Hydrosphere Flashcards
What is the hydrological cycle?
Rain falls at the top of a mountain and runs down as surface runoff, throughflow or groundwater flow. The sun heats up the water once it becomes stationary like in the sea or stored in plants are evaporates from the sea or transpires from the plants. As the water vapour rises into the atmosphere and condenses into water droplets clouds form due to the high amount of water droplets and the cycle begins again.
What is evaporation?
The process where liquid is changed into a gas.
What is condensation?
The change from gas to water.
What is precipitation?
Naturally occurring moisture falling from the sky.
What is transpiration?
Water is lost from a plant through the minute pores in the leaves.
What is evapotraspiration?
The total amount of moisture removed by evaporation and transpiration.
What is a drainage basin?
The total area of land drained by a river and all its tributaries.
What is a river source?
Where a river begins.
What is a river mouth?
Where the river meets the sea.
What is a confluence?
Where two rivers meet.
What is a tributary?
A small river that joins a larger channel.
What is infiltration?
When water soaks into the soil and moves through it.
What is percolation?
When the infiltrated water moves deeper into the rocks below.
What are some human impacts on the hydrological cycle?
Mining - Lakes and reservoirs silt up meaning less water can be stored in them. Reduced vegetation means there is increased run-off and lower evapotranspiration.
Irrigation- Involves taking water from a river or underground store which reduces river flow and lower water tables. It also increases evaporation by placing water in surface stores. Crops also remove water from cycle as they grow.
Deforestation- Cutting down trees increases run-off. It decreases evapotranspiration. More extreme river flows as water is not intercepted.
Urbanisation- The removal of natural vegetation and replacement with impermeable surfaces and drains can speed up overland flow. This leads to high river levels. It also decreases the amount of water which returns to groundwater storage. It requires taking water for use in the cities which reduces water in rivers.
What is a hydrograph?
A graph that records the speed that a river system removes the water that enters it. It consists of a small bar graph showing the precipitation and a line graph showing the amount of water flowing past a point on a river.
