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Environment Science and Engineering > Part 1: Water, Soil, Mineral and Rock, and Energy > Flashcards

Part 1: Water, Soil, Mineral and Rock, and Energy Flashcards

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1
Q

the proportion of void space in the material (holes or cracks),
unfilled by solid material, within or between individual mineral grains and is a
measure of how much fluid the material can store

A

porosity

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2
Q

measure of how readily fluids pass through the material. It is
related to the extent to which pores or cracks are interconnected, and to their
size—larger pores have a lower surface-to-volume ratio so there is less frictional
drag to slow the fluids down

A

permeability

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3
Q

is a volume of rock or soil above the
impermeable material that is water-saturated, in which water fills all the
accessible pore space

A

saturated zone

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4
Q

water in the saturated zone

A

ground water

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5
Q

rock or soil above the saturated zone in
which the pore spaces are filled partly with water, partly with air

A

unsaturated zone

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6
Q

water in the unsaturated soil

A

soil moisture

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7
Q

is all of the water occupying pore space below the ground
surface this includes ground water, soil moisture, and water in unsaturated
rocks.

A

subsurface water

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8
Q

is the top surface of the saturated zone, where the saturated
zone is not confined by overlying impermeable rocks

A

water table

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9
Q

is the processes of infiltration and migration or percolation by which
ground water is replaced

A

recharge

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10
Q

occurs where ground water flows into a stream,
escapes at the surface in a spring, or otherwise exits the aquifer

A

groundwater discharge

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11
Q

is a rock that holds enough water and transmits it rapidly enough to be
useful as a source of water

A

aquifer

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12
Q

is a rock that may store a considerable quantity of water, but in
which water flow is slowed, or retarded

A

aquitard

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13
Q

was used to describe an extreme aquitard, a rock that is essentially
impermeable on a human timescale

A

aquiclude

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14
Q

when the aquifer is directly overlain only by permeable
rocks and soil

A

unconfined aquifer

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15
Q

is bounded above and below by low permeability rocks
(aquitards)

A

confine aquifer

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16
Q

If a well is drilled into a confined aquifer, the water can rise
above its level in the aquifer because of this extra hydrostatic (fluid) pressure

A

artesian system

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17
Q

represents the height to which the water’s pressure would raise
the water if the water were unconfined

A

potentiometric surface

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18
Q

is a circular lowering of the water table immediately
around the well in an unconfined aquifer.

A

cone of depression

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19
Q

If the aquifer rocks are no longer saturated with water, they may become
___________ from the weight of overlying rocks. This decreases their porosity,
permanently reducing their water-holding capacity, and may also decrease their
permeability

A

compacted

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20
Q

Fresh water falling on land does not mix so readily with saline ground water at
depth because water in the pore spaces in rock or soil is not vigorously churned
by currents or wave action

A

saltwater intrusion

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21
Q

is a common way to provide more land for construction.
This practice can interfere with recharge, especially if surface runoff is rapid
elsewhere in the area.

A

filling in wetlands

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22
Q

are a partial solution to the problem of areas where
groundwater use exceeds natural recharge rate, but they are effective only
where there is surface runoff to catch, and they rely on precipitation

A

recharge basins

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23
Q

Rock types such as carbonate rocks or beds of rock salt or gypsum, chemical
sediments deposited in shallow seas, are extremely soluble in water.
Dissolution of these rocks by subsurface water, and occasional collapse or subsidence of the ground surface into the resultant cavities, creates a
distinctive terrain known as ________

A

karst

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24
Q

Rainwater is not considered
as ____________ because it contains dissolved chemicals of various kinds,
especially in industrialized areas with substantial air pollution

A

pure water

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25
Q

is one of the parameters used in describing water
quality, the sum of the concentrations of all dissolved solid chemicals in the
water.

A

total dissolved solids (TDS)

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26
Q

simply contains substantial amounts of dissolved calcium and
magnesium

A

hard water

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27
Q

DENR A.O. 2016-08 also known as

A

water quality guidelines and general effluent standards

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28
Q

3 ways of extending the water supply

A

conservation
interbasin water transfer
desalination

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29
Q

Water is wasted in home use every day by long showers, inefficient plumbing,
insistence on lush, green lawns even in the heat of summer, and in dozens of
other ways

A

conservation

30
Q

__________ of seawater would allow parched coastal regions to tap the vast
ocean reservoirs.

A

desalination

30
Q

involves heating or boiling water full of dissolved minerals. The
water vapor driven off is pure water, while the minerals stay behind in what
remains of the liquid

A

distillation

30
Q

People persist in settling and farming in areas that may not be especially well
supplied with fresh water, while other areas with abundant water go
undeveloped.

A

interbasin water transfer

31
Q

the water is passed through fine filters or membranes to
screen out dissolved impurities

A

filtration system

32
Q

those materials capable of supporting plant
growth. It also implies little transportation away from the site at which the soil
formed.

A

soil

33
Q

the loose material on the lunar surface, it encompasses all
unconsolidated material at the surface, fertile or not

A

regolith

34
Q

indicates matter that has been transported and redeposited by wind,
water, or ice.

A

sediment

35
Q

soil is produced by _______

A

weathering

36
Q

is the physical
breakup of rocks without changes in the rocks’ composition.

A

physical weathering

37
Q

involves the breakdown of minerals by chemical reaction
with water, with other chemicals dissolved in water, or with gases in the air

A

chemical weathering

38
Q

plays a major role in the intensity of chemical weathering. Most of the
relevant chemical reactions involve water, the more water, the more chemical
weathering

A

climate

39
Q

effects can be either mechanical or chemical. Among the
mechanical effects is the action of tree roots in working into cracks to split
rocks apart.

A

biological weathering

40
Q

between bedrock and atmosphere is the formation resulted
from mechanical, chemical, and biological weathering, together with the
accumulation of decaying remains from organisms living on the land and any
input from the atmosphere.

A

blanket of soil

41
Q

soil horizons

A

O horizon
A “
E “
B “
C “

42
Q

consisting wholly of organic matter, whether living or
decomposed—growing. plants, decaying leaves, and so on

A

O HORIZON

43
Q

below O horizon, consists of the most intensively weathered
rock material, being the zone most exposed to surface processes, mixed with
organic debris from above.

A

A HORIZON

44
Q

below the A horizon, is also known as the zone of leaching.
Fine grained minerals, such as clays, may also be washed downward
through this zone.

A

E HORIZON

45
Q

is also known as the zone of accumulation

A

B HORIZON

46
Q

below the B horizon, is a zone consisting principally of very
coarsely broken-up bedrock and little else.

A

C HORIZON

47
Q

tends to reflect compositional characteristics. Soils rich in organic
matter tend to be black or brown, while those poor in organic matter are paler
in color, often white or gray

A

soil color

48
Q

3 types of soil texture

A

sand, silt, and clay

49
Q

describes a soil that is a mixture of all three particle sizes in similar
proportions (10 to 30% clay, the balance nearly equal amounts of sand and
silt). Soils are named on the basis of the dominant grain size(s) present.

A

loam

50
Q

relates to the soil’s tendency to form lumps or clods of soil
particles

A

soil structure

51
Q

from the Latin root pedo- meaning “soil”, is the term use for
clumps

A

Peds

52
Q

can indicate something of a soil’s composition and
perhaps its origins, which in turn may have implications for its suitability for
agriculture or construction, or its vulnerability to degradation

A

soil classification

53
Q

comes from the prefix pedo - and the Latin words for aluminum
(alumium) and iron (ferrum)

A

pedalfer

54
Q

is for the soil of a dry climate.

A

pedocal

55
Q

The U.S. comprehensive soil classification, known as the _________________________ has twelve major categories (orders), which are subdivided
through five more levels of classification into a total of some 12,000 soil series.

A

seventh approximation

56
Q

may be regarded as an extreme kind of
pedalfer.

A

laterite

57
Q

tend to be rich in accumulated organic matter, reduced
because the decaying organic matter consumes dissolved oxygen, and soft.

A

wetland soils

58
Q

is caused by the action of water and wind

A

soil erosion

59
Q

______________ in the fields after a crop has been harvested and planting
cover crops in the off-season between cash crops. In either case, the plants’
roots help to hold the soil in place, and the plants themselves, to some extent,
shield the soil from wind and rain

A

leaving stubble

60
Q

Surface runoff may be slowed on moderate slopes by ______________

A

contour plowing

61
Q

a single slope is terraced into a
series of shallower slopes, or even steps that slant backward into the hill.

A

terracing

62
Q

Wind can be slowed down by planting hedges or rows of trees as ___________________
along field borders or in rows perpendicular to the dominant wind direction or
by erecting low fences, like snow fences, similarly arrayed

A

windbreaks

63
Q

alternating crops of different heights, slows near-ground wind
by making the land surface more irregular.

A

strip cropping

64
Q

main cause of soil degradation

A

deforestation

65
Q

is a rock in which a valuable or useful metal occurs at a concentration
sufficiently high, relative to average rocks, to make it economically worth
mining.

A

ore

66
Q

is the term given to unusually coarse-grained igneous intrusions. In
some _______, single crystals may be over 10 meters (30 feet) long.

A

pegmatite

67
Q

They are mined primarily from igneous rocks called

A

kimberlites

68
Q

Ordinary table salt, known mineralogically as _____________ is one mineral commonly
mined from evaporite deposits

A

halite

69
Q

The deposits mechanically concentrated by water are called

A

placers

70
Q

They are rarely
the sites of primary formation of ore minerals.

A

streams

Environment Science and Engineering (10 decks)

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