Deck 9: The Hydrosphere

Question 1

Thawing permafrost sometimes degenerates into .

A) forest cover
B) caves
C) soil
D) places that take up carbon dioxide
E) wet thermokarst

Answer 1

E

Question 2

This part of the world is noted for large lakes caused by Earth's crust splitting and by volcanic activity:

A) Florida
B) Central Australia
C) The northern United States
D) The Great Lakes region
E) Eastern and central Africa

Answer 2

E

Question 3

The term hydrosphere describes one of the Earth's "spheres" and it includes all of the_ .

A) fresh water on the planet
B) water on and below the continents
C) liquid water on the Earth minus ice
D) waters on the surface of the continents
E) water on Earth

Answer 3

E

Question 4

What does the textbook refer to as it describes "most of this movement is like running in place, with little forward progress involved"?

A) ice floes
B) waves
C) streamflow
D) ocean currents
E) transpiration

Question 5

How much of the land surface of the Earth is covered by glacial ice?

A) 50%
B) 0%
C) 25%
D) 10%
E) unknown at this time

Question 6

The top of permafrost is sometimes called .

A) the calcite layer
B) the active layer
C) the frozen layer
D) groundwater
E) artesian water

Question 7

Primarily, ocean currents are set in motion by _ _.

A) underwater earthquakes
B) the motion of fish fins
C) gravity
D) Coriolis effect
E) wind

Question 8

Earth's "world ocean" contains cubic kilometers of salt water.

A) 1.32 thousand
B) 1.32 hundred thousand
C) 1.32 billion
D) 1.32 trillion
E) 1.32 million

Question 9

The world's largest lake, fresh or saline, is .

A) Great Slave Lake
B) the Caspian Sea
C) Lake Superior
D) Lake Victoria
E) Lake Baykal

Question 10

Lakes are common in areas which have been recently

A) glaciated.
B) formed by volcanoes.
C) hit by meteorites.
D) formed from river deposits.
E) raised above the sea.

Question 11

The reason land surfaces do not flood and oceans do not dry up as a result of imbalances in the hydrologic cycle is a process called .

A) evaporation
B) runoff
C) precipitation
D) evapotranspiration
E) infiltration

Question 12

is making the oceans progressively acidic.

A) hydrochloric acid
B) salt
C) nitrogen from fertilizers
D) gypsum
E) carbonic acid

Question 13

The is a prominent location of sinking water in Earth's thermohaline circulation.

A) north Atlantic
B) central Pacific
C) Arctic
D) south Atlantic
E) Equator

Question 14

The average salinity of sea water is approximately _ percent.

A) 3.5
B) 5
C) 10
D) 7.5
E) 20

Question 15

This lake has been greatly reduced in size because of irrigation withdrawals from the rivers that feed it::

A) Caspian Sea
B) Lake Chad
C) Lake Erie
D) Lake Baykal
E) Aral Sea

Question 16

The "world ocean" spreads over of Earth's surface.
A) one- quarter

A) three- quarters
B) 100%
B) nine- tenths
C) 1%

Question 17

The lowest temperature which is found in surface seawater is approximately Celsius.

A) - 10
B) 0
C) - 2
D) 10
E) 2

Question 18

Surface water occupies somewhat more than percent of our planet.

A) 10
B) 90
C) 70
D) 50
E) 99

Question 19

This sea has shrunk to one- third its former size because of human interference:

A) Red
B) Baltic
C) South China
D) Baltic
E) Aral

Question 20

Most of the lakes in the north central United States exist as a result of

A) damming by humans.
B) glaciation.
C) crustal sinking.
D) sinkholes.
E) volcanoes.

Question 21

The amount of salt content of ocean water is about _.

A) 3.5 parts per thousand
B) 35 parts per million
C) 3.5 parts per million
D) 35 parts per thousand
E) none of the above

Question 22

A swamp and a marsh .

A) are both too salty to permit the growth of water plants
B) are wide places in a river
C) are sometimes related to the infilling of a lake
D) are the same thing
E) must both be submerged for the entire year

Question 23

A wall of sea water rushing up into an embayment is called .

A) a neap tide
B) a flood tide
C) a spring tide
D) a tidal bore
E) an apogee

Question 24

The largest ice shelf on Earth approximates square kilometers.

A) 10,000
B) 1,000
C) 100
D) 10
E) 100,000

Question 25

Ice, when it is frozen year- round in the ground, is termed .

A) berg ice
B) ice pack
C) permafrost
D) shelf ice
E) groundwater

Question 26

One of the "People and the Environment" sections in your textbooks shows how groundwater extraction has been monitored by in Las Vegas.

A) groundwater wells
B) informal observations by humans
C) satellite radar
D) airborne multispectral scanners
E) all of the above

Question 27

In the middles of the oceans, high tides can best be described as .

A) steep- sided mounds
B) waves
C) ridges
D) bulges
E) currents

Question 28

Which of the below is NOT generally accepted as an ocean name?

A) Atlantic
B) Antarctic
C) Indian
D) Arctic
E) Pacific

Question 29

After the Great Lakes, North America's largest freshwater lake is .

A) Lake Tahoe
B) Lake Mead
C) Mono Lake
D) Great Bear Lake
E) Lake Victoria

Question 30

If all of Earth's glacial water was converted to liquid, the amount would be sufficient to supply the world's main rivers for _ year(s).

A) 90
B) 9
C) 90,000
D) 9,000
E) 900

Question 31

The movement of groundwater is .

A) a curving path
B) sideways (horizontal)
C) upwards
D) downwards
E) any of the above according to the forces involved

Question 32

Europe's longest river is the .

A) Po
B) Elbe
C) Oder
D) Volga
E) Rhine

Question 33

Clay is both and _ _.

A) lacking interstices, lacking openings
B) non- porous, permeable
C) non- porous, non- permeable
D) porous, permeable
E) porous, non- permeable

Question 34

Into how many oceans is the "world ocean" usually divided?

A) many
B) 2
C) 4
D) 10
E) None, because there is truly one world ocean.

Question 35

Which of the below best describes water moving through Earth material because of the influence of gravity?

A) flow
B) evapotranspiration
C) subartesian
D) capillary action
E) percolation

Question 36

Vertical uplift of water vapor in the atmosphere is known as .

A) convection
B) capillary action
C) contraction
D) permeability
E) subduction

Question 37

The greatest girth of the Pacific Ocean is in the latitudes.

A) middle
B) polar
C) tropical
D) Japanese
E) Alaskan

Question 38

North America's most prominent river system in terms of the area of its drainage basin is the .

A) St. Lawrence
B) MacKenzie
C) Missouri- Mississippi
D) Colorado
E) Red

Question 39

All of Earth's frozen water is called the sphere.

A) meso-
B) glacio-
C) solid
D) ice
E) cryo-

Question 40

Which seawater has been found to have the least density?

A) saltier than average seawater
B) seawater near the bottom
C) surface seawater in warm regions
D) surface seawater in a cold region
E) sinking seawater

Question 41

On the oceans, there are approximately high tides in 24 hours.

A) 4
B) 0 (the tidal period is much greater than 24 hours)
C) 7
D) 1
E) 2

Question 42

Of the Earth's liquid water inventory, most of the fresh water is stored in the form of _ .

A) water in lakes
B) glacial ice
C) ground water
D) clouds
E) river and stream water

Question 43

Most of the surface of the Arctic Ocean is covered by ice.

A) floe
B) permafrost
C) pack
D) crevasse
E) none of the above

Question 44

Approximately percent of all atmospheric water comes from ocean surfaces.

A) 86
B) 50
C) 95
D) 10
E) none of the above

Question 45

Lakes comprise about percent of the globe's unfrozen freshwater surface.

A) 90
B) 100
C) 1
D) 50
E) 10

Question 46

Which of the oceans has, by far, most of its surface south of the Equator?

A) Atlantic
B) Indian
C) Arctic
D) Pacific
E) none of the above

Question 47

The tides with the maximum tidal elevation are tides.

A) flood
B) ebb
C) high
D) leap
E) spring

Question 48

Which of the world's largest lakes is saline?

A) Lake Baykal
B) Lake Huron
C) Lake Victoria
D) Great Bear Lake
E) the Caspian Sea

Question 49

Which of the following storage locations contains the most water?

A) underground water
B) atmospheric water
C) glaciers
D) soil moisture
E) non- oceanic, liquid surface water

Question 50

Which of the following is NOT the name of a sea?

A) South China
B) Caribbean
C) Mediterranean
D) Bering
E) Indian

Question 51

Asia's longest river is the .

A) Hwang Ho
B) Ganges
C) Indus
D) Yangtze
E) Mekong

Question 52

Clay has a high and low _ because it has a great many, small interstices.

A) piezometeric surface, water table
B) permeability, porosity
C) water table, piezometric surface
D) aquifer capability, acquiclude capability
E) porosity, permeability

Question 53

The layers of rock through which ground water cannot run or flow is a(n) _ .

A) acquiclude
B) phreatic
C) aquifer
D) vadose
E) all of the above

Question 54

The North and South polar ice packs in size during their respective winter seasons.

A) quadruple
B) decrease
C) increase slightly
D) increase 100 times
E) double

Question 55

Typically, a(n) in the confined water zone is a sloping or dipping layer that reaches to, or almost to, the surface at some location, where it can absorb infiltrating water.

A) aquifer
B) aeration zone
C) artesian well zone
D) subartesian well zone
E) capillary zone

Question 56

Which of the following is found closest to the surface of Earth?

A) the waterless zone
B) the zone of aeration
C) the water table
D) the cone of depression
E) an aquifer

Question 57

North America's largest lake is .

A) Great Salt Lake
B) Great Slave Lake
C) Great Bear Lake
D) Lake Erie
E) Lake Superior

Question 58

Which of the following is a significant part of the hydrologic cycle?

A) advection
B) underground water flow
C) evaporation
D) runoff
E) all of the above

Question 59

A water molecule is composed of atom(s).

A) 1
B) 3
C) 7
D) 16
E) 0

Question 60

Which force supplies the energy for percolation?

A) Coriolis force
B) pressure gradient
C) gravity
D) capillary force
E) hydraulic head force

Question 61

Which is the shallowest ocean in the world?

A) Pacific
B) Indian
C) Atlantic
D) Arctic
E) They are all about the same depth.

Question 62

Lake tides, at their peak, are usually no more than of rise and fall.

A) 2 feet
B) 2 inches
C) 20 feet
D) 10 feet
E) 4 feet

Question 63

The quantity of water that can be held in subsurface rock or soil depends on the of the material.

A) porosity
B) altitude above sea level
C) color
D) age
E) permeability

Question 64

Whenever there is an active well, the water table will be drawn downward to a(n) .

A) cone of depression
B) bedrock layer
C) saturated zone
D) artesian well
E) acquiclude

Question 65

The primary vertical motion of all ocean water is caused by

A) winds
B) density
C) gravity
D) currents
E) earthquakes

Question 66

A localized zone of saturation which develops above an aquiclude is called a(n) _.

A) zone of confined water
B) perched water table
C) cone of depression
D) artesian well
E) subartesian well

Question 67

Biological water (water in living organisms) constitutes what percentage of water in the Earth system?

A) 20%
B) 10%
C) almost 0%
D) 30%
E) impossible to estimate

Question 68

The tides migrate following the course around the Earth.

A) Moon's
B) Sun's
C) Milky Way's
D) Venus'
E) Mars'

Question 69

The Amazon has the greatest discharge in the world. Which river has the second greatest discharge?

A) the Nile
B) the Zaire (Congo)
C) the Hudson
D) the Missouri
E) the Ob

Question 70

The top of the saturated zone of ground water is called the _.

A) zone of saturation
B) water table
C) acquiclude
D) vadose zone
E) waterless zone

Question 71

In the oceans, place- to- place differences in water temperature and other characteristics are most prominent .

A) at depths below a few hundred meters
B) at the bottom
C) near the surface
D) in polar latitudes
E) in tropical latitudes

Question 72

Which ocean is surrounded by most of the world's major volcanoes?

A) Arctic
B) Pacific
C) Indian
D) Atlantic
E) none of the above

Question 73

Which of the following is the chemical symbol for most of the salt in oceans?

A) HCl
B) K
C) NaCl
D) Mg
E) none of the above

Question 74

The water table is the top of the

A) vadose zone.
B) acquiclude.
C) saturated zone.
D) waterless zone.
E) piezometric surface.

Question 75

Which of the following concerning the Ogallala is FALSE?

A) The aquifer is most abundant under the Sandhills.
B) It is the largest water supply in Mexico.
C) It is estimated that many irrigated acres will soon have to return to dryland farming.
D) It contains as much water as one of the Great Lakes.
E) Most of it is literally being "mined".

Question 76

About percent of all evaporated moisture comes from the land surface.

A) 94
B) 1.4
C) 74
D) 54
E) 14

Question 77

A chunk of independently floating ice is an ice _ .

A) pack
B) berg
C) chunk
D) floe
E) shelf

Question 78

Within the zone of saturation is found water known as _ .

A) the cone of depression
B) the water table
C) groundwater
D) artesian water
E) the acquicludes

Question 79

is the world's deepest lake.

A) The Great Salt Lake
B) The Caspian Sea
C) Lake Titicaca
D) Lake Superior
E) none of the above

Question 80

By far, the lake with the greatest volume of freshwater is .

A) manmade Lake Powell on the Colorado River
B) the Caspian Sea
C) Great Bear Lake
D) Lake Superior
E) Lake Baykal