Chapter 5 Flashcards
What is hydrology
-it is the science that looks at understanding, describing and predicting how water moves through the landscape and through the atmosphere
Describe the importance of the Colorado river
- it flows out of the central Rocky Mountains
- > flows through Colarodo, Utah, Nevada, etc and into Mexico
- > it flows through an extremely arid region with few other sources of water
- > but the areas it flows through has intensive agriculture and growing urban populations
- this river is dammed for msot of its length
- > almost every drop of water is allocated to different states for different usages
- > to the point that 90% is diverted before it reaches the Mexican border
- > the river rarely reaches its delta in the Gulf of California
What is the most sacred river to Hindus
-the Ganges river that flows through India and Bangladesh is the most sacred river to all Hindus
What is meant by the term debris flows
-these are fast moving masses of saturated rocks and sediment and organic material
How do mountains store water
- they store water as ice and snow
- >they are essentially the water towers of the world
Where do rain, snow, glacial melt water and ground water originating in the mountains end up
- they end up in rivers
- >rivers transport the water from mountain ranges to the lowlands and back to the seas and oceans
What is a watershed
- the land that drains into a common water body si called a water shed
- > healthy watersheds perform important regulating ecosystem services that influence water quality and quantity
What is the role of soil in watersheds
- they act as a sponge
- > soaking up precipitation through a process called infiltration
- note vegetation in watersheds increases infiltration
- > because it slows surface runoff
- > allowing more water to seep into the ground
Does infiltration minimize erosion and prevent flash floods
- yes
- > some of the water that is absorbed into the soil through infiltration replenishes ground water stores
- > which in turn recharges lakes and streams
Do watersheds slow run off and regulate the release of water
- yes
- >this process also helps to maintain consistent stream flow and water supplies during dry periods
How do watersheds play a crucial role in cleaning and filtering out water supplies
- as water moves through the soil, microbes remove harmful pollutants, toxins, pesticides and heavy metals
- power plants also purify water by taking up excess nutrients
- > like those released from fertilizers
Is rain mostly during the summer in the mountains
- yes
- > it is too cold at other times of the year
- > so it falls as snow
What is frontal rainfall
-low pressure systems move in from elsewhere and are forced to travel over the mountains
How long does rain last from frontal rainfall
- it can be prolonged
- > it may last for days or even weeks
- > as witnessed on the west coast of Canada
What are convective storm rainfalls
- or the rain may be from locally formed convective storms
- > these storms form in afternoons and evenings from strong daytime heating on the landscape
- occur on a much shorter timeframe than frontal rainfall
- > lasting mere minutes to hours
- > includes solid precipitation like hair as well as storng winds