ch 27.3 and 27.4 Flashcards
infiltration
the process by which water enters earth and becomes groundwater below the surface
water table
the upper boundary of the saturated zone
aquifer
a rock unit that can transfer water through its pore space
porosity
a material is the percentage of the material total volume that is pore space
absolute dating
the process of assining an exact numerical age to an organism an object or an event
relative dating
the process of placing objects or events in their proper order in time
uniformitarianism
which states that the laws of nature operate today as they have in the past
principle of superposition
states that in an undistured sequence of sedimentary rock layer
unconformities
gaps in the rock record during which either erosion occured or deposition was absent
fossils
the remains or traces of organisms found in the geologic rock record
what percentage of water on earth is salt water
97 percent
what percentage of water on earth is freshwater
3 percent
where is the majority of freshwater found
the majority of freshwater is found in glaciers (2%)
where is the smaller percentage of freshwater found
1 percent of the freshwater is found in lakes, rivers, and stored as ground water
what is precipitation
rain,snow,sleet, and hail
what is runoff
water running off the land surface
what is infiltration
water enters earth and becomes ground water
what is transpiration
when plants release water vapor into the atmosphere
what is evaporation
when water enters the atmosphere as water vapor
what is condensation
water vapor collides with other water vapor molecules to form water droplets
what is the water cycle
fresh water moves from the land to the atmosphere then back to the land
what is an unsaturated zone for groundwater storage
a porous area where water easily passes through
what is a saturated zone for groundwater storage
beneath the unsaturated zone, where water completely fills the pore space
what is a water table
the upper boundary of the saturated zone
