Chapter 3: Aquatic Environment

Front 1

Hydrologic Cycle

Back 1

driven by solar radiation, surface waters evaporate to form clouds, which condense to form precipiation

Front 2

Evaporation

Back 2

the water turns from liquid to gaseous phase as a result of input of energy

Front 3

Transpiration

Back 3

the manner in which water leaves the leaves and stems of plants and trees

Front 4

Infiltration

Back 4

the manner in which the water percolates into the ground from the surface to become groundwater

Front 5

Surface Runoff

Back 5

the precipitation which does not infiltrate, but moves along the surface to collect in streams and rivers

Front 6

Interception

Back 6

the precipitation that falls onto trees and plants and is used forthwith, or is evaporated without ever having reached the ground

Front 7

Surface Tension

Back 7

the cohesion at the surface due to hydrogen bonds, allows some organisms to walk on water

Front 8

Epilimnion

Back 8

the warm, less dense layer of water at the top of a resonably deep lake in temperate climate

Front 9

Hypolimnion

Back 9

the deeper layer of cold, denser water, toward the bottom of the lake

Front 10

Thermocline/ Metalimnion

Back 10

the region between the epilimnion and the hypolimnion in which the temperature changes rapidly

Front 11

Stratification

Back 11

In Summer prevents mixing between upper (warmer) and lower (colder) waters

Front 12

Fall and Spring Lake Overturn

Back 12

In Fall, cool air moving across lake cools surface waters, and they sink, warmer water moves to the surface, nutrients are circulated, and the waters move until the lake has reached a uniform temperature.

In Spring, the same effect is caused by the warming of the surface waters.

Front 13

Phytoplankton

Back 13

vegetative plankton, that may bloom during the fall overturn

Front 14

Anoxia/ Hypoxia

Back 14

depletion of oxygen by decomposers in the bottom of deep, well stratified lakes, also occurs in the frozen lakes, where no exchange with the atmosphere and no photosynthesis occurs

Dead Zones, especially in bays (Chesapeake, Gulf of Mexico)

Front 15

Decomposition/ Decomposers

Back 15

bacterias and fungi that eat the dead animals and plants and cause breakdown of the organic matter

Front 16

Aciditity

Back 16

concentration of free H+ ions

pH= -log [H+]

Lower pH means more acidic

Higher pH means more caustic (basic)

When [H+]=[OH-] pH neutral=7

pH of natural waters: 2-12 pH

Front 17

Bicarbonate Buffering

Back 17

CO2 reacts with water to form carbonic acid, the bicarbonate ion, tends to keep the pH stable

CaCO3 (calcium carbonate AKA lime) is sometimes added to lakes to help neutralize the acidity and to stabalize the pH

Front 18

Oceanic Conveyor Belt

Back 18

AKA Thermohaline Circulation

Warm currents move seawater towards poles, winds cool surface waters, causing them to sink, and evaporating them, increasing salinity. These now dense surface waters sink, and travel to deep ocean crevasses, on to the equator, where they upwell the cool, oxygen rich water.

Front 19

Equitorial and Coastal Upwellings

Back 19

At the equator, the pull of the Coriolis effect results in upwelling of cold currents

In the western coasts of continents, coriolis effect pulls water away from the coast, resulting in upwelling of deeper colder waters

Front 20

Spring and Neap Tides

Back 20

Spring Tides are the highest tides of the months and occur when the sun and moon are aligned (full and new moon)

Neap Tides are the lowest tide of the month and occur when the sun and moon are a right angles to one another ( half waxing and half waning moon)

Front 21

Intertidal Zone

Back 21

the area between low and high tides

Front 22

Estuary

Back 22

the place where freshwater from rivers flows into the salt water of the ocean

ex. Delaware Bay, Barnegat Bay

Front 23

Tidal Overmixing

Back 23

when high tide brings a wedge of salt upriver

Front 24

Salt Line

Back 24

marks how far upriver salt water has been brought by the tide