hydrology and geology

Question 1

what is soil?

Answer 1

weathered rocks and organic material

Question 2

what is humus?

Answer 2

dark and spongey decomposed organic material

Question 3

what are layers of soil called

Answer 3

horizons

Question 4

what is the a horizon?

Answer 4

the top layer of soil, also called top soil, most humus, rich in organic material

Question 5

what is the b horizon?

Answer 5

the middle layer of soil, also called subsoil, less humus than a horizon

Question 6

what is the c horizon?

Answer 6

under b horizon, above parent rock, mostly rocky sediment

Question 7

what is sol conservation?

Answer 7

an effort to prevent and keep soil fertile

Question 8

how does covering (or planting in) soil prevent erosion?

Answer 8

the roots of plants dont allow the soil to be blown away by wind or washed away by water

Question 9

what does it mean to terrace land?

Answer 9

to plant in rows down a hill to prevent erosion

Question 10

what is a levee?

Answer 10

an elongated naturally occurring ridge or artificially constructed wall which regulates water levels

Question 11

what is a water table?

Answer 11

highest point filled with water (within the saturation zone)

Question 12

what is a divide?

Answer 12

high land area that separates one watershed from another

Question 13

what are some features of a river or stream?

Answer 13

stream channels, channel beds, channel banks, tributaries, meander, oxbow lake, delta

Question 14

what is a stream channel?

Answer 14

path that a stream follows

Question 15

what is a channel bed?

Answer 15

below the water

Question 16

what is a channel bank?

Answer 16

sides of the stream

Question 17

what are tributaries?

Answer 17

feeder streams that lead into the main river

Question 18

what is a meander?

Answer 18

curves in the stream channel

Question 19

what is an oxbow lake?

Answer 19

created by meanders that are cut off from stream channel (may become lake or fill in with vegetation)

Question 20

what is condensation?

Answer 20

gas to liquid (has to cool)

Question 21

what is precipitation?

Answer 21

water (in any form) falling from clouds

Question 22

what is evaporation?

Answer 22

liquid to gas

Question 23

what is groundwater?

Answer 23

water located below earth’s surface

Question 24

what is water vapor?

Answer 24

water in gas form

Question 25

what is an aquifer?

Answer 25

underground layer of rock that groundwater flows through

Question 26

what is the water cycle?

Answer 26

describes the continuous flow or cycle of water

Question 27

what is runoff?

Answer 27

surface water that drains into bodys of water

Question 28

what is transpiration?

Answer 28

plant leaves giving off water vapor

Question 29

what is a spring?

Answer 29

a natural discharge of water from earth's surface

Question 30

what is a hot spring?

Answer 30

a place where hot water flows through the ground?

Question 31

what is a geyser?

Answer 31

explosive hot spring that erupts at regular intervals

Question 32

what is a well?

Answer 32

hole dug or drilled deep into the ground to reach a reservoir of groundwater

Question 33

what is an artesian well?

Answer 33

a place in the ground where water flows up through the surface because of pressure

Question 34

what is the zone of saturation?

Answer 34

the zone where water fills it completely

Question 35

what is the zone of aeration?

Answer 35

the zone that contains mostly air

Question 36

what is a water table?

Answer 36

highest point within the zone of saturation filled with water

Question 37

what is an estuary?

Answer 37

where saltwater meets freshwater

Question 38

what are the four types of estuaries?

Answer 38

drowned river valleys, bar-built, tectonic, fjords

Question 39

what are drowned river estuaries?

Answer 39

where rising sea levels flood existing river valleys

Question 40

what are bar-built estuaries?

Answer 40

characterized by barrier islands that form parallel to the shore, cutting off the estuary from the ocean

Question 41

what are tectonic estuaries?

Answer 41

formed by the movement of earth's tectonic plates

Question 42

what are fjords?

Answer 42

steep-walled river valleys created by advancing glaciers, later becoming flooded with seawater with the retreating glaciers

Question 43

what is porosity?

Answer 43

percentage of pore space in a material

Question 44

what is porosity?

Answer 44

percentage of pore space in a material?

Question 45

what is permeability?

Answer 45

ability of a material to let water pass through it

Question 46

what is subsidence?

Answer 46

when all water is removed from the saturation zone and the sol above collapses

Question 47

what is point source pollution?

Answer 47

pollution that has a traceable source

Question 48

what is non-point source pollution?

Answer 48

pollution that doesn't have a single traceable source

Question 49

what is sediment pollution?

Answer 49

pollution from sediment

Question 50

what is nutrient pollution?

Answer 50

when high concentrations of nutrients (nitrogen/phosphorus) promote explosive algae growth. when this algae dies, the decomposition uses a lot of oxygen which kills fish and other aquatic organisms

Question 51

what is bacterial pollution?

Answer 51

pollution by bacteria

Question 52

what are some effects of acid rain?

Answer 52

death of fish and aquatic organisms, damage to ecosystems and food chains, death of plants and trees, nutrients removal from soil, corrodes building structures, makes people sick

Question 53

what is erosion?

Answer 53

rock or soil moves to a new place

Question 54

what is deposition?

Answer 54

rock or soil that is dropped to a new place

Question 55

what is weathering?

Answer 55

rock or soil that is broken down

Question 56

what is chemical weathering?

Answer 56

changes of the chemical makeup of rocks

Question 57

what is mechanical weathering?

Answer 57

physical changes to rocks

Question 58

what is abrasion?

Answer 58

mechanical weathering caused by contact of moving sediments

Question 59

what is oxidation?

Answer 59

rusting is an example of chemical weathering

Question 60

what is ice wedging?

Answer 60

when ice seeps into cracks in rock, freezes and expands which makes the cracks bigger. this is an example of physical weathering