In any region two zones of flow may be distinguished. The UPPER ZONE OF FLOW extends from the ground-water surface downward through the waste mantle and any permeable rocks on which the mantle rests, as far as the first impermeable layer, where the descending movement of the water is stopped. The DEEP ZONES OF FLOW occupy any pervious rocks which may be found below the impervious layer which lies nearest to the surface. The upper zone is a vast sheet of water saturating the soil and rocks and slowly seeping downward through their pores and interstices along the slopes to the valleys, where in part it discharges in springs and often unites also in a wide underflowing stream which supports and feeds the river (Fig. 24). A city in a region of copious rains, built on the narrow flood plain of a river, overlooked by hills, depends for its water supply on driven wells, within the city limits, sunk in the sand a few yards from the edge of the stream. Are these wells fed by water from the river percolating through the sand, or by ground water on its way to the stream and possibly contaminated with the sewage of the town? At what height does underground water stand in the wells of your region? Does it vary with the season? Have you ever known wells to go dry? It may be possible to get data from different wells and to draw a diagram showing the ground-water surface as compared with the surface of the ground. FISSURE SPRINGS AND ARTESIAN WELLS. The DEEPER ZONES OF FLOW lie in pervious strata which are overlain by some impervious stratum. Such layers are often carried by their dip to great depths, and water may circulate in them to far below the level of the surface streams and even of the sea. When a fissure crosses a water- bearing stratum, or AQUIFIER, water is forced upward by the pressure of the weight of the water contained in the higher parts of the stratum, and may reach the surface as a fissure spring. A boring which taps such an aquifer is known as an artesian well, a name derived from a province in France where wells of this kind have been long in use. The rise of the water in artesian wells, and in fissure springs also, depends on the following conditions illustrated in Figure 29. The aquifer dips toward the region of the wells from higher ground, where it outcrops and receives its water. It is inclosed between an impervious layer above and water- tight or water-logged layers beneath. The weight of the column of water thus inclosed in the aquifer causes water to rise in the well, precisely as the weight of the water in a standpipe forces it in connected pipes to the upper stories of buildings. Which will supply the larger region with artesian wells, an aquifer whose dip is steep or one whose dip is gentle? Which of the two aquifers, their thickness being equal, will have the larger outcrop and therefore be able to draw upon the larger amount of water from the rainfall? Illustrate with diagrams.