aquifer

noun

aqui·​fer ˈa-kwə-fər 

ˈä-

: a water-bearing stratum of permeable rock, sand, or gravel

aquiferous

a-ˈkwi-fə-rəs 

ä-

adjective

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Aquifer and Agriculture

The vast but relatively shallow Ogallala Aquifer lies beneath the Great Plains, under portions of eight states. Its thickness ranges from a few feet to more than a thousand feet. The Ogallala yields about 30 percent of the nation's groundwater used for irrigation in agriculture, and provides drinking water for most of the people within the area. But for many years more water has been extracted from the Ogallala than has been returned, and the situation today is of great concern.

Examples of aquifer in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This water could later be drawn out of the subsurface basin or released through the barrier to follow its natural course and replenish downstream rivers and aquifers. — Idaho Statesman, 15 Aug. 2026

According to the company, Oryx Desert Salt is naturally harvested from a mineral-containing underground aquifer located roughly 155 miles north of Upington, South Africa, which is estimated to hold 55 million tonnes of brine. — Connie Etemadi, USA Today, 14 Aug. 2026

Hot spring waters are touted for carrying healing and regenerative qualities, and the hotel advertises 100% natural and non-chlorinated water, flowing from aquifers in the earth and into the property’s pools. — Madeleine Kashkooli, San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 Aug. 2026

President Sheinbaum’s prerequisite about a system to monitor aquifer integrity may find learnings in an extensive surveillance of producing wells and water wells in coalbed methane plays in Australia, which has been documented. — Ian Dexter Palmer, Forbes.com, 11 Aug. 2026

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French aquifère "water-bearing," from aqui- (from Latin aqua "water" + -i- -i-) + -fère "bearing" — more at aqua, -fer

Note: The term was introduced into English by the geologist William Harmon Norton (1856-1944) in "Artesian Wells of Iowa," Iowa Geological Survey, vol. 6, Report on Lead, Zinc, Artesian Wells, etc. (Des Moines, 1897), p. 130: "The sand represents the permeable water-bearing layer, the aquifer, to revive a term of Arago's, and its outcrop between the basin rims the area of supply." "Arago" is the French physicist François Arago (1786-1853), whose essay "Sur les puits forés, connus sous le nom de puits artésiens, des fontaines artésiennes, ou de fontaines jaillissants" (Bureau des Longitudes, Annuaire pour l'an 1835 [Paris, 1834], pp. 181-258), is cited earlier in Norton's paper. As noted by Alfred Clebsch ("Analysis and Critique of 'Aquifers, Ground-Water Bodies, and Hydrophers' by C. V. Theis," Selected Contributions to Ground-Water Hydrology by C. V. Theis, and a Review of His Life and Work [U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 2415] [Denver, 1994], pp. 39-43), Norton is not strictly speaking "reviving" anything used by Arago, who only uses aquifère as an adjective in the collocations nappe aquifère and couche aquifère (both meaning approximately "water-bearing layer"). Note that in an English translation of Arago's article ("On Springs, Artesian Wells, and Spouting Fountains," Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, vol. 18, no. 36 [April, 1835]) there is no direct equivalent of aquifère, as couches aquifères is rendered by "water bearing beds" and nappe aquifère as simply "water."

First Known Use

1897, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

aquifer

noun

aqui·​fer ˈak-wə-fər 

ˈäk-

: a water-bearing layer of rock, sand, or gravel capable of absorbing water

aquiferous

a-ˈkwif-ə-rəs 

ä-

adjective