ABSTRACT
Ground water is derived from many sources but most comes from rainfall and melting snow. Infiltration most readily occurs through open fractures such as joints in exposed rock and the gaping cracks that may develop in zones of tensile strain flanking areas of mining subsidence an around landslides. Infiltration ceases once the voids within the ground are full of water, thus if the rate at which water is supplied to the surface exceeds the rate at which it can percolate the volume that can infiltrate will gradually diminish. Percolating water may eventually arrive at a depth where all the voids are full of water. A hole drilled to just below this level would not encounter a water-level though its sides would be moist. The ability of water to react with the ground depends upon its power to supply or receive protons and supply or receive electrons.
