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A-level Physical Geography > The Water Cycle > Flashcards

The Water Cycle Flashcards

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1
Q

What are the four physical subsystems that water is stored in?

A

Lithosphere (land)
Hydrosphere (liquid water)
Cryosphere (frozen water - snow and ice)
Atmosphere (air)

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2
Q

What is oceanic water?

A

Oceans dominate the amount of available water and cover approximately 72% of the planets surface.

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3
Q

What is cryospheric water?

A

The frozen parts of the earth’s surface.
Water stored in Sea ice, Ice shelves, Ice sheets, Ice caps, Permafrost (frozen ground)

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4
Q

What is atmospheric water?

A

Exists in all three states: gas, liquid and solid.
The most common atmospheric water is gas: water vapour.

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5
Q

What is terrestrial water?

A

Falls into four classes:
Surface water - lakes, rivers, wetlands
Ground water - collects in ground
Soil water - held in upper layers of earth
Biological water - stored in all biomass

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6
Q

What are processes driving change in the water cycle?

A

Evapotranspiration
Condensation
Precipitation
Cloud formation
Runoff generation
Cryospheric processes

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7
Q

How does evapotranspiration drive change in the water cycle?

A

The transfer of water from liquid to gaseous state. Water is also lost from surface when vapour is transpired by vegetation.

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8
Q

What does the rate of evaporation depend on?

A

Amount of solar energy
Availability of water
Humidity of air - closer to saturation point, slower evaporation
Temperature of air - warmer air holds more water

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9
Q

How does condensation drive change in water cycle?

A

As air cools is can hold less water - if cooled sufficiently it will get to a temp where it is saturated, unable to hold more water.
Known as dew point temperature
Water molecules need something to condense on if below dew point temp.

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10
Q

How does precipitation drive change in the water cycle?

A

Condensation is a direct cause of precipitation
When air temp is reduced to dew point but volume remains constant.
Occurs:
when warm moist air passes over cold surface, heat radiated to space and ground cools, cooling air directly in contact.
When volume of air increases but there is no addition of heat.
When air rises and expands in low pressure of upper atmosphere.

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11
Q

How does cloud formation drive change in water cycle?

A

Clouds form when evaporated water condenses onto condensation nuclei.
High temps needed for water to evaporate leading to high cloud cover along equator.

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12
Q

How does runoff generation drive change in the water cycle?

A

Atmospheric water transferred to oceans on surface or as groundwater flow.
Infiltration determines volume of runoff entering soil.
Occurs when rain falls on saturated ground (water table at surface) or rainfall intensity greater than infiltration capacity.

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13
Q

How do natural factors affect the water cycle?

A

Heavy precipitation, volume of water reaching ground increases and size of stores increase.
Seasonal changes affect water cycle. In winter snowfall and frozen ground interrupt water transfers and affect size of stores.

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14
Q

How do human-related factors affect the water cycle?

A

Deforestation - reduced interception and infiltration, resulting in overland flow increase.
Urbanisation- impermeable surface reduces infiltration
Farmers may use ditches to drain land encouraging water to flow quicker to rivers. Irrigation increases amount of water on land

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15
Q

What is a drainage basin?

A

The catchment area from which a river system gets its water. ‘Area of land drained by a river and its tributaries’.
Considered an open system with inputs/outputs of energy and stores/transfers of water

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16
Q

What are the inputs and outputs of a drainage basin?

A

Input: precipitation
Outputs: evapotranspiration- total output of water from drainage basin to atmosphere.
Runoff - water enters river Chanel and flows out of drainage basin.

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17
Q

What stores are in a drainage basin?

A

Interception - precipitation lands on vegetation
Surface water - water collects in ground
Soil water - water stored in soil
Groundwater - water in ground / rocks
Chanel storage - water in a river

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18
Q

What flows/transfers are in a drainage basin?

A

Stem flow - from leaves to ground
Infiltration - water absorbed into soil
Overland flow - if water unable to infiltrate may runoff surface.
Channel flow - lead water to nearest river then transfers by channel flow.

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19
Q

What is the water balance?

A

The water balance in a drainage system shows the balance between inputs and the outputs together with changes in ground storage. It affects how much water is stored in the basin.

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20
Q

River flow is studied by measuring river discharge, what is the equation to calculate?

A

Discharge (m3 per seconds) = cross sectional area (m2) x velocity (metres per second)

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21
Q

What are the natural variations affecting change in water cycle?

A

Storm events
Drought
Seasonal changes

22
Q

What human activities affect change in the water cycle?

A

Farming practices
Land use change
Water abstraction

23
Q

What is the water balance equation?

A

P=Q+E(+/-change in storage)
P = precipitation
Q = runoff
E = evapotranspiration

24
Q

What is a storm hydrograph?

A

A graph that shows how river discharge changes as a result of heavy rain.

25
Q

How do storm events impact water cycle?

A

Amount of precipitation intensity can affect runoff relative to infiltration. Higher discharge and less time for infiltration to take place.

26
Q

How can drought impact water cycle?

A

Reduction in water stored in lakes and rivers
Vegetation reduced which decreases transpiration, interception, infiltration
Soils dry out

27
Q

How do seasonal changes impact the water cycle?

A

Summer temp - greater evapotranspiration. Warmer air holds more moisture and vegetation will grow more rapidly.

In winter - evapotranspiration is less leading to higher Chanel flow and runoff.
Precipitation amount varies - more in winter
Soil moisture - dry summer encourages infiltration. Winter heavy rain lead to saturated soil and overland flow

28
Q

How do ploughing (farming practices) affect water cycle?

A

It breaks topsoil and allows greater infiltration resulting in less runoff and longer lag times.
Poor ploughing can increase surface runoff and cause soil erosion.

29
Q

How does irrigation (farming practices) impact water cycle?

A

Irrigation by farmers leads to additional input of water into the local water cycle

30
Q

How do drainage systems (farming practices) impact the water cycle?

A

They tend to lead to more rapid water transfer of water to river channel.

31
Q

How do grass crops (farming practices) impact water cycle?

A

Where grass crops replace dense vegetation eg) may be a reduction in transpiration and increase infiltration.
After harvest, bare soils lead to greater runoff and higher discharge.

32
Q

How do livestock (farming practices) impact water cycle?

A

Large numbers of livestock on small areas can result in soils becoming compacted and can lead to greater overland flow.

33
Q

How does land use change impact water cycle?

A

Urbanisation - impermeable surfaces replace vegetation
Deforestation - leads to increased surface runoff

34
Q

How does water abstraction impact water cycle?

A

The extraction of water from rivers or groundwater aquifers.
Harmful affects in ecosystems
Water table drops below sea level
Rate of recharge is far slower than rate of use - depleted water

35
Q

What is permafrost?

A

Permanently frozen ground that remains at 0°c or below for at least 2 consecutive years.

36
Q

Cloud formation and precipitation

A

Clouds form when warm air cools causing water vapour to condense into water droplets forming clouds.
Can vary seasonally and by location
Tiny particles act as condensation nuclei - water condenses on them and forms clouds

37
Q

What causes warm air to cool leading to cloud formation and precipitation?

A

Topography - warm air meets mountains, forced to rise, causing it to cool
Convection - sun heats ground, ground moisture evaporates and rises in column of warm air. As it get’s higher it cools - convectional rain
Other air masses - warm air less dense than cool air. When warm meets cool air, warm air is forced above cool. It cools down as it rises - frontal rain

38
Q

What are the % of fresh water in systems and store?

A

Less than 3% of Earth’s water is fresh water
Cryosphere - 69%
Groundwater - 30%
Liquid freshwater (earth’s surface lakes, rivers etc) - 0.3%
Stored as water vapour in atmosphere - 0.04%

39
Q

What is a watershed?

A

The boundary of a drainage basin

40
Q

What is throughfall?

A

Water dripping from one leaf to another

41
Q

What is percolation?

A

Water seeping down through soil into water table

42
Q

What is stem flow?

A

Water running down plant stem or tree trunk

43
Q

What is base flow?

A

Groundwater flow that feeds into rivers through river banks and beds

44
Q

What is through flow?

A

Water moving quickly downhill through soil

45
Q

What are the changes in the water balance?

A

Wet seasons - precipitation exceeds evapotranspiration, creating water surplus. River levels rise as there is more ground water so more surface runoff and higher discharge

Drier seasons - precipitation is lower than evapotranspiration. Ground water stores are depleted, some flows but isn’t replaced by precipitation

46
Q

What factors do the amount of runoff and shape of hydrograph depend on?

A

Size of basin - larger catch more precipitation so higher peak discharge. Smaller have shorter lag times as less distance to travel to main channel.
Shape of basin - steep/flat affects runoff speed
Ground steepness - water flows quicker downhill and less time to infiltrate
Rock/soil type - impermeable don’t let water infiltrate creasing runoff and peak discharge

47
Q

What are hydrographs?

A

Graphs of river discharge over time

48
Q

What is peak discharge?

A

Highest point on graph when river discharge is greatest

49
Q

What is lag time?

A

Delay between peak rainfall and peak discharge

50
Q

What is rising limb?

A

Part of graph up to peak discharge

51
Q

What is falling limb?

A

Part of graph after peak discharge

A-level Physical Geography (16 decks)

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