Homework 7 Chp 7 Flashcards
What is the largest reservoir in the hydrologic cycle?
Ocean
What is the percentage of readily accessible freshwater among the total water volume in our Planet?
0.014%
Humans are now depleting freshwater supplies more quickly than they can be replenished by nature.
True
What is defined as the gradual sinking of the land surface over a broad area?
Land subsidence
The portion of the hydrosphere that occurs in oceans, lakes, streams, rivers, swamps, snow and glaciers is known as what?
Surface water
Water that resides under the surface of Earth, mostly in pores or cracks of rocks and sediments is known as what?
Groundwater
What is it called when the amount of water leaving a water body exceeds the amount being supplied by the watershed?
Freshwater depletion
Fill in the blank:
Groundwater resides in ________, the relatively small open spaces in rocks.
pores
Aquifers have high permeability and porosity, and aquitards have low permeability.
True
Significant groundwater depletion has not yet happened in California.
False
Most sinkholes occur due to the collapse of underground caves in what rock type?
Limestone
Freshwater is defined as water having
less than 0.05% salt content
The largest use of freshwater on the Earth is related to
agricultural use
Eutrophication in fresh water sources is a result of…
algal blooms resulting from over-enrichment of nutrients.
Should groundwater be considered a nonrenewable resource?
Yes, recharge rates ranging from years to decades to centuries to millennia means that on a human time scale, groundwater is essentially a nonrenewable resource.
