Mud Slide!

I was just reading Dan's ode to May post and thought I'd share a scene from my garden. That big muddy mess used to be a lawn and my back yard. Now it's just a big muddy mess. Muddy Muddy Muddy mess!

I have springs (Spring - Area where there is a concentrated discharge of ground water that flows at the ground surface) in my yard bringing lots of cold clean water which (mostly) have been a real blessing in the desert I call home. We use the water to create a koi pond, a bog garden and as irrigation to keep our collection of palms, orchid, etc. etc. etc. alive through the heat of summer. The water is great until it goes where it isn't welcome. Read: under the foundation of the house. I started the project as a means to an end, but have found two new springs and lots of new water. (See the black pipe? That's full of water.)

I've learned a lot about hydrological impacts on soil living in this yard. For example:

A spring is a water resource formed when the side of a hill, a valley bottom or other excavation intersects a flowing body of ground water at or below the local water table, below which the subsurface material is saturated with water. A spring is the result of an aquifer being filled to the point that the water overflows onto the land surface. They range in size from intermittent seeps, which flow only after much rain, to huge pools flowing hundreds of millions of gallons daily.

Springs may be formed in any sort of rock. Small ones are found in many places. When weak carbonic acid (formed by rainwater percolating through organic matter in the soil) enters fractures it dissolves bedrock. When it reaches a horizontal crack or a layer of non-dissolving rock such as sandstone or shale, it begins to cut sideways, forming an underground stream. As the process continues, the water hollows out more rock, eventually admitting an airspace, at which point the spring stream can be considered a cave. This process is supposed to take tens to hundreds of thousands of years to complete.

The most interesting thing about this research is where it's coming from. Where you ask? The dry arid west? No, the not so soggy south. GA to be specific. Our water "problem" has more in common with the drought the GA Wards are experiencing.

After the excess water leaves my yard, and there is plenty of it, it enters our storm drain headed straight for the Great Salt Lake to evaporate. If only there was a pipe from my backyard to Dan and Crystal's. There would be more than enough to share for all of us!