Water Resources and Management: Terms and Concepts in the Colorado River Basin, Quizzes of Geography

Download Water Resources and Management: Terms and Concepts in the Colorado River Basin and more Quizzes Geography in PDF only on Docsity! TERM 1 The Colorado River Basin DEFINITION 1 Droughts Too many people Too much agriculture Planning still supply focused Not accounting for depleting resources TERM 2 Surface Water DEFINITION 2 Precipitation reaching the Earth's surface follows two basic pathways: Flows overland (Runoff) Soaks into the soil TERM 3 Interception DEFINITION 3 happens along the way when precipitation hits plants or other ground cover drains across plant leaves and down stems to the ground = stem flow falls directly to the ground = through fall TERM 4 Infiltration DEFINITION 4 water soaks into the ground penetration of a soil surface TERM 5 Percolation DEFINITION 5 It travels further into soil or rock through downward movement TERM 6 Soil-water Budget concept DEFINITION 6 An effective way to access water resources for any area of Earth's surface (everything from a continent to your back yard) Measure supply (input) Measure demand (output) Can examine any time frame (minutes to years) think of it as a money budget TERM 7 PRECIP - precipitation DEFINITION 7 Our moisture supply Measured with a rain gauge TERM 8 ACTET DEFINITION 8 actual evapotranspiration Evaporation: movement of water molecules from a wet surface into the air TERM 9 Transpiration DEFINITION 9 cooling mechanism in plants Plants move water from stomata to underside of leaves allowing it to evaporate Cools them off, just like when we sweat TERM 10 Evapotranspiration DEFINITION 10 evaporation combined with transpiration refers to the actual expenditure of water from land and plants depends on relative humidity and temperature TERM 21 gravitational water DEFINITION 21 When soil becomes saturated after a precipitation event, any water surplus in the soil it percolates from the shallow capillary zone to the deeper groundwater TERM 22 Soil-moisture utilization DEFINITION 22 removes soil water TERM 23 soil-moisture recharge DEFINITION 23 the process of replenishing water TERM 24 porosity DEFINITION 24 determined by the texture and structure of the soil dictate available pore spaces TERM 25 permeability DEFINITION 25 the property of the soil that determines the rate of soil- moisture recharge TERM 26 Meteorological Drought DEFINITION 26 degree of dryness as compared to the regional average and the duration of dry conditions TERM 27 Agricultural drought DEFINITION 27 when shortages of precipitation and soil moisture affect crop yields TERM 28 Hydrological Drought DEFINITION 28 effect of precipitation shortages on water supply TERM 29 Socioeconomic Drought DEFINITION 29 when reduced water supply causes the demand for goods to exceed the supply TERM 30 Sample water budgets DEFINITION 30 using all the concepts you just learned, we can graph the water-balance for a specific place TERM 31 Hurricane Camille (1969) DEFINITION 31 Was wonderful for water resources Detrimental for the coast TERM 32 Water budget and water resource DEFINITION 32 water distribution is uneven over space and time TERM 33 Groundwater Resources DEFINITION 33 Largest potential freshwater source in the hydrologic cycle tied to surface supplies for recharge TERM 34 Groundwater Profile and Movement DEFINITION 34 Groundwater begins as surplus water and moves through TERM 35 Zone of Aeration DEFINITION 35 porous spaces contain air Subsurface rocks are either permeable (water can move through) or impermeable