How does passing through clay beds affect groundwater?

Clay beds have great impact on the ground water flow. The clay particles are fine grained and they have a relatively high surface area, in comparison to the sand particles. As a result of which they have the ability to hold water in them. This property is known as the porosity. But clay beds have low permeability as a result of which the water is not allowed to pass through the medium.

Porosity is defined as the amount of pore spaces present in a material. This porosity and the grain size of the particles are inversely proportional to each other. This means that a finer particles has high porosity.

Permeability is defined as the property of a material that allows the water to pass through them and mixes with the groundwater.

Due to the high porosity and low permeability of clay beds, it traps the water in its void spaces and transmits at a very slower rate, thereby affecting the groundwater flow.