Fresh and Salt Water Systems - Vocabulary

Flashcards of vocabulary terms and definitions related to fresh and salt water systems.

Sustainability

Meeting the needs of the present generation without hindering the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

Salt water

Water such as ocean water and seawater that has a high salt content.

Fresh water

Water such as lake water, river water, pond water, and well water that most organisms can drink or use for life functions.

Evaporation

The change of state from a liquid to a gas.

Condensation

The change of state from a gas to a liquid.

Water cycle

The continuous interaction of evaporation and condensation that controls the distribution of Earth’s water.

Glacier

A moving mass of ice and snow.

Ice cap

A glacier that forms on an extensive area of relatively level land and that flows outwards from its centre.

Icefield

An upland area of ice that feeds two or more glaciers.

Valley glacier

A glacier that forms in a mountain range.

Continental glacier

A huge mass of ice and snow that occurs mostly near the North and South poles in Greenland and Antarctica.

Icefall

Where a glacier flows over a steep cliff and breaks up.

Crevasse

A fissure or crack in the ice of a glacier.

Pack ice

A sheet of ice rarely more than 5 m thick that breaks easily and is formed from freezing sea water.

Icebergs

Large chunks of ice that break loose from continental glaciers as the glaciers flow downslope into the ocean.

Calve

To break loose, or calve, from continental glaciers.

Striations

Parallel scars or scratches left by a glacier, which show in which direction the glacier moved.

Cirques

Bowl-shaped basins eroded by valley glaciers in the sides of mountains.

Arête

A ridge formed when two or more glaciers erode a mountain summit from several directions.

Horn

A sharpened peak formed by glacial action in three or more cirques.

Till

A jumble of boulders, sand, clay, and silt deposited when glaciers begin to melt.

Moraine

A large ridge of material left behind by a glacier.

Outwash

Material deposited by the meltwater from a glacier.

Esker

A long, winding ridge comprised of sand and gravel; this deposit forms beneath a melting glacier when meltwater forms a river within the ice.

Meltwater

Water formed by the melting of snow and ice.

Millwell

A rounded drain in the ice chiselled by a stream as it plunges downward.

Ice ages

Major periods of cooling that Earth has experienced over the last several million years.

Watershed

The area of land that drains into a body of water, such as a river, pond, wetland, lake, or ocean; also known as a drainage basin.

Run-off

Water that doesn’t soak into the ground or evaporate but instead flows across Earth’s surface.

Continental Divide

The continuous ridge of mountain ranges that divides North America into two main drainage areas.

Headwaters

The upstream areas of a watershed.

Outflow

The end point of the water flowing through a watershed; usually a river mouth.

Erosion

The wearing away of Earth’s surface by wind, water, or glacial action.

Sediment

A solid that settles out of a liquid.

Deposition

The depositing of eroded materials in new locations.

Streamflow

The amount of water discharged by a watershed; involves measuring the amount of water (volume) that flows past a certain point over a period of time (velocity).

Permeable

Said of soil and rock if the pore spaces are connected and water can pass through them.

Impermeable

Said of soil or rock if it has small pore spaces or no pores at all and water cannot pass through it.

Aquifer

A system of water flowing through porous rock.

Water table

The layer of porous rock in which all pores are full of water.

Contamination

Any addition of undesirable substances to groundwater caused by human activities.

Point sources

Sources of pollution where the source of a pollutant is from a small, defined area.

Non-point sources

Sources of pollution where a pollutant comes from a wide area.

Flood plain

The part of the river valley that a river overflows and spills out over.

Salinity

The measure of the amount of salts dissolved in a liquid.

Ocean ridges

Long undersea mountain chains that run along the centre of the oceans; the youngest areas of the sea floor, formed by volcanic eruptions.

Trenches

Narrow, steep-sided canyons formed where the edge of an ocean plate pushes against the edge of a continental plate.

Abyssal plains

Wide, open, and remarkably flat features of the deep sea; formed of thick deposits of sediment.

Continental shelf

The submerged part of the continent between the coast and the edge of the ocean basin.

Continental slope

The steep angle at which the continental shelf plunges at to the sea floor.

Waves

Large ripples, set in motion by steady winds, on the surface of a body of water.

Swells

Smooth waves caused by winds and storms far out at sea.

Breaker

The tumble of water that results when the crest of a wave outruns the trough and the wave collapses onshore.

Longshore currents

A current of water that runs along the shore, created when waves collide with the shoreline at slight angles; carries loose sediment.

Tides

The slow rise and fall of the ocean, caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon and Sun.

Spring tides

The largest tidal movements; occur when Earth, Moon, and Sun are aligned.

Neap tides

The smallest tidal movements; occur when the Sun and Moon are at right angles to each other.

Tidal range

The difference in level between a high tide and a low tide.

Currents

Broad, continuous movements of ocean water; like a massive river within the ocean.

Trade winds

Winds along the equator that blow from the east, pushing ocean currents toward the west.

Westerly winds

Winds toward the polar regions that drive currents from west to east.

Thermocline

A region of rapid temperature decline in the ocean between 200 m and 1000 m.

Heat capacity

The amount of heat required to raise the temperature of a substance by one degree Celsius.

Diversity

Having great variety.

Detritus

Decaying bodies of dead plants and animals.

Algal bloom

A population explosion of algae caused by an increased amount of nutrients in a body of water.

Decomposed

To rot or decay.

Biomagnification

A process in which the concentration of a toxin is magnified through a food chain.

Sea-floor vents

Cracks in the ocean floor, found along ocean ridges, where hot water flows, carrying dissolved minerals and gases from below the ocean floor.

Chemosynthesis

The production of food and oxygen by bacteria using chemicals such as sulfur compounds.

Hard water

Water that contains a lot of dissolved calcium and magnesium.

Soft water

Water that has less calcium and magnesium in it.

Toxic substances

Used in agriculture, manufacturing, mining and refining, can kill organisms even if very small amounts end up in the water

Bioindicator species

Changes in the numbers of stonefly, caddisfly, and mayfly larvae that live in streams, can tell us about the amount of pollution present in the water.

Water monitoring

Observe and test samples of water regularly and water systems to look for changes in water quality over time

Water management

Maintaining a reliable water supply for city planners and politicians involves balancing the needs of consumers, industries, agriculture, and wildlife

Potable water

Water that has been cleaned to make it safe to drink

Sewage

Solid and liquid waste from homes, businesses, and industries

Effluent

Wastewater, that foes back into rivers, lakes, groundwater, and the sea after it’s been reated for sewage

Septic Tank

Large underground container in rural areas that stores sewage

Dissolved Solids

Solids, such as sodium, calcium, and magnesium that water contains,