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42 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What is Residence time?
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how fast chemical cycles through a reservoir, indicates how long a particular pollutant will stay a problem
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What is residence time for substances that are saturated?
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residence time = capacity / rate of influx
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What is residence time for a substances in a steady state?
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residence time = amount in reservoir / rate of input/outflow of substance
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What is rate of influx?
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the rate of substance flow into reservior
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What is a point source of pollution?
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a source where pollutants are released from a single readily identifiable spot -sewer output, septic tank, steel mill |
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What is a nonpoint source of pollution?
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a point of pollution that is diffuse, or spread out over a large area - fertilizer, acid mine drainage, runoff from roads |
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What is anaeropbic decomposition?
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decomposition of organic waste that produces methane and hydrogen sulfide
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What is Biochemical Oxygen Demand?
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a measure of the amount of oxygen required to break down organic matter aerobically
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What is the effect of BOD in a river?
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The oxygen will dissolve in the water and replace what is usually used to break down material, but the the river will also lag behind in the consumption of oxygen creating the oxygen sag curve
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What is the Oxygen Sag Curve?
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the curve that shows the amount of unconsumed oxygen in the water
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How does temperature affect the amount of dissolved oxygen in the surface water? |
The cooler the temperature the more dissolved oxygen, the warmer the temperature the less dissolved oxygen
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What is Eutrophication?
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response to addition of excessive nutrients in a body of water due to the breakdown of organic matter
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What nutrients cause eutrophication?
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nitrates, phosphates, sulfates
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What is biomagnification?
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the concentration of toxins in an organism as a result of ingesting pollutants
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What causes biomagnification
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mercury, lead, plutonium, cadmium
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Why are inorganic pollutants problematic?
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animals eat them and they cause biomagnification
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What is DDT?
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Dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane, an insecticide used to kill insects in WWII
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What is DDt problematic?
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toxic to tropical fish, also in soil. Birds eat both fish and worms and it impaired their calcium production which made their egg shells fragile killing off bird populations
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What is thermal pollution?
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the release of excess waste heat, a by product of power generation changes the local water temperature |
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Fill in the sentence: As the amount of area in a drainage basin that is used for agriculture ________ the level of ________ in run off increases. |
decreases, sediment
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What is sediment pollution?
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Sediment pollution is the over abundance of sediment in water. It can cause murky water, reduce sunlight, overall reduction underwater populations
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How can eutrophication be reversed?
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Add aluminum calcium and iron salts introduce algae eating fish decontamination artificial aeration where oxygen levels are depleated |
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What is a contamination plume?
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an area of groundwater that contains pollutants which spreads outwards |
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What are two methods to decontaminate groundwater after extraction
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Add microorganisms to decompose organic matter use activated charcoal (such as in filters) |
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What is bioremediation?
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biological decomposition, the addition of oxygen or nutrients to accelerate growth of microorganisms |
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What are permeable reactive barriers?
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barriers which break down water as it flows through it, can deal with toxic organic compounds
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What is an earthquake
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vibration of the earth produced by rapid release of energy
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What are P Waves?
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Primary waves, a type of body wave, moves the rock back and forth int eh same direction that the wave moves ( like a slinky ) fastest does most damage
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What are S waves?
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Secondary waves, a type of body wave, moves the rock up and down (like a duck in a bath tub)
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What is a Rayleigh wave?
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a wave that moves the material up and down, the motion decreases with depth
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What is a Love wave?
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a wave that moves material from side to side
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What is the Epicenter?
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the location of surface directly above the focus of an earthquake
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What is the focus of an earthquake?
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where the seismic waves originate
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What is the intensity of an earthquake?
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measure of ground motion at a given location from observations
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What measures the intensity of an earthquake?
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the Modified Mercali Intensity Scale
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What is the Magnitude of an Earthquake?
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the measure of energy released during an earthquake
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What measures the magnitude of an earthquake?
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the Richter Scale
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What is a Seismometer?
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a seismic wave receiver
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What is a Seismograph?
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a seismic wave recorder |
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What is Triangulation?
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the point located as the epicenter from the recordings of three different data locations |
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What is the Modified Mercali Intensity Scale?
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measures an earthquake using Roman numerals from I to XII (least to greatest) |
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What is the Richter Scale?
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measures an earthquake
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