The Gotjawal Forest
The Gotjawal Forest covers approximately 86 square miles
of Jeju Island. It has a direct water source to the residents who live on Jeju Island. The "Gotjawal" refers to a forest mixed with trees and bushes. The Gotjawal forest also includes a pahoehoe lava. The term "Gotjawal Lava" is used instead of "A a" and can be useful in land and groundwater managment. Most people insist that the meaning should not be restricted to the geological features. It's important to protect Gotjawal because of the island's groundwater.
Saturated surface of the rainforest
 Groundwater Aquifer
The forest accumulates water through the diffusion of rainwater into the groundwater aquifer. Rain water penetrates directly into the groundwater through cracks in the region's earth. There are cracks in the basalt lava underneath the forest which takes in water and are stored in the layers underneath the forests surface. The saturated zone or the phreatic zone stores only water and is also stored in the sediment beneath the aeration zone (vedos zone) layer. This layer is made up of both water and air directly underneath the Earth’s surface.
Drawdown Pump
The process of the drawdown pump is to take water out of the aquifers from the wells and pumping of the water. This is only used when refilling the aquifer from rainfalls and the aquifer would be in a dynamic equilibruim from which water is taken out. If the island does not have a good amount of rainfall throughout the year, the residents on Jeju would suffer from the consequences the drawdown will have if it has not been recharged from the aquifer.
|
 Typical scene of Gotjawal Forest
Sources:
|
