CHAPTER 3: WATER AND ITS SPATIAL DISTRIBUTIONS Flashcards
What are the physical states of water?
Solid, liquid and gaseous state.
How does water change its states?
Through melting, freezing, evaporation and condensation
What are water stores?
water stores are places where water is contained.
What groups can water stores be categorised in? Give examples of the categories.
They are catogerised as freshwater and saltwater stores. Glaciers, rivers, lakes, groundwater and soils contain freshwater. Oceans are saltwater stores.
What does it mean when a water store contains freshwater?
It means that the water contains low amounts of salt and can be used more readily.
What does it mean when a water store contains saltwater?
It means that the water contains high amount of salts, too much salt to be used directly.
How are the water stores distributed on earth? Why?
Water stores are distributed unevenly on earth. This can be seen as there is only 3.5% of freshwater in the world, while the other 96.5% are saltwater.
Can water transfers from different stores? Is this a good thing?
Yes. These movements are known as flow. This is not a good thing as water from freshwater stores can flow to saltwater stores, which contaminates the freshwater to become saltwater. Thus less freshwater is available.
What are oceans? Give some examples.
Oceans are large masses of water that are connected to one another. For example, the largest ocean, pacific ocean. The second largest ocean, the atlantic ocean. The third largest ocean, the indian ocean. Arctic ocean where polar bears swim and the southern ocean where penguins swim.
What are lakes? Where do they receive the water?
Lakes are water bodies surrounded by land. They may receive water from rain, snow or rivers.
What are glaciers? Where are they found?
Glaciers are large masses of ice that rest on land or float in the sea. They’re found in places where it snows throughout the year so tht enough snow accumulates and hardens into ice. They are very heavy, thus moving slowly.
What are the % of water stores?
96.5% oceans, 3.5% fresh water
What are rivers? Where do they flow to?
Rivers are natural flows of freshwater across the land that store water temporarily before it flows into another water body. They flow from places of higher elevation as gravity pulls water downwards.
What are the parts of a river and they’re purpose?
River source: Marks the point where a river begins. river mouth marks the place where a river flows into another water body.
What are meanders?
The twisting and turning points of a river. (curves, bends. loops, turns, winding)
What are tributaries?
They are rivers that enter a larger water body(contributes water)
What are distributaries?
They are rivers which branch off to form smaller streams, also known as river deltas.
What is evapotranspirations?
water from liquid to gaseous state.
Give an example of a saltwater lake. Why is it named that?
Caspian Sea, they call it sea due to it’ high salt content and vastness.(big)
What is soil? How is water stored there? What is the water stored called?
Refers to the loose topmost layer of Earth’s surface where plants grow. When it rains water passes through the soil through small openings known as pores. Water stored in the soil is known as soil moisture.
Where is groundwater? How is the water stored there? What countries use ground water and for what purpose?
Ground water is found below the surface of the Earth. Water enters the ground through pores in the soil due to gravity. It forms when a part of this water makes its way up to the rocks beneath , filling up pores and cracks of these rocks. For example, China and India use groundwater to grow crops and Indonesia and Thailand use ground water for household activities.
What is the hydrological cycle? What are the processes?
The sequence of processes that occur to ensure that water is replenished naturally. Precipitation, groundwater, surface runoff, evaporation, transpiration and condensation.
Hydrological process:precipitation
Water falls as rain or snow if the air is cold enough
Hydrological process:Groundwater
The water that seeps through the ground are absorbed by plants or stored as ground water.
Hydrological process:Surface runoff
water flows from the highlands and over the ground surface into rivers and streams
Hydrological process:evaporation
The sun’s heat causes the water to evaporate into water vapour.
Hydrological process:condensation
When water vapour looses heat and condenses to become water droplets. The small water droplets combine to form bigger water droplets, which then form clouds.
What does a water budget tell us?
It tells us the amount of water available in an area, by describing the amount of water flowing in and out of a catchment area.
What is an input?
Processes that increase the amount of water in a catchment are known as inputs.
What is an output?
Processes that decrease the amount of water in a catchment area are known as outputs.
What is a water surplus?
Input>output
What is a water deficit?
Input
Drought
-supply +demand=drought
What is net change?
The amount of water stored in a catchment changing.
