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:''See Great Artesian Basin for the water source in Australia.''
An 'artesian aquifer' is a confined aquifer containing groundwater that will flow upwards out of a well without the need for pumping.

Contents

Why is a well 'artesian' ?

Origin

Examples of artesian wells

North America

See also

Notes

Why is a well 'artesian' ?

In recharging aquifers, this happens because the water table at its recharge zone is at a higher elevation than the head of the well.
Pascal's law predicts the theoretical hydrostatic pressure P:
:$P\; =$
ho cdot g cdot (z_mathrm{recharge}-z_mathrm{wellhead})
where $$
ho (''rho'') is the density of the fluid, ''''g'''' the acceleration due to gravity, and ''z'' is the elevation. In practical terms the pressure is expressed as metres water column (''z''_r − ''z''_w).
"Fossil water" aquifers can also be artesian if they are under sufficient pressure from the surrounding rocks. This is similar to how many newly tapped oil wells are pressurized.

Origin

'Artesian wells' were named after the former province of Artois in France, where many artesian wells were drilled by Carthusian monks since 1126.^[1] The technique was also known much earlier in Syria and Egypt^[2], although whether the monks of Artois learned of it from outside sources, or discovered it independently, is unknown.

Examples of artesian wells

North America

A number of towns in the United States were named Artesia on account of the artesian wells in the vicinity. Other sites of artesian wells include:

★ Fountain Point, Michigan

★ Olympia, Washington

★ Memphis, Tennessee (World's largest Artesian Water Well System)

See also

★ Fluid mechanics

★ Great Artesian Basin

★ Hydrogeology

★ Qanat

Notes

1. Frances and Joseph Gies, ''Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel'' subtitled "Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages". Harper Perennial, 1995 ISBN 0-06-016590-1, page 112.
2. For references on ancient uses, see:
Michel Wuttmann, "The Qanats of 'Ayn-Manâwîr, Kharga Oasis, Egypt", in ''Jasr'' 2001, p. 1.

and Discoveries in the Western Desert of Egypt