final 2 Flashcards
what is a watershed?
The area of land drained by a river system and all of its tributaries aka water basin
they can be seasonal
they slow runoff, reduce flooding, recharge aquifers and filter pollutants
what is a floodplain?
Areas near a river’s course that are flooded periodically
what is a lake?what is a pond?
bodies of standing surface water.
o The shallow area along the edges where aquatic plants cangrow is called the littoral zone
The benthic zone extends along the bottom
The limnetic zone is the upper layer of water that is shallow enough to receive sunlight and allow photosynthesis by phytoplankton.
The profundal zone is between the benthic and limneticzones and lacks photosynthesis.
what are freshwater wetlands?
systems where the soil is saturated with water, often containing standing shallow water ie marshes, swamps, and bogs
what is upwelling?
pulls cold, deep, nutrient-rich water to the surface
what is downwelling?
transports warm surface water to deeper waters,providing an influx of dissolved oxygen and “burying”carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
What is surface water?
located atop Earth’s surface, such as in a river or lake.
Confined aquifers are trappedbetween impermeable clay, whileunconfined aquifers are not
What is groundwater?
water beneath the surface that resideswithin pores in soil or rock
what are aquifers?
porous,spongelike formations of rock or sand.
what is a water-table?
The upper border of the layer completely filled with water
What is the NADW and what does it do?
North Atlantic Deep Water- The region of downwelling near Western Europe
Scientists are concerned that an influx in fresh water from melting glaciers in Greenland could disrupt this flow.
What is ENSO and what does it do?
El Niño-Southern Oscillation-a systematic shift in atmospheric pressure, sea surface temperature, and ocean circulation in the tropical Pacific Ocean
cycle occurs every two to eight years
what are levees? why are they important?
To protect against floods built along banks of waters to hold water in main channels.
what is the difference between consumptive and non consumptive use?
consumptive is where we remove water but do not return it
and non consumptive is things such as hydroelectric dams, either does not remove or only temporarily removes water from a source
what has and what is the depletion of groundwater?
Groundwater is depleted more easily than surface water because it is recharged so slowly.
this can cause sinkholes-As aquifers lose water, they become less able to support overlying strata, causing the land surface to subside
what are the impacts of drinking bottled water?
has major ecological impacts, with energycosts 1000-2000 times greater than tap water and 1.7million tons of plastic waste generated annually
What are dams? why are they important?
any obstruction placed in a river or stream to block its flow
what is point source pollution and what is non point source pollution? how are they different?
Point sources are discrete locations that releasewater pollution
Non-point sources arise from multiple inputsover large areas, such as farms, city streets, andresidential neighborhoods
What are septic systems and how do they work?
What are septic systems and how do they work?
what are wastewater treatment facilities? why are they important and what do they do?
Wastewater is water affected by human activities and includes water from toilets, sinks, dishwashers, and washing machines
because of wastewater treatment facilities that water can be reused
clean water act
set standards for contaminant levels in surface waters and funded construction of sewage treatment plants
what is overfishing
More than half of all marine fish populations are fully exploited, meaning any further harvesting would be unsustainable
Of all the human impacts on the ocean, overfishing may bethe most pressing, as many fish stocks have been severely depleted.
What are the types of commercial fishing?
Purse seining deploys large nets around schools of fish at the surface
Driftnetting is the use of long nets that span large expanses of water and targetspecies that traverse open water in large schools
Longline fishing involves setting out extremely long lines (up to 80 kilometers long) withhundreds or thousands of baited hooks spaced between their lengths
Trawling involves dragging weighted cone-shaped nets through the pelagic zone
Bottom-trawling works the same way, but targets the benthic zone
