Question

Which of the following factors affects the percolation of water?
A. Pores in the soil
B. Fertility
C. Amount of dead and decomposed matter
D. Both A and B

Answer 1

Percolation is the movement of water through the soil or it indicates that a liquid flows through a filter slowly. Water is present on the earth's surface and all the soil, dirt, gravel, and stones contained in the field are filtered. Water percolates into the soil and is deposited in an aquifer where the base consists of rock that is impermeable and no water can pass through.

Complete answer: There are namely four factors affecting percolation. Those factors are as follows:
1. Soil: In a mechanism called percolation, where water travels downwards through the tiny gaps between rocks and soil particles, runoff seeps underground. Subsequently, water saturates the underlying rock, just as water fills a sponge's small holes. This helps to replenish under the field aquifers. It is speculated that this phenomenon of percolation is caused by the slow breakdown of aggregate bonds under wet conditions. In comparison, with greater soil water content, percolation rates were higher. For percolation measurements, an interference in the water application decreased the wet values more than the initially dry rates.
2. Moisture content: The quality of water alters their cohesion greatly. Cohesion decreases as the content of water increases. This is because increasing water content contributes to stronger separation (and thus easier slippage) of clay particles and further causes soil cement to soften.
3. Geology: In geology, percolation corresponds to soil and permeable rock filtration of water. To restore the groundwater in the water table and aquifers, the water flows. In areas where large quantities of water are planned to be disposed of by infiltration basins or septic drain fields, a percolation test is required in advance to evaluate whether the intended arrangement is likely to be effective or a failure.
4. Layering of soil: Next, soil layering influences the root-zone surface's internal drainage properties. Layers of fine-textured soil particles (heavy soil) and/or organic matter (sand-based soil) can limit water penetration and percolation due to distortion in the consistency of the medium.
Hence, the correct answer is option A, i.e., Pores in the soil.

Note: Percolation has many applications in nature that can be easily seen two of them are mentioned as follows:
-The only source of groundwater recharge that can be used for irrigation through wells is percolation.
-Plant nutrients are brought down and sometimes out of reach of plant roots in percolating waters (leaching).