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<br /> <br />To present the concepts and many facets of <br />the interaction of ground water and surface water <br />in a unified way, a conceptual landscape is used <br />(Figure 2), The conceptual landscape shows in a <br />very general and simplified way the interaction of <br />ground water with all types of surface water, sucli <br />as streams, lakes, and wetlands, in many different <br />terrains from the mountains to the oceans, The <br />intent of Figure 2 is to emphasize that ground <br />water and surface water interact at many places <br />throughout the landscape, <br /> <br />Movement of water in the atmosphere <br />and on the land surface is relatively easy to visu- <br />alize, but the movement of ground water is not. <br />Concepts related to ground water and the move- <br />ment of ground water are introduced in Box A. <br />As illustrated in Figure 3, ground water moves <br />along flow paths of varying lengths from areas <br />of recharge to areas of discharge, The generalized <br />flow paths in Figure 3 start at the water table, <br />continue through the ground-water system, and <br />terminate at the stream or at the pumped well. The <br />source of water to the water table (ground-water <br />recharge) is infiltration of precipitation through <br />the unsaturated zone, In the uppermost, uncon- <br />fined aquifer, flow paths near the stream can be <br />, tens to hundreds of feet in length and have corre- <br />sponding travel times of days to a few years, The <br />longest and deepest flow paths in Figure 3 may <br />be thousands of feet to tens of miles in length, <br />and travel times may range from decades to <br />millennia, In general, shallow ground water is <br />more susceptible to contamination from human <br />sources and activities because of its close prox- <br />imity to the land surface, Therefore, shallow, local <br />patterns of ground-water flow near surface water <br />are emphasized in this Circular, <br /> <br /> <br />Haze over Appalachian Mountains in North <br />Carolina. (Photograph courtesy of North <br />Carolina Department of Travel and Tourism.) <br /> <br />"Ground water moves along <br />flow paths of valying lengths in <br />transmitting water from areas <br />of recharge to areas of discharge" <br /> <br />3 <br />