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82-443: [REDACTED]  This article incorporates public domain material from "Orléans Strait" . Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey .   [REDACTED] 63°50′S 60°20′W  /  63.833°S 60.333°W  / -63.833; -60.333 This Palmer Archipelago location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Davis Coast location article

164-495: A "Concise" subset of the NGNDB that listed "major features", and a "Historical" subset that included the features that no longer exist. There is no differentiation amongst different types of populated places. In the words of the aforementioned 1986 USACE report, "[a] subdivision having one inhabitant is as significant as a major metropolitan center such as New York City ". In comparing GNIS populated place records with data from

246-588: A 1962 replacement of the "Nigger" racial pejorative for African Americans with "Negro" and a 1974 replacement of the "Jap" racial pejorative for Japanese Americans with "Japanese". In 2015, a cross-reference of the GNIS database against the Racial Slur Database had found 1441 racial slur placenames, every state of the United States having them, with California having 159 and the state with

328-694: A 2008 book on ethnic slurs in U.S. placenames Mark Monmonier of Syracuse University discovered "Niger Hill" in Potter County, Pennsylvania , an erroneous transcription of "Nigger Hill" from a 1938 map, and persuaded the USBGN to change it to "Negro Hill". In November 2021, the United States Secretary of the Interior issued an order instructing that "Squaw" be removed from usage by the U.S. federal government. Prior efforts had included

410-456: A caisson vertically below the top of the aquifer and then advancing lateral collectors out of the caisson and beneath the surface water body. Pumping from within the caisson induces infiltration of water from the surface water body into the aquifer, where it is collected by the collector well laterals and conveyed into the caisson where it can be pumped to the ground surface. Two additional broad classes of well types may be distinguished, based on

492-470: A circulation fluid to displace cuttings and cool bits during the drilling. Another form of rotary-style drilling, termed mud rotary , makes use of a specially made mud, or drilling fluid, which is constantly being altered during the drill so that it can consistently create enough hydraulic pressure to hold the side walls of the bore hole open, regardless of the presence of a casing in the well. Typically, boreholes drilled into solid rock are not cased until after

574-435: A confined space, it displaces oxygen, reducing oxygen concentration to a level low enough to pose a threat to humans and other aerobic organisms but still high enough for a risk of spontaneous or externally caused explosion. This potential for explosion is what poses such a danger in regards to the drilling and placement of water wells. Low levels of methane in drinking water are not considered toxic. When methane seeps into

656-993: A depth of 13 metres (43 ft). Other slightly younger wells are known from this site and from neighbouring Parekklisha-Shillourokambos. A first stone lined well of 5.5 metres (18 ft) depth is documented from a drowned final PPN (c. 7000 BC) site at ‘Atlit-Yam off the coast near modern Haifa in Israel . Wood-lined wells are known from the early Neolithic Linear Pottery culture , for example in Ostrov, Czech Republic, dated 5265 BC, Kückhoven (an outlying centre of Erkelenz ), dated 5300 BC, and Eythra in Schletz (an outlying centre of Asparn an der Zaya ) in Austria , dated 5200 BC. The neolithic Chinese discovered and made extensive use of deep drilled groundwater for drinking. The Chinese text The Book of Changes , originally

738-686: A divination text of the Western Zhou dynasty (1046 -771 BC), contains an entry describing how the ancient Chinese maintained their wells and protected their sources of water. A well excavated at the Hemedu excavation site was believed to have been built during the neolithic era. The well was cased by four rows of logs with a square frame attached to them at the top of the well. 60 additional tile wells southwest of Beijing are also believed to have been built around 600 BC for drinking and irrigation. In Egypt , shadoofs and sakias are used. The sakia

820-550: A drilling action. Unlike rotary drilling, cable tool drilling requires the drilling action to be stopped so that the bore hole can be bailed or emptied of drilled cuttings. Cable tool drilling rigs are rare as they tend to be 10x slower to drill through materials compared to similar diameter rotary air or rotary mud equipped rigs. Drilled wells are usually cased with a factory-made pipe, typically steel (in air rotary or cable tool drilling) or plastic / PVC (in mud rotary wells, also present in wells drilled into solid rock). The casing

902-743: A group of synthetic organofluorine chemical compounds that have multiple fluorine atoms attached to an alkyl chain. PFAS are a group of "forever chemicals" that spread very quickly and very far in ground water polluting it permanently. Water wells near certain airports where any form fire fighting or training activities occurred up to 2010 are likely to be contaminated by PFAS. A study concluded that of ~39 million groundwater wells 6-20% are at high risk of running dry if local groundwater levels decline by less than five meters, or – as with many areas and possibly more than half of major aquifers – continue to decline. Springs and wells have had cultural significance since prehistoric times, leading to

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984-450: A hardened drive point and a screen of perforated pipe, after which a pump is installed to collect the water. Deeper wells can be excavated by hand drilling methods or machine drilling, using a bit in a borehole . Drilled wells are usually cased with a factory-made pipe composed of steel or plastic. Drilled wells can access water at much greater depths than dug wells. Two broad classes of well are shallow or unconfined wells completed within

1066-422: A later phase). Generic designations were given after specific names, so (for examples) Mount Saint Helens was recorded as "Saint Helens, Mount", although cities named Mount Olive , not actually being mountains, would not take "Mount" to be a generic part and would retain their order "Mount Olive". The primary geographic coordinates of features which occupy an area, rather than being a single point feature, were

1148-794: A precursor pilot project run over the states of Kansas and Colorado in 1976, and produced 5 databases. It excluded several classes of feature because they were better documented in non-USGS maps, including airports, the broadcasting masts for radio and television stations, civil divisions, regional and historic names, individual buildings, roads, and triangulation station names. The databases were initially available on paper (2 to 3 spiral-bound volumes per state), on microfiche , and on magnetic tape encoded (unless otherwise requested) in EBCDIC with 248-byte fixed-length records in 4960-byte blocks . The feature classes for association with each name included (for examples) "locale" (a "place at which there

1230-430: A pump. The water often comes from an aquifer or groundwater, and can be easily deepened, which may be necessary if the ground water level drops, by telescoping the lining further down into the aquifer. The yield of existing hand dug wells may be improved by deepening or introducing vertical tunnels or perforated pipes. Drawbacks to hand-dug wells are numerous. It can be impractical to hand dig wells in areas where hard rock

1312-433: A screening device, filter pack, slotted casing, or open bore hole is left to allow the flow of water into the well. Constructed screens are typically used in unconsolidated formations (sands, gravels, etc.), allowing water and a percentage of the formation to pass through the screen. Allowing some material to pass through creates a large area filter out of the rest of the formation, as the amount of material present to pass into

1394-412: A second Alaska file) data from the 1:100000 and 1:250000 scale USGS maps. Map names were recorded exactly as on the maps themselves, with the exceptions for diacritics as with the NGNDB. Unlike the NGNDB, locations were the geographic coördinates of the south-east corner of the given map, except for American Samoa and Guam maps where they were of the north-east cornder. The TMNDB was later renamed

1476-406: A segmented steel drilling string, typically made up of 3m (10ft), 6 m (20 ft) to 8m (26ft) sections of steel tubing that are threaded together, with a bit or other drilling device at the bottom end. Some rotary drilling machines are designed to install (by driving or drilling) a steel casing into the well in conjunction with the drilling of the actual bore hole. Air and/or water is used as

1558-420: A variety of tools including electro-seismic surveying, any available information from nearby wells, geologic maps, and sometimes geophysical imaging . These professionals provide advice that is almost as accurate a driller who has experience and knowledge of nearby wells/bores and the most suitable drilling technique based on the expected target depth. Shallow pumping wells can often supply drinking water at

1640-571: A very important source of potable water in some rural developing areas, where they are routinely dug and used today. Their indispensability has produced a number of literary references, literal and figurative, including the reference to the incident of Jesus meeting a woman at Jacob 's well ( John 4:6) in the Bible and the " Ding Dong Bell " nursery rhyme about a cat in a well. Hand-dug wells are excavations with diameters large enough to accommodate one or more people with shovels digging down to below

1722-552: A very low cost. However, impurities from the surface easily reach shallow sources, which leads to a greater risk of contamination for these wells compared to deeper wells. Contaminated wells can lead to the spread of various waterborne diseases . Dug and driven wells are relatively easy to contaminate; for instance, most dug wells are unreliable in the majority of the United States. Some research has found that, in cold regions, changes in river flow and flooding caused by extreme rainfall or snowmelt can degrade well water quality. Most of

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1804-648: A water supply, it is commonly referred to as "methane migration". This can be caused by old natural gas wells near water well systems becoming abandoned and no longer monitored. Lately, however, the described wells/pumps are no longer very efficient and can be replaced by either handpumps or treadle pumps . Another alternative is the use of self-dug wells, electrical deep-well pumps (for higher depths). Appropriate technology organizations as Practical Action are now supplying information on how to build/set-up ( DIY ) handpumps and treadle pumps in practice. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances ( PFAS or PFASs ) are

1886-561: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Geographic Names Information System The Geographic Names Information System ( GNIS ) is a database of name and location information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories; the associated states of the Marshall Islands , Federated States of Micronesia , and Palau ; and Antarctica . It

1968-693: Is a common problem with groundwater. Nitrates from sewage , sewage sludge or fertilizer are a particular problem for babies and young children. Pollutant chemicals include pesticides and volatile organic compounds from gasoline , dry-cleaning , the fuel additive methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), and perchlorate from rocket fuel, airbag inflators, and other artificial and natural sources. Several minerals are also contaminants, including lead leached from brass fittings or old lead pipes, chromium VI from electroplating and other sources, naturally occurring arsenic , radon , and uranium —all of which can cause cancer—and naturally occurring fluoride , which

2050-557: Is a type of gazetteer . It was developed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) to promote the standardization of feature names. Data were collected in two phases. Although a third phase was considered, which would have handled name changes where local usages differed from maps, it was never begun. The database

2132-399: Is caused when the water table of the soil drops over time and salt begins to accumulate. In turn, the increased amount of salt begins to dry the soil out. The increased level of salt in the soil can result in the degradation of soil and can be very harmful to vegetation. Methane , an asphyxiant, is a chemical compound that is the main component of natural gas. When methane is introduced into

2214-437: Is constructed by welding, either chemically or thermally, segments of casing together. If the casing is installed during the drilling, most drills will drive the casing into the ground as the bore hole advances, while some newer machines will actually allow for the casing to be rotated and drilled into the formation in a similar manner as the bit advancing just below. PVC or plastic is typically solvent welded and then lowered into

2296-455: Is desirable in low quantities to prevent tooth decay , but can cause dental fluorosis in higher concentrations. Some chemicals are commonly present in water wells at levels that are not toxic, but can cause other problems. Calcium and magnesium cause what is known as hard water , which can precipitate and clog pipes or burn out water heaters. Iron and manganese can appear as dark flecks that stain clothing and plumbing, and can promote

2378-473: Is drilled to a predetermined depth or to a confining formation (clay or bedrock, for example), and then a smaller hole for the well is completed from that point forward. The well is typically cased from the surface down into the smaller hole with a casing that is the same diameter as that hole. The annular space between the large bore hole and the smaller casing is filled with bentonite clay , concrete, or other sealant material. This creates an impermeable seal from

2460-671: Is much more efficient, as it can bring up water from a depth of 10 metres (versus the 3 metres of the shadoof). The sakia is the Egyptian version of the noria . Some of the world's oldest known wells, located in Cyprus, date to 7000–8,500 BC. Two wells from the Neolithic period, around 6500 BC, have been discovered in Israel. One is in Atlit, on the northern coast of Israel, and the other is in

2542-443: Is or was human activity" not covered by a more specific feature class), "populated place" (a "place or area with clustered or scattered buildings"), "spring" (a spring ), "lava" (a lava flow , kepula , or other such feature), and "well" (a well ). Mountain features would fall into "ridge", "range", or "summit" classes. A feature class "tank" was sometimes used for lakes, which was problematic in several ways. This feature class

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2624-459: Is part of a system that includes topographic map names and bibliographic references. The names of books and historic maps that confirm the feature or place name are cited. Variant names, alternatives to official federal names for a feature, are also recorded. Each feature receives a permanent, unique feature record identifier, sometimes called the GNIS identifier. The database never removes an entry, "except in cases of obvious duplication." The GNIS

2706-600: Is present, and they can be time-consuming to dig and line even in favourable areas. Because they exploit shallow aquifers, the well may be susceptible to yield fluctuations and possible contamination from surface water, including sewage. Hand dug well construction generally requires the use of a well trained construction team, and the capital investment for equipment such as concrete ring moulds, heavy lifting equipment, well shaft formwork, motorized de-watering pumps, and fuel can be large for people in developing countries. Construction of hand dug wells can be dangerous due to collapse of

2788-477: Is simply hammered into the ground, usually with a tripod and driver , with pipe sections added as needed. A driver is a weighted pipe that slides over the pipe being driven and is repeatedly dropped on it. When groundwater is encountered, the well is washed of sediment and a pump installed. Drilled wells are constructed using various types of drilling machines, such as top-head rotary, table rotary, or cable tool, which all use drilling stems that rotate to cut into

2870-432: Is still the case in rural areas of the developing world. These wells are inexpensive and low-tech as they use mostly manual labour, and the structure can be lined with brick or stone as the excavation proceeds. A more modern method called caissoning uses pre-cast reinforced concrete well rings that are lowered into the hole. Driven wells can be created in unconsolidated material with a well hole structure, which consists of

2952-576: The Cairo Citadel at 280 feet (85 m) deep and the Pozzo di San Patrizio (St. Patrick's Well) built in 1527 in Orvieto, Italy , at 61 metres (200 ft) deep by 13 metres (43 ft) wide are both larger by volume. Driven wells may be very simply created in unconsolidated material with a well hole structure , which consists of a hardened drive point and a screen (perforated pipe). The point

3034-561: The Geographic Cell Names database (GCNDB hereafter) in the 1990s. The Generic database was in essence a machine-readable glossary of terms and abbreviations taken from the map sources, with their definitions, grouped into collections of related terms. The National Atlas database was an abridged version of the NGNDB that contained only those entries that were in the index to the USGS National Atlas of

3116-714: The Thematic Mapper of the Landsat program , researchers from the University of Connecticut in 2001 discovered that "a significant number" of populated places in Connecticut had no identifiable human settlement in the land use data and were at road intersections. They found that such populated places with no actual settlement often had "Corner" in their names, and hypothesized that either these were historical records or were "cartographic locators". In surveying in

3198-508: The bacteria , viruses , parasites , and fungi that contaminate well water comes from fecal material from humans and other animals. Common bacterial contaminants include E. coli , Salmonella , Shigella , and Campylobacter jejuni . Common viral contaminants include norovirus , sapovirus , rotavirus , enteroviruses , and hepatitis A and E . Parasites include Giardia lamblia , Cryptosporidium , Cyclospora cayetanensis , and microsporidia . Chemical contamination

3280-710: The filtration of the contaminants of concern, and additional protection may be garnered by installing well-casing screens only at depths where contamination is not present. Wellwater for personal use is often filtered with reverse osmosis water processors; this process can remove very small particles. A simple, effective way of killing microorganisms is to bring the water to a full boil for one to three minutes, depending on location. A household well contaminated by microorganisms can initially be treated by shock chlorination using bleach, generating concentrations hundreds of times greater than found in community water systems; however, this will not fix any structural problems that led to

3362-444: The water table . The excavation is braced horizontally to avoid landslide or erosion endangering the people digging. They can be lined with stone or brick; extending this lining upwards above the ground surface to form a wall around the well serves to reduce both contamination and accidental falls into the well. A more modern method called caissoning uses reinforced concrete or plain concrete pre-cast well rings that are lowered into

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3444-548: The 1990s (still including tape and paper) to floppy disc , over FTP , and on CD-ROM . The CD-ROM edition only included the NGNDB, the AGNDB, the GCNDB, and a bibliographic reference database (RDB); but came with database search software that ran on PC DOS (or compatible) version 3.0 or later. The FTP site included extra topical databases: a subset of the NGNDB that only included the records with feature classes for populated places,

3526-572: The GNIS web site and can review the justifications and supporters of the proposals. The usual sources of name change requests are an individual state's board on geographic names, or a county board of governors. This does not always succeed, the State Library of Montana having submitted three large sets of name changes that have not been incorporated into the GNIS database. Conversely, a group of middle school students in Alaska succeeded, with

3608-728: The Jezreel Valley. Wells for other purposes came along much later, historically. The first recorded salt well was dug in the Sichuan province of China around 2,250 years ago. This was the first time that ancient water well technology was applied successfully for the exploitation of salt, and marked the beginning of Sichuan's salt drilling industry. The earliest known oil wells were also drilled in China, in 347 CE. These wells had depths of up to about 240 metres (790 ft) and were drilled using bits attached to bamboo poles. The oil

3690-466: The United States , with the coördinates published in the latter substituted for the coördinates from the former. The Board on Geographic Names database was a record of investigative work of the USGS Board on Geographic Names ' Domestic Names Committee, and decisions that it had made from 1890 onwards, as well as names that were enshrined by Acts of Congress . Elevation and location data followed

3772-905: The United States, a "Corner" is a corner of the surveyed polygon enclosing an area of land, whose location is, or was (since corners can become "lost" or "obliterated" ), marked in various ways including with trees known as "bearing trees" ("witness trees" in older terminology ) or "corner monuments". From analysing Native American names in the database in order to compile a dictionary, professor William Bright of UCLA observed in 2004 that some GNIS entries are "erroneous; or refer to long-vanished railroad sidings where no one ever lived". Such false classifications have propagated to other geographical information sources, such as incorrectly classified train stations appearing as towns or neighborhoods on Google Maps. The GNIS accepts proposals for new or changed names for U.S. geographical features through The National Map Corps . The general public can make proposals at

3854-489: The aquifer through the well. Wells were first constructed at least eight thousand years ago and historically vary in construction from a sediment of a dry watercourse to the qanats of Iran, and the stepwells and sakiehs of India. Placing a lining in the well shaft helps create stability, and linings of wood or wickerwork date back at least as far as the Iron Age . Wells have traditionally been sunk by hand digging, as

3936-461: The casing during construction and filling the casing annulus with an appropriate sealing material. The sealing material (grout) should be placed from immediately above the production zone back to surface, because, in the absence of a correctly constructed casing seal, contaminated fluid can travel into the well through the casing annulus. Centering devices are important (usually one per length of casing or at maximum intervals of 9 m) to ensure that

4018-483: The contamination and generally requires some expertise and testing for effective application. After the filtration process, it is common to implement an ultraviolet (UV) system to kill pathogens in the water. UV light affects the DNA of the pathogen by UV-C photons breaking through the cell wall. UV disinfection has been gaining popularity in the past decades as it is a chemical-free method of water treatment. A risk with

4100-426: The coordinates were taken to be those of a primary civic feature such as the city hall or town hall , main public library , main highway intersection, main post office, or central business district regardless of changes over time; these coordinates are called the "primary point". Secondary coordinates were only an aid to locating which topographic map(s) the feature extended across, and were "simply anywhere on

4182-522: The design and installation of private and municipal septic systems take all these factors into account so that nearby drinking water sources are protected. Education of the general population in society also plays an important role in protecting drinking water. Cleanup of contaminated groundwater tends to be very costly. Effective remediation of groundwater is generally very difficult. Contamination of groundwater from surface and subsurface sources can usually be dramatically reduced by correctly centering

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4264-424: The drilled well, vertically stacked with their ends nested and either glued or splined together. The sections of casing are usually 6 metres (20 ft) or more in length, and 4 to 12 in (10 to 30 cm) in diameter, depending on the intended use of the well and local groundwater conditions. Surface contamination of wells in the United States is typically controlled by the use of a surface seal . A large hole

4346-434: The drilling process is completed, regardless of the machinery used. The oldest form of drilling machinery is the cable tool , still used today. Specifically designed to raise and lower a bit into the bore hole, the spudding of the drill causes the bit to be raised and dropped onto the bottom of the hole, and the design of the cable causes the bit to twist at approximately 1 ⁄ 4 revolution per drop, thereby creating

4428-424: The entire United States and that were abridged versions of the data in the other 57: one for the 50,000 most well known populated places and features, and one for most of the populated places. The files were compiled from all of the names to be found on USGS topographic maps, plus data from various state map sources. In phase 1, elevations were recorded in feet only, with no conversion to metric, and only if there

4510-423: The feature and on the topographic map with which it is associated". River sources were determined by the shortest drain, subject to the proximities of other features that were clearly related to the river by their names. The USGS Topographic Map Names database (TMNDB hereafter) was also 57 computer files containing the names of maps: 56 for 1:24000 scale USGS maps as with the NGNDB, the 57th being (rather than

4592-513: The formation, thus the term "drilling." Drilled wells can be excavated by simple hand drilling methods (augering, sludging, jetting, driving, hand percussion) or machine drilling (auger, rotary, percussion, down the hole hammer). Deep rock rotary drilling method is most common. Rotary can be used in 90% of formation types (consolidated). Drilled wells can get water from a much deeper level than dug wells can − often down to several hundred metres. Drilled wells with electric pumps are used throughout

4674-427: The grouted annular space is of even thickness. Upon the construction of a new test well, it is considered best practice to invest in a complete battery of chemical and biological tests on the well water in question. Point-of-use treatment is available for individual properties and treatment plants are often constructed for municipal water supplies that suffer from contamination. Most of these treatment methods involve

4756-694: The growth of iron and manganese bacteria that can form slimy black colonies that clog pipes. The quality of the well water can be significantly increased by lining the well, sealing the well head, fitting a self-priming hand pump, constructing an apron, ensuring the area is kept clean and free from stagnant water and animals, moving sources of contamination ( pit latrines , garbage pits, on-site sewer systems ) and carrying out hygiene education. The well should be cleaned with 1% chlorine solution after construction and periodically every 6 months. Well holes should be covered to prevent loose debris, animals, animal excrement, and wind-blown foreign matter from falling into

4838-585: The help of their teachers, a professor of linguistics, and a man who had been conducting a years-long project to collect Native American placenames in the area, in changing the names of several places that they had spotted in class one day and challenged for being racist, including renaming "Negrohead Creek" to an Athabascan name Lochenyatth Creek and "Negrohead Mountain" to Tl'oo Khanishyah Mountain, both of which translate to "grassy tussocks" in Lower Tanana and Gwichʼin respectively. Likewise, in researching

4920-416: The hole and decomposing. The cover should be able to be in place at all times, including when drawing water from the well. A suspended roof over an open hole helps to some degree, but ideally the cover should be tight fitting and fully enclosing, with only a screened air vent. Minimum distances and soil percolation requirements between sewage disposal sites and water wells need to be observed. Rules regarding

5002-635: The hole. A well-digging team digs under a cutting ring and the well column slowly sinks into the aquifer , whilst protecting the team from collapse of the well bore . Hand-dug wells are inexpensive and low tech (compared to drilling) and they use mostly manual labour to access groundwater in rural locations of developing countries. They may be built with a high degree of community participation, or by local entrepreneurs who specialize in hand-dug wells. They have been successfully excavated to 60 metres (200 ft). They have low operational and maintenance costs, in part because water can be extracted by hand, without

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5084-425: The location of the feature's mouth, or of the approximate center of the area of the feature. Such approximate centers were "eye-balled" estimates by the people performing the digitization, subject to the constraint that centers of areal features were not placed within other features that are inside them. alluvial fans and river deltas counted as mouths for this purpose. For cities and other large populated places,

5166-717: The most such names being Arizona. One of the two standard reference works for placenames in Arizona is Byrd Howell Granger's 1983 book Arizona's Names: X Marks the Place , which contains many additional names with racial slurs not in the GNIS database. Despite "Nigger" having been removed from federal government use by Stewart Udall , its replacement "Negro" still remained in GNIS names in 2015, as did " Pickaninny ", " Uncle Tom ", and " Jim Crow " and 33 places named "Niggerhead". There were 828 names containing "squaw", including 11 variations on "Squaw Tit" and "Squaw Teat", contrasting with

5248-406: The placement of water wells is soil salination which occurs when the water table of the soil begins to drop and salt begins to accumulate as the soil begins to dry out. Another environmental problem that is very prevalent in water well drilling is the potential for methane to seep through. The potential for soil salination is a large risk when choosing the placement of water wells. Soil salination

5330-604: The point where a dam is thought to be". The National Geographic Names database (NGNDB hereafter) was originally 57 computer files, one for each state and territory of the United States (except Alaska which got two) plus one for the District of Columbia. The second Alaska file was an earlier database, the Dictionary of Alaska Place Names that had been compiled by the USGS in 1967. A further two files were later added, covering

5412-412: The same rules as for the NGNDB. So too did names with diacritic characters. Phase 2 was broader in scope than phase 1, extending the scope to a much larger set of data sources. It ran from the end of phase 1 and had managed to completely process data from 42 states by 2003, with 4 still underway and the remaining 4 (Alaska, Kentucky, Michigan, and New York) awaiting the initial systematic compilation of

5494-478: The screen and the borehole or casing. This allows the water to be filtered of unwanted materials before entering the well and pumping zone. There are two broad classes of drilled-well types, based on the type of aquifer the well is in: A special type of water well may be constructed adjacent to freshwater lakes or streams. Commonly called a collector well but sometimes referred to by the trade name Ranney well or Ranney collector , this type of well involves sinking

5576-455: The sources to use. Many more feature classes were included, including abandoned Native American settlements, ghost towns , railway stations on railway lines that no longer existed, housing developments , shopping centers , and highway rest areas . The actual compilation was outsourced by the U.S. government, state by state, to private entities such as university researchers. The Antarctica Geographic Names database (AGNDB hereafter)

5658-431: The surface can easily reach shallow sources and contamination of the supply by pathogens or chemical contaminants needs to be avoided. Well water typically contains more minerals in solution than surface water and may require treatment before being potable. Soil salination can occur as the water table falls and the surrounding soil begins to dry out. Another environmental problem is the potential for methane to seep into

5740-413: The surface to the next confining layer that keeps contaminants from traveling down the outer sidewalls of the casing or borehole and into the aquifer . In addition, wells are typically capped with either an engineered well cap or seal that vents air through a screen into the well, but keeps insects, small animals, and unauthorized persons from accessing the well. At the bottom of wells, based on formation,

5822-407: The uppermost saturated aquifer at that location, and deep or confined wells, sunk through an impermeable stratum into an aquifer beneath. A collector well can be constructed adjacent to a freshwater lake or stream with water percolating through the intervening material. The site of a well can be selected by a hydrogeologist , or groundwater surveyor. Water may be pumped or hand drawn. Impurities from

5904-518: The use of "Nipple" in names with non- Native American allusions such as "Susies Nipple". Well A well is an excavation or structure created on the earth by digging , driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water . The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers . The well water is drawn up by a pump , or using containers, such as buckets that are raised mechanically or by hand. Water can also be injected back into

5986-418: The use of the well: A water well constructed for pumping groundwater can be used passively as a monitoring well and a small diameter well can be pumped, but this distinction by use is common. Before excavation, information about the geology, water table depth, seasonal fluctuations, recharge area and rate should be found if possible. This work can be done by a hydrogeologist , or a groundwater surveyor using

6068-490: The water. Very early Neolithic wells are known from the Eastern Mediterranean . The oldest reliably dated well is from the pre-pottery neolithic (PPN) site of Kissonerga-Mylouthkia on Cyprus . At around 8400 BC a shaft (well 116) of circular diameter was driven through limestone to reach an aquifer at a depth of 8 metres (26 ft). Well 2070 from Kissonerga-Mylouthkia, dating to the late PPN, reaches

6150-515: The well bore, falling objects and asphyxiation, including from dewatering pump exhaust fumes. The Woodingdean Water Well , hand-dug between 1858 and 1862, is the deepest hand-dug well at 392 metres (1,285 ft). The Big Well in Greensburg, Kansas , is billed as the world's largest hand-dug well, at 109 feet (33 m) deep and 32 feet (9.8 m) in diameter. However, the Well of Joseph in

6232-400: The well slowly decreases and is removed from the well. Rock wells are typically cased with a PVC liner/casing and screen or slotted casing at the bottom, this is mostly present just to keep rocks from entering the pump assembly. Some wells utilize a filter pack method, where an undersized screen or slotted casing is placed inside the well and a filter medium is packed around the screen, between

6314-402: The world, typically in rural or sparsely populated areas, though many urban areas are supplied partly by municipal wells. Most shallow well drilling machines are mounted on large trucks, trailers, or tracked vehicle carriages. Water wells typically range from 3 to 18 metres (10–60 ft) deep, but in some areas it can go deeper than 900 metres (3,000 ft). Rotary drilling machines use

6396-757: Was added in the 1990s and comprised records for BGN-approved names in Antarctica and various off-lying islands such as the South Orkney Islands , the South Shetland Islands , the Balleny Islands , Heard Island , South Georgia , and the South Sandwich Islands . It only contained records for natural features, not for scientific outposts. The media on which one could obtain the databases were extended in

6478-449: Was an actual elevation recorded for the map feature. They were of either the lowest or highest point of the feature, as appropriate. Interpolated elevations, calculated by interpolation between contour lines , were added in phase 2. Names were the official name, except where the name contained diacritic characters that the computer file encodings of the time could not handle (which were in phase 1 marked with an asterisk for update in

6560-521: Was burned to evaporate brine and produce salt . By the 10th century, extensive bamboo pipelines connected oil wells with salt springs. The ancient records of China and Japan are said to contain many allusions to the use of natural gas for lighting and heating. Petroleum was known as Burning water in Japan in the 7th century. Until recent centuries, all artificial wells were pumpless hand-dug wells of varying degrees of sophistication, and they remain

6642-442: Was originally designed for four major purposes: to eliminate duplication of effort at various other levels of government that were already compiling geographic data, to provide standardized datasets of geographic data for the government and others, to index all of the names found on official U.S. government federal and state maps, and to ensure uniform geographic names for the federal government. Phase 1 lasted from 1978 to 1981, with

6724-568: Was undocumented, and it was (in the words of a 1986 report from the Engineer Topographic Laboratories of the United States Army Corps of Engineers ) "an unreasonable determination", with the likes of Cayuga Lake being labelled a "tank". The USACE report assumed that "tank" meant "reservoir", and observed that often the coordinates of "tanks" were outside of their boundaries and were "possibly at

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