What are aquifers in Minecraft 1.18 update?

The Minecraft 1.18 update is scheduled to arrive on November 30 and it will completely change the game. New cave and mountain generation along with several new items will be arriving soon. This is the second half of the Caves & Cliffs update (1.17) from earlier in the year and one of the new features being added is the aquifer.

This will be a brand new feature for Minecraft caves and will have functions that haven't been in the game before. For Minecraft players who haven't tried the latest snapshots, pre-releases or beta versions, this is a completely unknown addition. Here's everything they need to know about it.

---

Complete guide to new aquifers in Minecraft 1.18 update

The cave generation in Minecraft is about to receive a complete overhaul. Not only will there be different cave biomes, there will be extensive caves, which are much deeper than normal. Y level 0 will no longer be the bottom of the world. With this new generation, aquifers are going to become a part of the cave systems.

You can find the full Minecraftwiki here.

Lush caves will be a new cave biome arriving in the 1.18 update. Image via Minecraft

Aquifers in Minecraft 1.18 are flooded cave systems that will be used to generate bodies of water in noise caves. Noise caves are a new cave biome with unseen behaviors. Any noise cave from level 31 to 63 will be completely underwater due to the aquifers.

Aquifers will also create underground lakes in certain areas. Magma blocks can spawn at the bottom of aquifers, creating natural bubble columns. These aquifers will have a large amount of ores in them, far exceeding the standard amount. More than one vein of diamonds may spawn in one aquifer, making it a great place to go searching for diamonds.

Check out the Minecraft Beginners Guide here.

This feature is not a part of Minecraft just yet. Only experimental worlds, snapshots and beta versions can have new cave generation, which includes aquifers. These features and a lot more will be available on November 30, when Caves and Cliffs Part 2 officially drops for Minecraft players.