chapter 11 Flashcards
(20 cards)
Surface water
Fresh water on Earth’s land surface.
river system
A flowing network of water.
watershed
The area of land that is drained by a river.
groundwater
Water that is found beneath Earth’s surface in the spaces in sediment and rock formations.
aquifer
An underground formation that contains groundwater.
porosity
The percentage of the total volume of a rock that has spaces.
permeability
The ability of rock or soil to allow water to flow through it.
recharge zone
An area of Earth’s surface from which water percolates down into an aquifer.
potable
Water that is safe to drink or use for food preparation.
pathogen
organisms that cause illness or disease.
dam
Built across rivers to control the river’s flow.
reservoir
An artificial lake that is formed behind the dam.
desalination
The process of removing salt from salt water.
water pollution
The introduction of chemical, physical, or biological agents into water that degrade water quality and harm the organisms that depend on the water.
point-source pollution
pollution discharged by a single source.
non-point-source pollution
pollution resulting from many diffuse sources, in direct contrast to point source pollution which results from a single source.
wastewater
Water that contains waste from homes or industry.
artificial eutrophication
occurs when human activity introduces increased amounts of these nutrients, which speed up plant growth and eventually choke the lake of all of its animal life.
thermal pollution
It occurs when power plants and other industries use water in their cooling systems and then discharge the warm water into a lake or river.
biomagnification
The concentration of toxins in an organism as a result of its ingesting other plants or animals in which the toxins are more widely disbursed.
