Water World Flashcards
What is precipitation?
When tiny water droplets collide and grow building bigger droplets. These then fall under gravity to the ground as rain or snow
What is condensation?
When water vapour cools down, tiny water droplets form often becoming visible as a cloud
What is evaporation?
Water will rises to the atmosphere as water vapour when heated by the sun
What is overland flow?
When some rainfall flows quickly over the surface of ground to reach rivers and lakes.
What is through flow?
When some rainwater soaks through the soil (infiltration) and flows slowly through soil until it reaches a river.
What is groundwater flow?
Some rainwater that has infiltrated through the soil soaks into permeable rocks below. Then it either moves very slowly through pores (tiny air spaces in rock) or flows along joints (cracks in rock)
Define impermeable and permeable.
Impermeable - doesn’t allow water to pass through
Permeable - allows water to pass through
Define regulated flow.
Steady movement of water through a drainage basin that will not bring flash flooding.
What is an aquifier?
An underground store of water formed when permeable rocks lie on top of impermeable rocks.
What 3 things make up the Hydrosphere?
Atmosphere - rain stored in clouds
Lithosphere - water stored underground in aquifers and on land as ice
Biosphere - rainwater is caught and held on leaves
What 3 things cause unreliable water supplies?
Seasonal variations - climates can be wet or dry
Longer natural cycles - natural weather cycles bring clusters of drier and wetter years
Climate change - temperatures are rising due to global warming.
What is nomadic farming?
Moving around from one place to another for better farming conditions
What problems are faced by people living in the Sahel regarding water for farming?
Sahel = region of Africa with droughts, unreliable rainfall, water shortages etc.
People finding it hard to grow crops, they can’t nomadic farm due to growing population, resulting in food shortages and money loss.
Now building dams/demi loons to conserve water
What are the 4 human impacts on water availability?
Cash crops - crops grown for profit over personal use which wastes water
Lack of technology - hard to rationalise water without pipes, dams etc.
Civil war - water destroyed during war
Population increase - increase in need for water, must rationalise more efficiently
Summarise the water shortages in Australia.
Weather - naturally dry, hot, arid
Why water shortages - over-use, decade long-dry spell, global warming/climate change
Effects - loss of wheat crops, wells drying up
Solutions - electromagnetic imaging to find hidden water stores, Gov giving farmers money to relocate
Summarise the water shortages in America.
Weather - dry, arid, reduced rainfall
Why water shortages - too dependant on Colorado river, naturally dry, climate change
Effects - wildlife suffer, water shortages
Solutions - desert landscaping
What problems are parts of Asia facing regarding water supplies and why?
Asia - home to half of worlds population
Major rivers in China, India and Vietnam are fed by seasonal melting of Himalayan glaciers.
Global warming leading to permanent melting of glaciers.
Explain 3 ways humans contaminate rivers.
Plastic Bags - can block rivers and cause flooding - now been banned in China and India
Toxic Chemicals - pollutes and destroys wildlife in rivers - Mersy river, Liverpool destroyed this way
Human excrement - unhygienic and spreads diseases like cholera.
What 3 things can cause too much overflow possibly resulting in flooding?
Deforestation
Urbanisation
Drain pipes
