Water Cycle Eq1

Question 1

What are stores

Answer 1

Places where water is held

Question 2

What are flows

Answer 2

Processes that move water from one store to another

Question 3

What are fluxes

Answer 3

We call a flow a flux if we know the quantity

Question 4

Why is the earth considered a closed hydrological system

Answer 4

Negligible amounts of water enter or leave the atmosphere

Question 5

What is the cryosphere

Answer 5

Ice caps, glaciers, permanent snow

Question 6

What are the three biggest stores of water and their percentage of top one

Answer 6

Oceans - 96.5%
Glaciers and ice caps
Ground water

Question 7

What is an aquifer

Answer 7

A large store of water held within the pore spaces of some rocks

Question 8

What is stem flow

Answer 8

Rain that is intercepted but then flows down branches, trunks and stems to the ground

Question 9

What is soil throughflow

Answer 9

Movement of water not due to gravity in the soil but due to differences in hydrostatic pressure

Question 10

What is throughfall

Answer 10

Rain that falls through vegetation and reaches the ground

Question 11

What is percolation

Answer 11

Downwards movement of water through soil and rock due to gravity

Question 12

What is groundwater flow

Answer 12

Movement of water not due to gravity in within pore spaces in rocks

Question 13

What is permafrost

Answer 13

When the ground stays frozen for at least two years in a row

Question 14

What are residency times

Answer 14

The average amount of time a water molecule will stay in a store

Question 15

What is biospheric water

Answer 15

Water held within living things

Question 16

What stores have the longest and the shortest residency times

Answer 16

Longest - glaciers, ice caps, permafrost, groundwater
Shortest - biospheric water, atmospheric water, river channels

Question 17

What is a renewable water store

Answer 17

A water store that is being replenished at a rate that is greater than or equal to the rate it is being used

Question 18

Examples of non renewable water resources

Answer 18

Cryospheric stores
Fossil aquifers, as the store is sealed under the ground by a layer of clay meaning it cannot be replenished

Question 19

What is a drainage basin

Answer 19

The area of land that is draining water into one river system

Question 20

What is a watershed

Answer 20

The boundary between two drainage basins

Question 21

What is the largest drainage basin on earth

Answer 21

Amazon drainage basin

Question 22

What factors affect drainage basins

Answer 22

Climate
Soils
Relief
Vegetation
Geology
Humans

Question 23

What is orographic rainfall

Answer 23

Caused by the relief of the land forcing water vapour to rise and cool

Question 24

What is convectional rainfall

Answer 24

Caused by the heating of the earth’s surface leading to evaporation and precipitation

Question 25

What is frontal rainfall

Answer 25

Caused by warm air masses rising above denser colder air masses, causing the warm air to cool down and precipitate

Question 26

What can the amount of precipitation be influenced by

Answer 26

Rates of convection Monsoon climate Continentality (places closer to coasts will have more rainfall) Mountains

Question 27

What is the intertropical convergence zone

Answer 27

Where trade winds meet Usually wet environments

Question 28

What human factors influence the hydrological system

Answer 28

Dams Over abstraction Deforestation Agriculture Urbanisation Climate change Lakes and reservoirs

Question 29

Three impacts of deforestation on hydrological system

Answer 29

Not enough rainfall for the rainforest to be able to sustain itself as there is less interception and evapotranspiration More droughts as humidity from rainforest would normally move to other countries Soils become more compact so there is less infiltration

Question 30

What is a river regime

Answer 30

The difference in discharge of the river throughout the year, affected by a number of factors

Question 31

What is a simple river regime

Answer 31

Has a high flow season and a low flow season

Question 32

What is a complex river regime

Answer 32

Could have multiple high and low flow seasons throughout the year

Question 33

What is a flood hydrograph

Answer 33

Graph that shows how the discharge of a river responds after a rainfall event

Question 34

What is lag time

Answer 34

The time between peak rainfall and peak discharge