8415029872 | Availability of Freshwater | only about 0.024% of the earth's water supply is available to us | 0 | |
8415029873 | Groundwater | some precipitation infiltrates the ground and is stored in spaces in soil and rock; water in these spaces is one of most important sources of fresh water; moves from high to low elevation | 1 | |
8415029874 | Zone of Saturation | a certain depth where these spaces are completely filled with water | 2 | |
8415029875 | Water Table | the top of the zone of saturation | 3 | |
8415029876 | Aquifers | geological layers deeper down like caverns and porous, layers of sand, gravel, or bedrock through which groundwater flows; contain much more freshwater than lakes and rivers | 4 | |
8415029879 | Surface Water | the freshwater that flows across the earth's land surface and into rivers, streams, lakes, and reservoirs | 5 | |
8415029880 | Surface Runoff | precipitation that does not return to the atmosphere by evaporation or infiltrate into the ground | 6 | |
8415029881 | Watershed | drainage basin; the land fro which surface water drains into a river, lake, wetland, or other body of water | 7 | |
8415029889 | Withdrawing Groundwater Advantages | useful for drinking and irrigation, available year round and everywhere, renewable, no evaporation losses, cheaper to extract than most surface waters | 8 | |
8415029890 | Withdrawing Groundwater Disadvantages | depletion from over pumping, sinking of land from over pumping, pollution, saltwater intrusion, reduced water flows into surface waters, increased cost and contamination with more depth | 9 | |
8415029894 | Advantages to Large Dams | produce cheap electricity, reduce downstream flooding, and provide year-round water for irrigating crop land | 10 | |
8415029897 | Aral Sea | formerly the fourth largest lake in the world: shallow and saline, now badly polluted; use of its source waters for irrigation led to a loss of over 50% of its area; diverted water was mostly used for irrigation | 11 | |
8415029898 | Colorado River Basin | Many dams and withdrawals have stopped its flow to the sea; 14 major dams and reservoirs; supplies water mainly to California but is also used for Nevada and other states around | 12 | |
8415029899 | China's Three Gorges Dam | world's largest dam that helps reduce flooding and provide electricity but displaces many people and will cause flooding in different areas | 13 | |
8415029903 | Desalination | removing dissolved salts from ocean water or from brackish water in aquifers or lakes for domestic use; Israel uses prominently; two major problems: very costly and takes a lot of energy | 14 | |
8415029904 | Distillation | heating saltwater until it evaporates, leaves behind salts in solid form, and condenses as freshwarer | 15 | |
8415029905 | Reverse Osmosis | microfiltration; uses high pressure to force salt water through a membrane filter with pores small enough to remove the salt (pushes freshwater out of salt water) | 16 | |
8415029911 | Reducing Flood Damage | preserve forests on watersheds, preserve and restore wetlands in floodplains | 17 | |
8415029914 | Transpiration | the process by which moisture is carried through plants from roots to small pores on the underside of leaves, where it changes to vapor and is released to the atmosphere | 18 | |
8415029919 | Ogallala | shallow water table aquifer surrounded by sand, silt, clay and gravel located beneath the Great Plains in the United States | 19 | |
8415108767 | Disadvantages of Dams | Displaces people and disrupt aquatic systems, and reducing downstream flow | 20 |
AP Environmental Science Water Flashcards
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