Week 5 Notes- The Hydrosphere/Ch.4-Lec 5 Flashcards
What are the three stages of the hydrologic cycle?
Storage- storing water in oceans, lakes, streams, groundwater, and glaciers
Evaporation- starts the cycle-water vapor goes into the atmosphere
Water condensation and Precipitation- when the water leaves the atmosphere, it falls back to the ground and is stored there or flows back to the ocean (ex.: rain, fog, etc.)
What is the primary source of water evaporation on Earth?
Ocean surfaces with over 84%
What is the definition of a drainage basin, or watershed?
Areas that separate water flowing to different rivers, basins, or seas. An area drained by a river or other body of water
What are the three major “zones” of a river, and be able to describe them.
Zone 1: Headwaters- streams that flow down from steep mountain slopes and cut deep, V-shaped valleys.
Zone 2: Transfer Zone- elevation streams merge to flow down gentle slopes. Valleys broaden as coalescing rivers start to meander
Zone 3: Depositional zone- low elevation, rivers meander across flat valleys and floodplains. Separates to go out into the sea.
What are the three different types of rivers?
meandering, straight, anastomosed
What is the general process relating to the wearing down/removal of surrounding rocks & sediment that occurs in the upper reaches of rivers?
Erosion
What is the reverse process related to sediments that happen in the floodplains of rivers?
Deposition
Swamps and marshes are both characterized by what features. Where are they generally found, and how are they different from each other?
Alongside waterways and in floodplains
Where are deltas found, and how are they formed?
The mouth of rivers
Sediment deposition
What is the term whereby water is at the top of a stream, and any further rise will lead to flooding.
bank
bankfull
What is the difference between an Open Lake and a Closed Lake?
An open lake has an outlet (a stream) while closed lakes have no natural outlet which turns them saline
What are the five major ways that lakes can form?
1) glaciers
2) plate tectonics
3) volcano craters
4) river meanders
5) landslides
What is the term used for water that is naturally stored underground?
groundwater
What are two factors that affect groundwater flow and storage time?
porosity and permeability
Where is an unconfined aquifer found, and what is a common name for it?
groundwater
What separates a confined aquifer from an unconfined aquifer?
Confined aquifers are different from unconfined aquifers because they are denser due to the pressure above and have less permeable layers. The water here is older
What is spring?
A natural exit point at which groundwater emerges out of an aquifer and flows onto the surface. May contain minerals from the earth, especially if emerging from a geyser or deep aquifer.
What is the definition of the Cryosphere?
all frozen water on Earth
What percent of all freshwater on Earth does the Cryosphere amount to?
69%
What are the two basic categories of glaciers?
Continental glaciers/ice sheets
Alpine Glaciers
Name the two major ice sheets on Earth.
Greenland Ice sheet, Antarctica Ice sheet
What are the three major “zones” of Alpine glaciers. And what is the end of an Alpine glaciers called.
Accumulation zone, equilibrium line, ablation zone
the end is called Terminal Moraine
What is Tidewater Glacier, and what is “glacial calving”?
A tidewater glacier terminates in the ocean. Common at the Ice Shelves and in Alaska.
“Glacier Calving” is when the ice breaks off the Glacier it ice bergs are deposited in the ocean.
What are “ice shelves”?
These are sheets of ice that extend out over the ocean
