Fresh water, Oceans, and Coasts. Flashcards
What is freshwater?
This is water that is relatively pure with few dissolved salts.
How does the water cycle renew and recycle water?
Precipitation sinks into the ground or forms rivers which carry water to oceans and lakes.
Rivers interact with ponds, wetlands, and coastal aqauatic ecosystems.
Groundwater exchanges water with surface sources.
What creates the movement of water in a water cycle?
A web of interconnected aquatic systems.
What percentage of the freshwater on earth is groundwater?
30%
________ is water beneath the surface held within pores in soil or rock.
Groundwater.
What are aquifers?
These are porous sponge-like formations of rock, sand, or gravel that hold groundwater.
The boundary between the aquifer’s upper (porous) layer and the lower layer, which is completely filled with water is ____________
The water table.
What is infiltration?
This is the process of surface water becoming groundwater.
The water from precipitation that flows over land and into streams, rivers, lakes, ponds, and eventually the ocean is called?
Run-off
_________ is a small river that flows into a larger one.
Tributary.
What is a watershed?
The area of land drained by water and its tributaries.
The area closest to a river that is flooded periodically is called?
Flood plain.
What makes the soil in a flood plain fertile and good for agriculture?
The deposition of silt.
What is a wetland?
This is a system in which soil is saturated with water and that usually has shallow standing water and lots of vegetation.
The type of wetland which is made up of shallow water in which plants grow above the surface and that usually lacks trees is called what?
Freshwater marshes.
The type of wetalnd made up of shallow water rich in vegetation that occurs in forested areas is?
A swamp.
What are bogs?
These are another type of wetland made up of ponds covered by thick floating mats of vegetation.
What are vernal pools?
They are seasonal wetlands that form in spring from rain and snowmelt, then dry up later.
What are the importances of wetlands?
They serve as valuabe wildlife habitat;
They slow runoff, reduce flooding, recharge aquifers, and filter pollutants.
What percentage of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans?
71%
What percentage of Earth’s surface water do oceans make up?
97.5%
Ocean is __% water plus _______
Approximately 96.5; dissolved salts.
Vast river-like flows in the upper 400 meters of the ocean are called?
Currents.
What drives currents?
Wind, heating/cooling, density differences, and the coriolis effect.
The rising of cold, dense water toward the surface is called what?
Upwelling.
What is downwelling?
It is the sinking of warm, oxygen-rich, surface water, providing oxygen for deep-water life.
Worldwide current system in which warmer, fresher water moves along the surface and colder, denser, and saltier water moves deep beneath the surface is called?
Thermohaline circulation
What is El Niño-Southern Oscillation?
This is a systematic shft in the atmospheric pressure, sea surface temperature, and ocean circulation in the tropical Pacific Ocean.
How often do el niño and la niña events occur?
Every 2-8 years.
What is El Niño?
The strong warming of the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
What is La Niña?
This is the strong cooling of surface water in the Equitorial Pacific Ocean that has wide-spread climatic consequences.
The areas where rivers flow into the ocean, mixing freshwater with salt water are?
Estuaries.
What are salt marshes?
These are flat lands that are occasionally flooded by the ocean where the tide reaches the inland.
Where do salt marshes occur?
The occur along coasts of temperate latitudes.
________ are trees with unique roots that curve upward to obtain oxygen, or curve downward to support the tree in changing water levels.
Mangroves.
what are intertidal zones?
Where ocean meets land which occurs between the farthest reaches of the high and low tides.
The periodic rising and falling of the ocean’s height at a given location due to the gravitational pull of the moon and sun is called?
Tides
What is kelp?
It is large brown algae growing from the floor of continental shelves along temperate coasts.
What is a coral reef?
A mass of calcium carbonate formed from the hardened skeleton of tiny animals called corals.
The well-lit top layer that supports high primary productivity and has the greatest species diversity is called _______
The Photic Zone.
What is the Pelagic Zone?
Habitats and ecosystems occuring between the oceans’s surface and floor.
Habitats and ecosystems occuring in the ocean floor is what ocean zone?
The Benthic Zone.
What are the threats to the coastal and marine ecosystems?
Urban and coastal development.
Nutrient Pollution.
Habitat Alteration.
Overfishing.
What is ocean acidification?
This is where oceans become more acidic due to increased CO₂ absorption.
A scenario where corals lose their colour due to the death of zooxanthellae, which deprives the corals of food is called?
Coral bleaching.
What is consumptive use of water?
it is when water is removed from an aquifer/surface water body, but is not returned.
What is non-consumptive use of water?
This is when water is not removed or temporarily removed.
What are dikes and levees?
These are long raised mounds of earth along riverbanks that are used to hold rising water in channels.
What is a dam?
An obstruction placed in a river or stream to block water flow so that water can be stored in reservoirs.
What is the release of matter or energy into the environment that brings about undesirable impacts to the health/life of humans and other organisms called?
Pollution
What are biological inidicators of water quality?
Presence of harmful microorganisms, algae, aquatic invertebrates.
What are chemical inidicators of water quality?
Plant nutrient concentration, pH test, odor, dissolved oxygen.
What are physical inidicators of water quality?
Temperature, colour, turbidity.
What is another name for treated water?
Effluent.
