Water Flashcards
1
Q
What is a store
A
- A place where water can be held and stored
2
Q
What is a flow
A
- How water moves between stores
3
Q
What are the three largest stores
A
- Oceans
- ice
- Groundwater
4
Q
Which 2 water stores are non-renewable
A
- Fossil Water
- Cryosphere
5
Q
What is blue water
A
- Visible water
- E.g Oceans, Rivers, Lakes
6
Q
What is green water
A
- Invisible water
- E.g In trees, In the ground
7
Q
What is fossil water
A
- Ancient groundwater
- Very deep and not available for human use
8
Q
What is porosity
A
- The amount of pore spaces there are in total in a material
9
Q
What is permeability
A
- How well connected are these spaces and how easy is it for water to pass through the material
10
Q
What is an interception store
A
- Raindrops prevented from falling directly onto the ground. E.g Leaves
- Water reaches soil via stem flow
- Rate of interception depends on precipitation being light and short + vegetation being dry so it can asorb
11
Q
What is infiltration
A
- Movement of water vertically downward into the soil
- Slower in saturated soil as water is blocking its path/ clogging up the system
- Tree roots absorb water, helping infiltration rates increase
12
Q
What is through flow
A
- Downslope movement due to/ under the influence of gravity
- Vertical
13
Q
What is percolation
A
- Water filling the spaces within permeable or porous rock
- E.g Groundwater storage
- Happens when a permeable rock layer lies on top of a non-permeable rock layer so water can travel down no further
14
Q
What is groundwater storage
A
- A store which needs permeable or porous rocks
15
Q
What is groundwater flow
A
- Water moving laterally through groundwater storage (Permeable rock) if the landscape allows it
16
Q
List the 4 ways in which humans disrupt drainage basins
A
- Cloud seeding
- Urbanisation
- Dam building
- Groundwater Abstraction
17
Q
What is cloud seeding
A
- Attempt to change the amount or type of precipitation by dispersing substances into the air that serve as a cloud condensation nuclei
18
Q
How does urbanisation affect drainage basins
A
- Creates impermeable surfaces that reduce infiltration and and increase surface runoff + through flow through artificial drains
- Means water reaches basins quicker so fills up quicker so increases flood risk
19
Q
How does Dam Building affect drainage basins
A
- Prevents water from reaching areas of the basin which leads to a surplus of water in one area but a deficit of water in another
20
Q
What is groundwater abstraction
A
- Taking water from aquifers
- Water is extracted faster than it is replaces so stores are depleted quicker
21
Q
What is a flux
A
- The rate of the flow of water between stores
22
Q
What is a water budget
A
- The annual balance between inputs (precipitation) and outputs (the channel flow and evaporation)
23
Q
What is river discharge
A
- The volume of water passing a measuring point or gauging station in a river in a given time.
- Measured in cubic metres per second
24
Q
What factors influence a river ragime
A
- Precipitation levels
- Size
- Levels of evaporation
- Geology
- Vegetation cover
- Human activity
25
what are the 4 river regimes
- Glacial melt
- Snowmelt
- Seasonal rainfall
- Increased rates of evaporation
26
Yukon River Case Study
- High flow
- Low flow
- Seasonal variability
- Human influences
- Influences
- HF = Summer -> Glacial melt
- LF = Winter -> Dec-May -> Freezes
- SV = Yes, High
- HI = melting of permafrost = more flash floods, Wilderness environment -> Not much human impact, Mining becoming more common, Some hydroelectric power
- I = Climate, Mountains, Tundra/ Taiga
27
Amazon river case study
- High flow
- Low flow
- Seasonal Variability
- Human influences
- Influences
- HF = Summer -> Wet season -> June/ July
- LF = Winter -> Drier season -> November
- SV = Moderate however never as low as Yukon
- HI = hydroelectric, oil + gas extraction, Mining, Logging
- I = Big basin, wet climate, rainforest climate, input from Andean rivers, high evapotranspiration levels
28
What is a hydrograph
- Shows how a river's discharge changes over a short period of time
29
What is peak rainfall
-Highest amount of rainfall
30
What is a rising limb in a hydrograph
- Discharge of the river is rising due to through flow and surface flow
31
What is base flow
- Usual amount of water in the river
32
What is lag time
- Time between peak rainfall and peak discharge
33
What is peak discharge
- highest amount of discharge
34
What is a falling/ recessional limb in a hydrograph
- River returning to normal level
35
What are the two types of hydrographs
- Fashy
- Subdued
36
What are primary causes of flooding (Climate/ meteorological)
- Prolonged heavy rain
- Seasonal monsoon rainfall
- Sinuous jet stream
- Snow melt
- Tropical cyclones
- Glacial melt
37
What are secondary causes of flooding (Other more non specific factors)
- Lack of vegetation in drainage basins
- Steep slopes in basins
- Impermeable rock
Shallow soil depth
- Smaller drainage basins
38
What causes floods
39
4 ways that humans intensify flooding
- Farming
- Building Dams
- Urbanisation
- Deforestation/ other land use
40
What is a drought
- 'Shortfall' or deficiency of water over an extended time period, usually at least a season
41
What are the 4 types of drough that happen in a sequence
- Meteorological drought
- Hydrological drought
- Agricultural drought
- Famine drought
42
What is a meteorological drought
- Shortfalls in precipitation
- Dry period increased
- High temps + Strong sunshine
- High winds
- Low humidity
- Increased evaporation
43
What is a hydrological drought
- Reduced streamflow + groundwater levels
- Salinisation
- Wetlands at threat
- Water supply decreased
- Water use restrictions
44
What is an agricultural drought
- Overgrazing
- Plant growth affected
- Groundwater levels falls
- Yields fall
- Irrigation fails
- Pasture land declines
- Rural economy declines
45
What is famine drought
- Humanitarian crises in which widespread failure of agricultural systems leads to food shortages and famines with severe social, economic and environmental impacts
46
What are the two drought case studies
- Sahel region
- Australia
47
Define wetland
- An area of marsh, peat fen or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing.
48
What happens in an El Niño year
- High pressure in Australia, Low pressure in South America
- trade winds blow easterly in the opposite direction to a normal year
- Flatter thermocline
49
What happens in a La Niña year
- exaggerated version of a normal year
- Stronger trade winds blowing in a westerly direction
- Low pressure in Australia, high pressure in south America
- Steep thermocline
- Droughts in SA, floods in AUS
