Science Questions

How do you find water underground? Yaldas

We asked our guest Richard Davies

All rocks, all sedimentary rocks contain water. What we’re really looking for is rocks that have porosity and permeability. So you can look at outcrops to find out which are the right suitable rock types and you can drill holes and hopefully intersect those rock types. All sediments contain water and it’s actually when they’re buried that you’re actually squeezing the water out very slowly. It’s really a matter of looking for the suitable rock types. For example, chalk beneath London is a suitable aquifer. It has been historically, anyway.

June 2008