Science Water Pollution Vocab Flashcards
Water pollution, watersheds, etc.
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| 94299145 | Acid Mine Drainage | acidic water that forms when water contacts exposed mine wastes and ores and is carried into adjacent streams as runoff | |
| 94299146 | Acid Rain or Acid Precipitation | rain with a pH of less than 5.6; results from atmospheric moisture mixing with sulphur and nitrogen oxides emitted from burning fossil fuels; may cause damage to buildings, car finishes, crops, forests, and aquatic life | |
| 94299147 | Algae | a group of microscopic photosynthetic plants | |
| 94299148 | Algal Bloom | a heavy growth of algae in and on a body of water; usually results from high nitrate and phosphate concentrations entering water bodies from fertilizers and detergents; phosphates are also naturally occuring in rock formations | |
| 94299149 | Aquatic Life | all the life forms in water; ranges from invertebrates and fish to algae and larger aquatic plants | |
| 94299150 | Bacteria | single-cell microscopic organisms that break down organic materials | |
| 94299151 | Best Management Practices (BMP) | an engineered structure or management activity, or combination of these, that eliminates or reduces adverse environmental effects of pollutants | |
| 94299152 | Buffer Strip or Zone | grass or other erosion-preventive vegetation planted between a waterway and an area of intensive land use | |
| 94299153 | Clean Water Act of 1972 | the Federal law which sets national water quality goals and directs states to upgrade surface waters through the control of point sources of pollution. It was amended in 1977 and 1987. (NOTE: The nonpoint source program was instituted in the Water Quality Act of 1987 that amended the Clean Water Act.) | |
| 94299154 | Coliform Bacteria | bacteria found in the intestines of warm-blooded animals that aid in the digestion process; used as indicators of fecal contamination in water bodies | |
| 94299156 | Contour Strip Cropping | farming operations performed on the contour with crops planted in narrow strips, alternating between row crops and close-growing forage crops | |
| 94299158 | Conventional Tillage | standard method of preparing a seedbed by completely inverting the soil and incorporating the residue with a plow | |
| 94299160 | Dissolved Oxygen (DO) | oxygen gas dissolved in water | |
| 94299161 | Diversion | a best management practice (BMP) used to divert water across or away from a hillside, exposed soil, or other potential sources of contaminants | |
| 94299163 | Endangered Species | a plant or animal in serious danger of becoming extinct | |
| 94299164 | Erosion | the wearing away of the earth's suface by running water, wind, ice, or other geological agents | |
| 94299165 | Eutrophication | naturally occurring changes that take place after a water body receives inputs of nutrients, mostly nitrates and phosphates, from erosion and runoff of surrounding lands; this process can be accelerated by human activities | |
| 94299166 | Grassed Waterway | a natural or constructed waterway covered with grasses used to trap sediment and prevent erosion | |
| 94299167 | Groundwater | water that infiltrates into and is stored in the soil and rock below the Earth's surface | |
| 94299168 | Gully | a channel caused by the concentrated flow of water over unprotected erodible land | |
| 94299169 | Heavy Metals | metals present in industrial, municipal, and urban runoff including copper, cadmium, zinc, nickel, mercury, and chromium; they are usually poisonous to humans and animals | |
| 94299174 | Limiting Factor | a factor whose absence exerts influence upon a population; may be responsible for no growth, limited growth (decline), or rapid growth | |
| 94299175 | Mulch | any material such as straw, sawdust, leaves, plastic film, or pine bark that is spread upon the surface of the soil to protect the soil and plant roots from the effects of raindrops, soil crusting, freezing, and evaporation | |
| 94299176 | Municipal Sewage | sewage from a community; may be composed of domestic sewage, industrial wastes, or both | |
| 94299178 | Nonpoint Source (NPS) Pollution | pollution that cannot be traced to a single point because it comes from many individual places or from one widespread area (e.g., urban and agricultural) | |
| 94299179 | No-Till or Zero Tillage | a method of planting crops that involves no land disturbance other than opening the soil for the purpose of placing seeds at an intended depth | |
| 94299180 | Organic Materials | carbon-containing substances found in plants, animals, and their remains | |
| 94299182 | Parts Per Million (PPM) | the number of "parts" by weight of a substance per million parts of liquid. For example, one gram of salt in one million grams of water equals one PPM of salt | |
| 94299183 | Pathogenic | capable of causing disease | |
| 94299184 | Percolation | the downward movement of water through the subsurface soil layers to groundwater | |
| 94299185 | Pesticides | a chemical or biological agent used to kill plant or animal pests; herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, rodenticides, etc., are all types of pesticides | |
| 94299187 | Point Source Pollution | pollution that can be traced to a single point such as a pipe or culvert (e.g., industrial and wastewater treatment plant discharges) | |
| 94299188 | Pollutant | any substance which causes pollution | |
| 94299190 | Reduced Tillage or Conservation Tillage | any tillage practice which involves less soil distubance and retains more plant residues on the soil's surface than conventional tillage | |
| 94299191 | Riprap | large rocks placed along the bank of a waterway to prevent erosion | |
| 94299192 | Runoff | the portion of rainfall, melted snow, or irrigation (e.g., lawn sprinkler) water that flows across the land's surface, does not soak in the ground, and eventually runs into water bodies | |
| 94299193 | Sediment | insoluble material suspended in water that consists mainly of particles derived from rocks, soil, or organic materials; a major nonpoint source pollutant the other pollutants may attach to | |
| 94299194 | Sedimentation | the transport and deposition of sediment by flowing water or wind | |
| 94299200 | Suspended Solids | a mixture of fine particles dispersed in a liquid | |
| 94299201 | Terrace | an embankment, or combination of an embankment and channel, constructed across a slope; used to control erosion by diverting or storing surface runoff instead of permitting it to flow uninterrupted down the slope | |
| 94299202 | Topography | the representation of surface features of a region on maps or charts | |
| 94299203 | Toxic Substances | poisonous wastes or substances in wastewaters that may end up in water bodies; may harm fish or other aquatic life | |
| 94299204 | Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) | an equation used to predict erosion; used to design erosion control systems | |
| 94299205 | Wastewater Treatment | physical and chemical processes used to remove pollutants from water before discharging it into a water body | |
| 94299206 | Water Pollution | any human-caused contamination of water that reduces its usefulness to humans and other organisms in nature | |
| 94299207 | Water Quality Management Plan | a plan for managing water quality within a watershed that considers both point and nonpoint sources of pollution | |
| 94299208 | Watershed | the total land area the contributes runoff to a specific water body | |
| 95918421 | Hydroseeding | the process of sowing seed using a machine to disperse seed, water, and fertilizer together in a high pressure stream of water; used primarily to seed steep banks | |
| 95918422 | Impervious | resistant to penetration by water or plant roots | |
| 95918423 | Infiltration | the gradual downward flow of water from the surface of the earth into the subsoil |