This is an important point, and true insofar as it goes (because the discussion you quote is about clay). But not all aquifers are clay. The ones that are comp

This is an important point, and true insofar as it goes (because the discussion you quote is about clay). But not all aquifers are clay. The ones that are composed of coarser material are more stable. Like a lot of Earth science, it's complicated. But, yes, once clay has compacted, it's not reversible and that natural storage space has been lost.