Ch. 11 key terms Flashcards
surface water
fresh water on Earth’s land surface.
river system
streams and rivers move acrossthe land, they form a flowing network of water
watershed
The area of land that is drained by a river
groundwater
Water thatis found beneath Earth’s surface in the spaces in sediment and rockformations
aquifer
An underground formation that contains groundwater
porosity
the percentage of the total volume ofa rock that has spaces (pores).
permebeality
is, the more water it can hold. The ability of rock or soil to allow water to flow through
recharge zone
An area of Earth’s surface from which water percolates down into an aquifer
potable
safe to drink
pathogen
organisms that causeillness or disease.
dam
built across rivers to control the river’s flow.
reservoir
When a river isdammed, an artificial lake
desalination
the process of removing salt from saltwater
water pollution
the introduction of chemical, physical, orbiological agents into water that degrade water quality and harm the organismsthat depend on the water.
point-source pollution
pollutiondischarged from a single source.
nonpoint-source pollution
also known as runoff pollution, comesfrom many different sources that are often difficult to identify
wastewater
water that contains waste fromhomes or industry
artificial eutrophication
Eutrophication is accelerated when inorganic plant nutrients, suchas phosphorus and nitrogen, enter the water from sewage and fertilizerrunoff
thermal pollution
Fish kills, suchas this one in Brazil, can result fromthermal pollution
biomagnification
Each organism stores the pesticidein its tissues and the concentration of the pesticide that is passedon to the next organism in the food chain increases
