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Geography 1 > Water Cycle > Flashcards

Water Cycle Flashcards

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1
Q

What is the systems approach with regards to water?

A

systems approach studies hydrological phenomena by looking at balance of inputs/outputs, and how water is moved between stores/flows

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2
Q

What is an open and closed system in terms of water?

A
  • open system is one that transfers inputs and outputs of water to external systems e.g. drainage basin
  • closed system is one with fixed amount of water with no external inputs/outputs, amount of water remains constant e.g. the hydrological cycle - earth can be considered closed as fixed amount of water -1385 million km3
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3
Q

What is blue and green water?

A

blue water - water stored in rivers, lakes (surface water 0.01% of all water) groundwater (1.1% of all water) in liquid form
green water - water stored in soil/vegetation e.g. cacti (biological water - 0.0001% of all)

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4
Q

What is the residence time of groundwater compared to atmospheric moisture?

A

groundwater - 10,000 years

atmospheric moisture - 10 days

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5
Q

How much water does the USA use?

A

260 gallons per person per day

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6
Q

How many dont have access to safe drinking water?

A

1/5

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7
Q

How often does a child die of a water-related disease?

A

every 15 seconds

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8
Q

What kind of water isnt renewable?

A
  • fossil water not considered renewable e.g. many aquifers under Sahara Desert
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9
Q

How much of the worlds water is freshwater?

A

2.5%

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10
Q

How much freshwater is locked in ice?

A

2/3

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11
Q

What three things must be present for rainfall to be created?

A
  • air cooled to saturation point (due to altitude) with humidity of 100%
  • condensation nuclei (e.g. dust particles) to facilitate water droplet growth
  • temperature below dew point (point where dew can form)
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12
Q

In what ways can precipitation vary?

A
  • amount of precipitation
  • type of precipitation
  • seasonality
  • intensity of precipitation
  • variability
  • distribution of precipitation within a basin
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13
Q

What are the different types of precipitation?

A
  • orographic/relief (cloud rises altitude to reflect over mountain, causing precipitation)
  • frontal (warm air rises over cold air when they meet, higher altitude causes precipitation)
  • convectional (sun sends heat/light to earth, causing evaporation, cloud formation and precipitation)
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14
Q

What are the main types of interception?

A
  • interception loss (when water is retained by a plant)
  • through fall (water drops from leaves)
  • stem flow (water trickles along branches/trunk)
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15
Q

How much do coniferous trees intercept compared to deciduous?

A

coniferous - 25-35%

deciduous - 15-25%

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16
Q

What does the rate of infiltration depend on?

A
  • how long rainfall lasts - infiltration capacity decreases with amount of rainfall
  • amount of water already in soil
  • soil texture - sandy soils have bigger capacity than clay
  • vegetation cover (varies throughout the year)
  • soil surface/compaction
  • slope - steep slopes encourage overland flow, smaller slopes encourage infiltration
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17
Q

What are the factors affecting rate of evaporation?

A
  • sunlight hours
  • temperature
  • humidity
  • wind speed
  • size/depth of water
  • vegetation cover
  • surface colour
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18
Q

What is transpiration?

A

water lost through plant pores

19
Q

What is evapotranspiration?

A

combined effect of evaporation and transpiration
- potential evapotranspiration is that water loss that would occur is an unlimited amount of water was available for vegetation

20
Q

What are the physical factors affecting river drainage basin flow/fluxes?

A
  • evapotranspiration
  • percolation and groundwater flow
  • overland flow
  • infiltration and through flow (impermeable soil encourages surface run off, percolation occurs if bedrock is permeable - if soil is permeable but bedrock is not, through flow will occur - more discharge)
  • input of rainfall (more=bigger flux so more river discharge)
  • interception (presence of vegetation increases lag time so prevents flooding)
21
Q

What are the human factors that impact river drainage basins?

A
  • precipitation (human seeding of rainfall, using silver iodine pellets so act as condensation nuclei, attracting water droplets - more precipitation means greater discharge)
  • evaporation/transpiration (deforestation decreases rates, reservoirs/dams increase rates e.g. Aswan Dam, channelisation decreases surface storage so reduces evaporation e.g. Mississippi)
  • interception (deforestation means less interception so less evapotranspiration and more surface run off, decreases lag time between peak rainfall and peak discharge, increases flooding risk e.g. Himalayas)
  • infiltration and soil water (infiltration 5x greater in forests than grasslands, deforestation decreases infiltration and increases soil compaction - however farming practices e.g. ploughing increases infiltration as soil becomes less compact e.g. in foothills of Himalayas
  • groundwater (human extraction led to reduction in groundwater e.g. Aral sea in Middle East shrank by 75% from 1960-90)
  • dam construction (increases surface area so increased evaporation, reduces discharge downsteam e.g. Aswan Dam causes evaporation losses of 16 billion m3
  • urbanisation (impermeable surfaces cause reduction in infiltration, increase surface run off in artificial drains, reduces lag time so increases flooding and discharge e.g. York floods 2015 river Ouse
22
Q

What is hard engineering in terms of water management?

A

use of artificial structures to increase water supplies e.g. mega dams

23
Q

How many major rivers are impeded by dams?

A

60% of worlds major rivers

24
Q

How many dams were there in 2010?

A

845,000 - incl 5000 mega dams

25
Q

What are the types of hard engineering?

A
  • water transport projects (China’s South-North Transfer)
  • mega dams (Three Gorges Dam)
  • desalinisation plants (70% in Middle East)
26
Q

What is water desalinisation and its advantages/disadvantages?

A
  • 30% of irrigated areas suffer from salinity problems
  • 12,500 desalinisation plants in 120 countries, producing 14 billion m3 of freshwater per day (in 2002)
  • that accounts for less than 1% of world water consumption
  • Middle East important user of desalinated water - using 70% of worldwide capacity
  • USA important MEDC user particularly in California
  • very expensive, limits its use
27
Q

What were the advantages and disadvantages of the Three Gorges Dam?

A

advantages:
- hydro-electricity produced - clean and will enable growth of industry
- river level will be consistent and allow for shipping along its length and cruise ships at all times, ship-lift will enable large vessels to reach upper parts of river for first time
- 100 million living downstream will be protected from flooding
disadvantages:
- 1.2 million relocated from 13 cities, loss of sacred temples and quality farmland - people forced out and moved to more expensive housing
- reduced sediment flow downstream arms agriculture as farmers rely on fertile silt, silt and rubbish will instead be trapped and built up behind dam
- changing flow may lead to extinction of river dolphin

28
Q

What were the advantages and disadvantages of the South-North Water Transfer?

A
  • 2/3 of Chinese farmland in north but 80% of water in south
  • project has capacity to deliver 25 billion m3 of freshwater per year to north through two routes each covering 1000km
  • economic cost - canal construction costs at $80 billion in 2015 with high maintenence costs/water prices
  • socially - displacement of 300,000 during construction as water level was raised 13m
  • environmentally, project doesnt address underlying causes of water insecurity in north incl inefficient agricultural/industrial use and pollution
29
Q

What are the main players involved in hard engineering water management?

A
  • economic players: World Bank, IMF fund mega projects and ensure legislation is in place for trans-boundary schemes and water companies, can run supply business
  • environmental players: conservationists fight schemes or seek to save wetlands incl scientists who try to influence water policy
  • political players: IGOs e.g. UN responsible for MDGs, and pressure groups that fight against issues e.g. dam construction
  • social players: residents, consumers etc who regard access to water a human right, NGOs e.g. water aid provide schemes for LEDCs
30
Q

What is an example of an external water structure?

A
  • Turkey-Israel
  • Israel suffering from worst water crisis from droughts of 1998-2001, only sizeable reservoir is Lake Tiberias which is declining
  • Manavgat Water Agreement 2002 - brings possiblity of water trade - could reduce tensions and strengthen friendship, Israel could share with Palestine and Jordan
  • $1 billion agreement - however didnt go ahead
31
Q

What is the UN’s view on water insecurity?

A
  • states water use has been growing at twice the rate of the population
  • 2025: 1.8 billion living in absolute scarcity and 2/3 will be in water stress conditions
32
Q

How much of the world population lives in areas receiving 1/4 of world rainfall

A

66% lives in areas receiving 1/4 of world rainfall annually

33
Q

What does water security refer to?

A

the capacity of a population to safeguardg sustainable access to adequate quantities of drinking water for sustaining livelihoods/wellbeing

34
Q

What is water stress defined as?

A

when country’s renewable water resources are between 1000-1700m3 per capita - causing frequent/serious restrictions in water use, growing tensions and competition, harvest failures etc

35
Q

What is water scarcity defined as?

A

when country’s renewable water resources are between 500-1000m3 per capita - causing tension/conflict between users, competition, over-extraction of groundwater

36
Q

What is absolute water scarcity defined as?

A

when country’s renewable water resources are below 500m3 - causing widespread restrictions on water use and rationing

37
Q

What are the physical causes of drought?

A
  • climate
  • areas of high pressure
  • low latitude
  • relief
  • poor aquifer recharge
38
Q

What are the human causes of drought?

A
  • over-abstraction
  • industry/economic growth - factories need water supply
  • population growth
  • climate change
  • thermal pollution - factories pump warm water back in river and this evaporates
39
Q

What is saltwater intrusion and how does this occur?

A

aquifer abstraction/groundwater pumping at coast can cause saltwater incursion and salinisation of wells, wetlands etc

  • freshwater flow decreases and causes saltwater to be drawn into freshwater zones
  • this problem increases from storm surges/rising sea levels
  • e.g. Samoa gets 35% of water from aquifers, low-lying island means it is threatened by saltwater intrusion, sea level rise strains available water
40
Q

How many people rely on groundwater?

A

2.5 billion

41
Q

How much waste water is discharged directly into water bodies?

A

90% of all waste water in developing countries discharged directly into rivers, lakes or oceans

42
Q

Which human activity uses most water?

A

agriculture at 70% globally

43
Q

What percentage of the worlds aquifers are over exploited?

A

20%

Geography 1 (4 decks)

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