Which analogy helps illustrate the concept of the cone of depression?

The milkshake analogy effectively illustrates the concept of the cone of depression by depicting how water is drawn from an aquifer when a well is pumped. When you use a straw to suck up a milkshake, the liquid near the straw is pulled down, creating a depression in the surface of the milkshake. This depression represents how the water level in the aquifer drops around the well as water is extracted.

As pumping continues, the cone-shaped area of lowered water level expands outward from the well, similar to how the area around the straw gets a decrease in liquid level. This visual helps in understanding the hydraulic gradient and the relationship between the well and the surrounding groundwater levels, demonstrating how excessive water extraction can lead to a significant drop in available groundwater. The other options do not easily convey this specific interaction of water movement and well pumping dynamics.