Ch. 11 Key Terms

Question 1

surface water

Answer 1

fresh water on earth’s land surface

Question 2

river system

Answer 2

as streams and rivers move across the land they form a flowing network of water called this

Question 3

watershed

Answer 3

area of land that is drained by a river

Question 4

groundwater

Answer 4

water that is found beneath earths surface in the spaces in sediment and rock formations

Question 5

porosity

Answer 5

the percentage of the total volume of a rock that has space

Question 6

permeability

Answer 6

the ability of rock or soil to allow water to flow through it

Question 7

aquifer

Answer 7

an underground formation that contains groundwater is called

Question 8

recharge zone

Answer 8

an area of earth’s surface from which water percolates down into an aquifer

Question 9

potable

Answer 9

safe to drink

Question 10

pathogens

Answer 10

organisms that cause illness or disease

Question 11

dams

Answer 11

built across rivers to control river’s flow

Question 12

reservoir

Answer 12

an artificial lake

Question 13

desalination

Answer 13

process of removing salt from salt water

Question 14

water pollution

Answer 14

introduction of chemical physical or biological agents into water that degrade water quality

Question 15

point-source pollution

Answer 15

pollution discharged from a single source

Question 16

nonpoint-source pollution

Answer 16

pollution that comes from many different sources

Question 17

wastewater

Answer 17

water that contains waste from homes or industry

Question 18

artificial eutrophication

Answer 18

eutrophication is accelerated when inorganic plant nutrients enter the water from sewage and fertilizer runoff

Question 19

thermal pollution

Answer 19

occurs when power plants and other industries use water in their cooling systems and then discharge the warm water into a lake or river

Question 20

biomagnification

Answer 20

each thing stores the pesticide in its tissues and the concentration of the pesticide that is passed on to the next organism in the food chain is increased.