 30).  The necessary conditions for the excavation of caves of great size are well shown in central Kentucky, where an upland is built throughout of thick horizontal beds of limestone.  The absence of layers of insoluble or impervious rock in its structure allows a free circulation of ground water within it by the way of all natural openings in the rock.  These water ways have been gradually enlarged by solution and wear until the upland is honeycombed with caves.  Five hundred open caverns are known in one county.