Ch. 12 Key Terms

Question 1

Surface water

Answer 1

water that collects on the surface of the ground.

Question 2

river system

Answer 2

the network that includes all the waters feeding into a main river and all the waters branching out from it.

Question 3

watershed

Answer 3

an area or ridge of land that separates waters flowing to different rivers, basins, or seas.

Question 4

groundwater

Answer 4

water held underground in the soil or in pores and crevices in rock.

Question 5

aquifer

Answer 5

a body of permeable rock which can contain or transmit groundwater.

Question 6

porosity

Answer 6

or void fraction is a measure of the void

Question 7

permeability

Answer 7

the state or quality of a material or membrane that causes it to allow liquids or gases to pass through it.

Question 8

recharge zone

Answer 8

surface water or precipitation percolate through relatively porous, unconsolidated, or fractured materials, such as sand, moraine deposits, or cracked basalt, that lie over a water bearing, or aquifer, formation

Question 9

water pollution

Answer 9

is the contamination of water bodies, usually as a result of human activities. Water bodies include for example lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers and groundwater. Water pollution results when contaminants are introduced into the natural environment

Question 10

point-source pollution

Answer 10

are discharged, such as a pipe, ditch, ship or factory smokestack.” Factories and sewage treatment plants are two common types of point sources.

Question 11

non point-source pollution

Answer 11

Excess fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides from agricultural lands and residential areas. Oil, grease and toxic chemicals from urban runoff and energy production

Question 12

wastewater

Answer 12

used water from any combination of domestic, industrial, commercial or agricultural activities, surface runoff or stormwater, and any sewer inflow or sewer infiltration”.

Question 13

artificial eutrophication

Answer 13

occurs when human activity introduces increased amounts of these nutrients, which speed up plant growth and eventually choke the lake of all of its animal life.

Question 14

thermal pollution

Answer 14

is defined as a sudden increase or decrease in temperature of a natural body of water, which may be ocean, lake, river or pond by human influence.

Question 15

biomagnification

Answer 15

the concentration of toxins in an organism as a result of its ingesting other plants or animals in which the toxins are more widely disbursed