MODULE 4: HYDROLOGIC CYCLE: STREAMS, FLOODS, GROUNDWATER, GLACIERS & ICE SHEETS

Question 1

streams

Answer 1

bodies of water that flow downslope along clearly defined channels

Question 2

continental divide

Answer 2

a topographic high point that separates adjacent drainage basins

Question 3

st. lawrence seaway

Answer 3

continental divide that runs thru ohio

water goes to either lake erie or ohio river

Question 4

watershed/drainage basin

Answer 4

the total are from which water flows into a stream

Question 5

colorado river drainage basin

Answer 5

drains into gulf of california

Question 6

ohio river basin

Answer 6

maumee river drainage basin

fort wayne to defiance to perrysburg to lake erie

Question 7

stream gradient

Answer 7

steepness of a channel
(high gradient=steep, mountains)
(low=flat)

Question 8

stream discharge

Answer 8

volume of water passing by a single point in the stream at any given time

area = depth x width

discharge = area x velocity

Question 9

sediment load

Answer 9

the suspended and dissolved sediment carried by a stream

the faster the stream, the more sediment load it can carry

Question 10

combined

Answer 10

if gradient increases along a channel - velocity of a stream increases - greater sediment load can be carried

Question 11

alluvial fan

Answer 11

typically formed at the base of mountains where stream gradients abruptly decrease and sediment load can settle out

Question 12

delta

similar to alluvial fans

Answer 12

occur when a stream empties into a standing body of water (lake, ocean)

Question 13

straight streams

Answer 13

usually occur over short differences, particularly in upstream, high gradient areas and have the classic V-shaped valley

yellowstone river

Question 14

meandering streams

meanders back and forth

Answer 14

usually develop where stream gradient is low in downstream areas where stream is emptying into another surface water body

missouri river

Question 15

cut bank

outer edges of the bend - fastest along the cut banks

Answer 15

erosion concentrate along the outer sides of the meandering stream channel

Question 16

point bar

flows slower, depositional side

Answer 16

where sediment is deposited

Question 17

oxbow lake

Answer 17

abandoned meadner of a stream, was a curve on the meander, was cutoff after a flooding event

Question 18

braided streams

common in glacial environments due to variable sediment load

Answer 18

arise when a stream’s ability to move it’s sediment load varies over time, usually occur in low gradient areas with a large and variable sediment load

Question 19

floods

Answer 19

event in which a body of water overflows its banks - all water bodies undergo changes in water volume

Question 20

stream stage

Answer 20

measures the water level or height of water

Question 21

stream speed

Answer 21

velocity - from which stream discharge can be calc’d

Question 22

recurrence interval (t)

n=number of years of stream discharge data

Answer 22

(n+1)/m

m=rank of discharge events

Question 23

97.5% salt water

salt water ocean basins

Answer 23

2.5% freshwater

2% in glaciers

Question 24

infiltration (percolation)

Answer 24

how water seeps through the ground

Question 25

Zone of aeration (vadose/unsaturated zone)

Answer 25

pore spaces mostly filled with air

Question 26

zone of saturation (phreatic zone)

Answer 26

pore spaces filled with water

Question 27

water table

Answer 27

where the zones meet ## Footnote mimics surface landscape

Question 28

porosity

Answer 28

open/void space btwn mineral grains in sediment/rocks (measure as a percentage of void space)

Question 29

permeability

Answer 29

ability of water to flow through pore spaces (measured as a speed or rate cm/s)

Question 30

high porosity and high permeability

Answer 30

good spot for a well

Question 31

igneous rock

Answer 31

low pore low perm

Question 32

clay-rich

Answer 32

high pore low perm

Question 33

quartz sandstone

Answer 33

high pore high perm

Question 34

glacial till

Answer 34

low pore low perm

Question 35

limestone

Answer 35

highly dissolvable rock - tend to be noth porous and permeable

Question 36

aquifer

Answer 36

layer of rock or sediment that is 1. water saturated 2. porous 3. permeable

Question 37

aquiclude/aquitard ## Footnote unconfined does not have this, but are easily contaminated

Answer 37

a confining layer of impermeable rock or sediment ## Footnote confined has this

Question 38

spring

Answer 38

where water table meets land surface

Question 39

recharge

Answer 39

replenishment of groundwater

Question 40

hotspring

Answer 40

produced by emergence of geothermally heated groundwater

Question 41

geyser

Answer 41

a spring characterized by intermittent discharge of water ejected turbulently and accompanied by a vapor phase (steam)

Question 42

artesian well

Answer 42

a well drilled into a confined aquifer which causes the water level in a well to rise to a point where hydrostatic equilibrium has been reached

Question 43

cryosphere

Answer 43

the perennially frozen part of the hydrosphere

Question 44

glaciers and ice sheets

Answer 44

semi-permanent frozen body of ice that moves under the pull of gravity

Question 45

glaciers are like a checking account and build up

Answer 45

accumulation vs loss

Question 46

ablation | loss

Answer 46

melting

Question 47

polar glaciers

Answer 47

the base is below the melting point, stuck, mostly flow internally

Question 48

sub polar glacier

Answer 48

the base is at or near the melting point, basal sliding, surges can occur

Question 49

ice sheet

Answer 49

largest type of glacier on earth, continent-scale mass of ice that covers all or nearly all land mass within its margins ## Footnote greenland, antarctic

Question 50

ice sheets are so heavy that some of the land underneath has been pushed below sea level

Answer 50

isostacy

Question 51

ice shelf

Answer 51

thick sheets floating ice hundreds of meters thick that adjoin glaciers on land ## Footnote ross, austfonna

Question 52

sea ice

Answer 52

never touches land at all, but forms by the direct freezing of seawater

Question 53

albedo effect ## Footnote surfave w/o snow or ice absorbs more heat

Answer 53

the amount of solar energy that gets reflected off of the Earth and back into space ## Footnote surface w/ snow and ice reflects more heat

Question 54

ice cap

Answer 54

covers a mountaintop of low-lying land in polar regions

Question 55

cirque glaciers ## Footnote tend to form on the leeward (downwind or wind-protected) side of a mountain

Answer 55

## Footnote tend to form on side of a mountain with least amount of radiation (sunlight-protected side of mountain)

Question 56

valley glaciers

Answer 56

as cirque glaciers grow, they spill out and converge to form valley glaciers

Question 57

piedmont glaciers

Answer 57

valley glaciers that spill oit onto flat land

Question 58

fjord glaciers

Answer 58

valley glaciers that extend down into the sea ## Footnote holgate

Question 59

cirque

Answer 59

bowl-shaped depression in a mountain top where a cirque glacier once eroded

Question 60

zone of plucking

Answer 60

erosion

Question 61

terminal moraine

Answer 61

deposition

Question 62

tarn

Answer 62

a lake that forms when glacier melts

Question 63

ice can carve out large depressions that fill with meltwater

Answer 63

great lakes

Question 64

u shaped valley

Answer 64

eroded by valley glaciers, when glacial ice flows down-valley from high alpine areas

Question 65

arete

Answer 65

a sharp-crested ridge formed when two adjacent cirques into a mountainside

Question 66

horn

Answer 66

cirque glaciers erode more than one side

Question 67

roche moutonnee ## Footnote wolfe center

Answer 67

a hump-backed glacial-erosional feature

Question 68

glacial grooves

Answer 68

erosional linear gouges cut into bedrock by a debris-filled glacier - indicate ice-flow direction

Question 69

glacial striations

Answer 69

erosional scratches cut into bedrock by a debris-filled glacier - indicate ice-flow direction

Question 70

glacial polish

Answer 70

a glossy sheen imparted to bedrock that was recently scoured by sediment-rich meltwater power-washing the underlying bedrock

Question 70

Jökulhaup

Answer 70

a glacier outburst flood

Question 71

nunatuks

Answer 71

little bits of mountain peaking out from the ice caps

Question 72

fluvial

Answer 72

v-shaped valley

Question 73

glacial

Answer 73

u-shaped valley

Question 74

fjords

Answer 74

steeply sided valleys that enter the sea

Question 75

till (ground moraine)

Answer 75

a poorly-sorted mixture of crushed sediments deposited by a glacier

Question 76

glacial erratics

Answer 76

boulders with lithologies different from the underlying rock

Question 77

moraine ridge

Answer 77

a ridge of poorly-sorted debris that has been transported by a glacier

Question 78

terminal moraine

Answer 78

a moraine ridge at the terminus of a glacier ## Footnote perpendicular to ice flow direction

Question 79

drumlin

Answer 79

a teardrop-shaped glacial deposit, typically made of poorly-sorted, clay-rich till ## Footnote point at direction of ice flow, away from glacier

Question 80

esker

Answer 80

long ridges of sand and gravel laid down in the beds of streams running beneath glaciers

Question 81

kame

Answer 81

a cone-shaped hill made of well-sorted sands and gravels

Question 82

kettle ponds

Answer 82

produced by a stranded block of ice that eventually melts producing a meltwater-filled depression in the landscape

Question 83

pleistocene epoch ## Footnote ice age earth

Answer 83

penultimate geological time interval 2.6 mya - 11,700 ya

Question 84

glacial deposits

Answer 84

* till (ground moraine) * glacial erratics * moraines (terminal, recessional, lateral, medial) * kames and eskers * drumlin (fields) * kettle ponds

Question 85

glacial erosional features

Answer 85

* cirque * u-shaped valleys * arete * fjord * horn * roche moutonne * glacial grooves * glacial striations * glacial polish

Question 86

meltwater means

Answer 86

well-sorted

Question 87

proglacial

Answer 87

in front of the glacier

Question 88

ice damed proglacial meltwater lake

Answer 88

lake maumee

Question 89

15-18

Answer 89

melt water lake maumee

Question 90

pluvial lakes

Answer 90

landlocked basins which filled with rainwater

Question 90

great black swamp

Question 91

drain the swamp

Answer 91

started from draining the gbs

Question 92

potholes coulee

Answer 92

erosional scouring from the ice-dam rupture flooding

Question 93

four pulses of ice ages

Answer 93

wisconsinan (20,000 yago) illanoian (300,000-130,000 yago) kansan (2.5 mya -500,000 yago) nebraskan (2.5 mya)

Question 94

marine records - sediment cores from oceans

Answer 94

ice-rafted debris marine organisms isotopes

Question 95

marine sediment record is often more complete than terrestrial

Answer 95

less chance of erosion

Question 96

ice rafted debris layers

Answer 96

indirect records of past glaciations and are correlated to land records of glactiations

Question 97

foraminifera

Answer 97

shells made of calcite, certain like cold envrios and some like warm enviros, get stuck in ocean floor

Question 98

during glacial periods ## Footnote global signal

Answer 98

ocean gets isotopically heavier ## Footnote o18 to o16 increases

Question 99

co2 and ch4 were lowest during times of glaciation

Answer 99

and highest during interglacial warm periods

Question 100

bering land bridge

Answer 100

migratory pathway for animals and people - result of lower sea level

Question 101

eustatic sea level

Answer 101

"bathtub approach"