Chapters 11-12

Question 1

A model that describes the movement of water through the reservoirs of the earth

Answer 1

Hydrologic Cycle or Water Cycle

Question 2

The scientific study of water

Answer 2

Hydrology

Question 3

The process by which water changes from a liquid into a vapour

Answer 3

Evaporation

Question 4

The process by which water taken up by plants passes directly into the atmosphere

Answer 4

Transpiration

Question 5

The process by which water changes from a vapour into a liquid or a solid

Answer 5

Condensation

Question 6

The process by which water that has condensed in the atmosphere falls back to the surface as rain, snow, or hail.

Answer 6

Precipitation

Question 7

Precipitation that drains over the land or in stream channels

Answer 7

Surface run off

Question 8

The process by which water works its way into the ground through small openings in the soil

Answer 8

Infiltration

Question 9

The average length of time that a molecule spends in a reservoir

Answer 9

Residence Time

Question 10

A body of water that flows downslope along a clearly defined natural passageway

Answer 10

Stream

Question 11

The clearly defined natural passageways through which a stream flows

Answer 11

Channel

Question 12

The steepness of a stream or channel

Answer 12

Gradient

Question 13

The amount if water passing by a point on a channel’s bank during a unit of time

Answer 13

Discharge

Question 14

The suspended and dissolved sediment carried by a stream

Answer 14

Load

Question 15

Occur over short distances, particular in upstream areas near headwaters or source of the stream

Answer 15

Straight channels

Question 16

Source of the stream

Answer 16

Headwaters

Question 17

Develop where the stream gradient low, typically in the lower or downstream parts of the stream system, close to the mouth where the stream empties into another surface water body

Answer 17

Meandering channels

Question 18

These arise when a stream’s ability to move its sediment load varies over time

Answer 18

Braided channels

Question 19

The relatively flat valley floor adjacent to a stream channel which is inundated when the stream overflows its banks

Answer 19

Floodplain

Question 20

Unconsolidated sediment deposited in a recent geologic time by a stream

Answer 20

Alluvium

Question 21

Sedimentary deposits, commonly triangular, that forms where a stream enters a standing body of water

Answer 21

Delta

Question 22

A stream that flows to a larger stream or other body of water

Answer 22

Tributary

Question 23

The total area from which water flows into a stream, sometimes called a catchment or water shed

Answer 23

Drainage basin

Question 24

A topographic high that separates adjacent drainage basins

Answer 24

Divide

Question 25

Excessive nutrients in the water, which stimulates algae growth, and thus using up all the oxygen in the water, making it impossible for other life to survive

Answer 25

Eutrophication

Question 26

Land that has wet or spongy soil. Ex. Marsh, swamp, or bog

Answer 26

Wetland

Question 27

An event in which a water body overflows its banks

Answer 27

Flood

Question 28

The extra water flowing in a channel contributed by excess precipitation during a stream flood

Answer 28

Storm runoff

Question 29

A graph that shows the stream's discharge as a function of time

Answer 29

Hydrograph

Question 30

The peak flow of a flood

Answer 30

Crest

Question 31

Water that is blow on shore by high winds

Answer 31

Storm surge

Question 32

A drop in the surface of the land, which increases the danger of flooding

Answer 32

Subsidence

Question 33

The frequency of past floods of different sizes on a graph

Answer 33

Flood-frequency curve

Question 34

The average time interval between two floods of the same magnitude

Answer 34

Recurrence interval

Question 35

Engineered modifications of a river channel for the purposes of flood control and protection

Answer 35

Channelization

Question 36

Subsurface water contained in pore spaces in regolith and bedrock

Answer 36

Groundwater

Question 37

The top surface of the saturated zone

Answer 37

Water table

Question 38

Where the pores or spaces between grains in regolith or bedrock are filled mainly with air

Answer 38

Zone of aeration, vadose zone

Question 39

A zone in which all openings are filled with water

Answer 39

Saturated zone, phreatic zone

Question 40

The percentage of the total volume of a body of rock or regolith that consists of open spaces (pores)

Answer 40

Porosity

Question 41

A measure of how easily a solid allows fluids to pass through it

Answer 41

Permeability

Question 42

The process by which groundwater seeps downward and flows under the influence of gravity

Answer 42

Percolate

Question 43

Replenishment of groundwater

Answer 43

Recharge

Question 44

The process by which subsurface water leaves the saturated zone and becomes surface water

Answer 44

Discharge

Question 45

A natural outlet for groundwater that occurs where the water table intersects the land surface

Answer 45

Spring

Question 46

A body of rock or regolith that is water saturated, porous, and permeable

Answer 46

Aquifer

Question 47

A layer of impermeable rock

Answer 47

Aquiclude

Question 48

An underground open space; a cavern system of connected caves

Answer 48

Caves

Question 49

A measure of the salt content in a solution

Answer 49

Salinity

Question 50

The deep-ocean global "conveyor belt" circulation, driven by differences in water temperature, salinity, and density

Answer 50

Thermohaline circulation

Question 51

A regular daily cycle of rising and falling sea level that results for the gravitational action of the Moon, the Sun, and the Earth

Answer 51

Tides

Question 52

The "broken" turbulent water found between a line of breakers and the shore

Answer 52

Surf

Question 53

A current within the surf zone that flows parallel to the coast

Answer 53

Longshore current

Question 54

The movement of particles along a beach as they are driven up and down the slope by wave action

Answer 54

Beach drift

Question 55

A coastal cliff cut by the wave action at the base of a rocky coast

Answer 55

Wave-cut cliff

Question 56

Wave-washed sediment along a coast

Answer 56

Beach

Question 57

A long, narrow, sandy island lying offshore and parallel to low-land coast

Answer 57

Barrier island

Question 58

Elongated ridges of sand or gravel that project from the land into the open water of an embayment along the coast

Answer 58

Spits

Question 59

Spit-like ridges of sand and gravel that join an island to the mainland

Answer 59

Tombolos

Question 60

A hard structure on a shallow ocean floor, usually but not always built by coral

Answer 60

Reefs

Question 61

A mixture of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and trace amounts of other gases, found in the Earth's atmosphere

Answer 61

Air

Question 62

Liquid droplets or solid particles that are so small that they remain suspended in the air

Answer 62

Aerosols

Question 63

The lowest layer of Earth's atmosphere extending. (Variably) to about 15km in altitude

Answer 63

Troposphere

Question 64

Heat-absorbing gases in the troposphere

Answer 64

Radiatively active gases or greenhouse gases

Question 65

The absorption of long-wavelength (infrared) energy by radiatively active gases in the atmosphere, causing heat to be retained near Earth's surface

Answer 65

Greenhouse effect

Question 66

The layer of Earth's atmosphere above the troposphere, extending to about 50km altitude

Answer 66

Stratosphere

Question 67

A zone in the stratosphere where ozone is concentrated

Answer 67

Ozone layer

Question 68

Air in motion

Answer 68

Wind

Question 69

An effect due to Earth's rotation, which cause a freely moving body to veer from a stringent path

Answer 69

Coriolis force

Question 70

A wind system that is circulating around a low-pressure center

Answer 70

Cyclone

Question 71

A regional weather system that involves unusual warming of equatorial Pacific surface water

Answer 71

El Niño