Readings

Question 1

depression storage

Answer 1

water temporarily stored on the land surface as ice and snow or water in puddles

Question 2

infiltration

Answer 2

If the surface soil is porous some rain or melting snow will seep into the ground.

Question 3

vadose zone

Answer 3

zone of aeration.

Question 4

interflow

Answer 4

water flows laterally into the vadose zone

Question 5

Excess vadose water is pulled downward by gravity through a process known as

Answer 5

gravity drainage

Question 6

capillary fringe

Answer 6

the pores are filled with capillary water so the saturation approaches 100%, however the water is held in place by capillary forces.

Question 7

The top of the zone of saturation is called…

Answer 7

the water table.

Question 8

Water stored in the zone of saturation

Answer 8

ground water

Question 9

Ground-water flow

Answer 9

water stored in the zone of saturation moves through the rock and soil layers of the earth until it discharges as a spring or as seepage into a pond, lake, stream, river or ocean.

Question 10

baseflow

Answer 10

Ground water contribution to a stream.

Question 11

Surface water

Answer 11

water stored in ponds, lakes, rivers, and streams

Question 12

magmatic water

Answer 12

water contained within magmas deep in the crust. If the magma reaches the surface of the earth or the ocean floor, the magmatic water is added to the water in the hydrologic cycle. (ex- steam seem in some volcanic eruptions)

Question 13

Types of water that can be located in the vadose zone

Answer 13

vadose water, capillary water, intermediate vadose water, soil water.

Question 14

ground-water basin

Answer 14

the subsurface volume through which ground water flows towards a specific discharge zone.

Question 15

hydrologic inputs to an area may include

Answer 15

precipitation, surface-water inflow (run off and overland flow), ground water-inflow, artificial import of water into the area through pipes and canals.

Question 16

hydrologic outputs from an area may include

Answer 16

evapotranspiration, evaporation of surface water, surface water runoff, ground water outflow, artificial export of water through pipes and canals.

Question 17

Since diversions have started in Mono lake how has the surface elevation changed.

Answer 17

It has declined substantially. A historic low was reach in the 90s, and then through rain and court orders it began to rise again. However even without the diversions it continued to decline. In the 90s it finally began to rise again.

Question 18

absolute humidity

Answer 18

the number of grams of water per cubic meter of air

Question 19

saturation humidity

Answer 19

At any given time the maximum moisture and air mass can hold.
Directly proportional to temperature

Question 20

Condensation occurs when

Answer 20

An air mass is cooled and the saturation humidity value drops and the air mass can no longer hold all of it’s humidity.

Question 21

Dew point

Answer 21

the temperature at which condensation will begin.

Question 22

What errors could occur when using a class A land pan

Answer 22

Splash caused by heavy rainfall
 drinking of birds
Wind movemement
Pan warming up faster than land
loss of heat from sides and bottom.

Question 23

potential evapotranspiration

Answer 23

equal to “the water loss which will occur if at no time there is a deficiency of water in the soil for the use of vegetation”
An upper limit to the amount of water an ecosystem will loose by evapotranspiration.

Question 24

When does the majority of evapotranspiration take place?

Answer 24

In the summer months

Question 25

Why could the actual evapotranspiration be less than the potential

Answer 25

If the soil water storage capacity is limited. In months when the potential evapotranspiration is less than the rainfall, some of the demand will be met by drawing upon moisture stored in the soil. When available soil water is depleted, the actual evapotranspiration will be limited to the monthly precipitation.

Question 26

Under what conditions would potential evapotranspiration be close to the actual evapotranspiration

Answer 26

If precipitation is constant throughout the year