Date : 25-Apr-93 10:42
   From : Hector Plasmic
     To : Rev Ronnie
Subject : Water in the ground

Here's some facts for you to "IS NOT!" at, Ronnie:

"Most ground water is derived from rain and snow and other forms of
precipitiation.  There are several other sources, it is true.  At the
time when sediments were laid down on ocean or lake bottoms, water
filled the spaces between the grains of material such as sand and silt. 
The deposits were transformed into sedimentary rocks in the course of
the ages.  Water was trapped in these rock formations and some of it
still remains there.  Ground water may originate, too, from the steam
rising from magmas -- molten rock materials -- deep within the earth. 
But the water trapped in rock formations and that derived from magmas
make up a very small part of the total quantity of ground water."
...
"The character of the rock formations will determine how deeply surface
water will penetrate into the ground.  This represents the bottom limit
of the zone of saturation.  In some places it is several hundred feet
below the surface; in other places, several thousand feet.  At a depth
of several miles the pressure of the overlying rocks is so great that
there are no open spaces in the rocks.  Therefore, their porosity and
permability are nil."

    --The Book of Popular Science, vol. 8, pgs. 322 and 324