Test 3 Review
The quantity of groundwater that can be stored within sedimentary material is most directly controlled by which of the following parameters?
the porosity of the material
What is the cone of depression?
the shape that the water table takes on near a pumping well
What is the water table?
the top of the saturated zone beneath Earth's surface
About how long have wastewater treatment plants been in existence?
120 years
You accidentally flush your cell phone. Where will it most likely be found at a wastewater treatment facility?
Bar screen
Where sediment is accumulated by the slower moving river water
Point bar
Imagine a valley containing four stream terraces. Where would the youngest stream terrace be found?
the lowest terrace
What is trellis drainage?
A structural control by differentially eroded folded sedimentary rocks. In a humid region, resistant rocks like sandstone, form ridges, and non-resistant rocks like shale and limestone form valleys.
Which of the following is true regarding groundwater as you move deeper below the surface?
Groundwater moves over larger distances, over longer timescales.
Water falling in Illinois would ultimately end up where?
Gulf of Mexico
What is annular drainage system?
In an annular drainage pattern streams follow a roughly circular or concentric path along a belt of weak rock, resembling in plan a ringlike pattern.
An agricultural company purchased a large tract of land adjacent to your property and built a group of large commercial greenhouses on it. This company uses a lot of water to keep the plants green and healthy. During a particularly dry summer, the amount of water available to your well starts to decrease. Since you are utilizing the same aquifer, what has this company done to the water supply?
The company has compromised the aquifer and is essentially mining the water from it.
What does the hydrologic cycle describe?
The hydrologic cycle describes how liquid and gaseous water move between the ocean, atmosphere, and land.
How does the number of tributaries change for a stream that has had part of its flow captured (A in the example) and a stream that has pirated another stream (B in the example)?
The number of tributaries for the captured stream (A) decreases and the number of tributaries for the pirating stream (B) increases.
What would happen to the oceans if surface runoff and groundwater flow did NOT occur?
The oceans would become smaller.
How does the water table change around a pumping water well?
The water table elevation decreases.
How would the water table be affected if Earth were made up of uniform, permeable material?
The water table would not exist.
A river that feeds into anther river
Tributary
The primary river flowing out of a drainage basin
Trunk Stream
How does the use of water by humans affect the water table?
Use of water by humans increases discharge, resulting in lowered water tables.
Using the example below, determine how flow will change as a result of stream piracy. The arrows indicate the original flow directions and the dotted line indicate where headward erosion has occurred.
Water would now flow from point A to point C.
An area in which all water falling in it flows out through one location
Watershed
Which of the following would produce a LOWER water table?
a decrease in the amount of recharge to groundwater, an increase in the amount of discharge to surface water
Which of the following best describes the cone of depression?
a dimple in the water table surface due to water pumped faster than an aquifer can be replenished
What is a stream terrace?
a remnant of an older floodplain that sits above the stream valley
If the velocity of a stream decreases, competence __________ and sediment is _____.
decreases, deposited
What is the next frontier in the drinking water industry?
desalination
What is a dendritic drainage system?
drainage pattern occurs when the tributary systems subdivides headway like the limbs of a tree.
Describe the erosion occurring during headward erosion.
erosion backwards at the start of the stream
What are water gaps?
erosion through hills or ridges caused by a change in base level
What is a rectangular drainage system?
form when streams and rivers flow off a central peak or dome like a volcano
Which of the following are part of the bed load?
gravel, sand
Velocity and turbulence are _____ at the __________.
greatest; outside of a meander
As a hydrogeologist looking for a source of water for a housing development, which of the following attributes would you look for in a layer of sediment or sedimentary rock?
high porosity, extent over a large geographic area, high permeability
Groundwater flows from __________.
high to low pressure areas
The cone of depression __________ near a well.
increases the hydraulic gradient
Of the following, where should a farmer drill to produce a flowing artesian well?
into a confined aquifer
Complete this analogy: Sliding is to gravel as dissolution is to_____________.
ions
To ensure a continuous supply of water, a well must do what?
penetrate well below the regional water table surface
What is an accumulation of sand and gravel that is deposited on the inside of a stream bend called?
point bar
How can pieces of rock in contact with a stream bed move?
rolling, sliding, bouncing
Which ocean is Earth's largest?
the Pacific Ocean
Which of the following is necessary to calculate hydraulic gradient?
the distance between two wells that penetrate the zone of saturation
What is suspended load?
the fine-grained particles that travel in the water column above the stream bed
The permeability of a material is directly related to which of the following parameters?
the grain size of the material
Which of the following is considered to be the safest drinking water source?
the groundwater
When do streams erode laterally?
when downcutting is occurring in easy-to-erode sediment or rock
When do stream terraces form?
when streams exist under alternating erosional and depositional conditions
When will a cone of depression stop enlarging?
when the amount of water flowing toward the well equals the amount of water being pumped out of the well
When might a well, Well A, go dry?
when the cone of depression of a second well intersects the deepest part of Well A
What is radial drainage?
A pattern develops around a central elevated point. This pattern is common to such conically shaped features as volcanoes. The tributary streams extend the headward reaches upslope toward the top of the volcano.
What is parallel drainage?
A pattern of rivers caused by steep slopes with some relief. Because of the steep slopes, the streams are swift and straight, with very few tributaries, and all flow in the same direction.
In which situation does the cone of depression need to be taken into account?
A well for industrial purposes is drilled proximal to a smaller, domestic well.
How much of Earth's surface water exists in the oceans?
Almost all of Earth's surface water exists in the oceans.
What is deranged drainage?
An original drainage pattern that has been deranged or disturbed by the intervention of external factors
Which of the following products of a wastewater treatment facility is often put on farm fields as a fertilizer?
Biosolids
What does the Kanapaha Wastewater Treatment Facility use to disinfect the treated water?
Chlorine
What does the Murphree Water Treatment Plant use to disinfect the water?
Chlorine
Which of the following diseases has been all but eliminated from the United States because of wastewater treatment plants?
Cholera
Where does settling of solids occur at a wastewater treatment facility?
Clarifier
Where the water is eroding the outside of the river due to it's relatively high speeds
Cut bank
A boundary, usually a hill or mountain, where water will flow in opposite directions on either side
Divide
Which of the following statements about drainage basins is FALSE?
Drainage basins only contain one river.
When water is pumped from a well, drawdown occurs. Which of the following is a true statement regarding drawdown?
Drawdown decreases with increasing distance from the well.
Why does groundwater discharge to Earth's surface?
Earth's surface is irregular, and permeability decreases with depth within Earth.
What federal agency regulates the bottled water industry?
Food and Drug Administration
Once a groundwater supply is contaminated with marine water, how long will it remain contaminated?
Forever
How many stream terraces can exist along a single valley?
No limit exists. Stream terraces will keep forming as long as lateral erosion and downcutting continue.
How does water get from the oceans onto land?
Ocean water evaporates to form gaseous water and moves into the atmosphere, where it condenses into liquid water and falls out of the atmosphere to land as rain.
Where the sediment is pushed further and further to where it becomes vegetation near the water.
Scroll bars
Are stream terraces depositional or erosional landforms?
Stream terraces can be either depositional or erosional.
What is the primary energy source that drives the hydrologic cycle and most other cycles on Earth?
The Sun
What would happen to atmospheric water if Earth were mostly covered with land?
The atmosphere would contain less water.
Rock, such as shale or clay, or other unlithified sediment can produce layers that are well sorted, but do not allow water to move through them. Which of the following terms is most accurate for this type of layer?
an aquitard
A perched aquifer is located directly above a(n) __________.
aquitard
Where is most of Earth's freshwater found?
as ice at Earth's surface
What are the three types of loads carried by streams?
bed load, suspended load, dissolved load
Complete this analogy: Bouncing is to sand as suspension is to_____________.
clay
What are the two types of aquifers?
confined and unconfined
Of the rocks listed below, which has high permeability? Choose all that apply.
conglomerate, sandstone