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RUNNING WATER
AND
GROUNDWATER
Learning Objectives:
1. List the hydrosphere’s major reservoirs and describe the different paths that water
takes through the hydrologic cycle.
2. Describe the nature of drainage basins and river systems. Sketch four basic
drainage patterns.
3. Discuss streamflow and the factors that cause it to change.
4. Outline the ways in which streams erode, transport, and deposit sediment.
5. Contrast bedrock and alluvial stream channels. Distinguish between two types of
alluvial channels.
6. Contrast narrow V-shaped valleys and broad valleys with floodplains.
7. Discuss the formation of deltas and natural levees
8. Discuss the causes of floods and some common flood control measures.
9. Discuss the importance of groundwater and describe its distribution and
movement.
10. Compare and contrast springs and wells.
11. List and discuss three important environmental problems associated with
groundwater.
12. Explain the formation of caverns and the development of karst topography.
The total amount of moisture in the air remains about the same, this indicates that
the average annual precipitation worldwide is equal to the quantity of water evaporated.
However, taking separately the continent and oceans, precipitation exceeds evaporation
over the continent whereas evaporation exceeds precipitation over the ocean.
The kind of load the sediment becomes depend on the settling velocity (speed at
which a particle falls through a still fluid). Larger particles have high settling velocity, thus
when the velocity of water decreases, they are first to settle. Because of this reason,
water has also a “sorting” ability, wherein particles of similar size are deposited together.
A stream’s ability to carry solid particles is described in terms of capacity
(maximum amount of solid particles a stream can transport per unit of time) and
competence (the size of particles that the water can carry). Capacity is directly propotional
to discharge thus the greater the discharge, the greater the stream’s capacity for carrying
sediment. On the other hand, a stream’s competence is directly proportional to water
velocity. Specifically, competence increases proportionately to the square of its velocity.
Thus, if the velocity of a stream doubles, the impact force of the water increases four
times; if the velocity triples, the force increases nine times, and so forth.
During floods when the volume of water is high and velocity is fast, high
competence and capacity can be observed.
Note that any change in base level causes modification of stream activities. For
example, presence of a dam along a stream raises the base level of the stream. This
lowers the gradient of the stream, lowers the stream’s velocity and sediment-transporting
ability and increases deposition.
Natural Levees- they are elongate ridges of mud and or/silt that form on the river
floodplains immediately adjacent to the cut banks. They are formed when a stream
overflows its banks, leaving coarse sediment bordering the channel. Because
water cannot flow up the levee, backswamp is developed, which is
characteristically poorly drained. Parallel to the levee is a yazoo tributary, which
Permeability- describes how the pores are shaped and interconnected and
determined how easy it is for the water to flow from one pore to the next. A
permeable materials have greater number of larger, well- connected pore spaces.
1) The great pressure at the bottom prevents the water from boiling at the
normal surface temperature of 100°C (212°F). Usually, 300-meter below,
the water boil nearly 230°C.
2) The heating causes the water to expand, and as a result, some of the water
is forced out at the surface.
Prepared by: Mary Sheenalyn P. Rodil, Ph.D. 9/7/2020
Faculty, Chemistry Department, TUP
Reference: Tarbuck & Lutgens, Earth Science.
3) This loss of water reduces the pressure on the remaining water in the
chamber, which lowers the boiling point. As a result, a portion of the water
deep within the chamber quickly turns to an expanding mass of steam,
which causes the geyser to erupt.
Well - a hole bored into the zone of saturation. Wells serve as small reservoirs into
which groundwater migrates and from which it can be pumped to the surface.
When the wells are heavily pumped, cone of depression is formed.
Sinkholes- are formed when the land surface above collapses or sinks into
cavities or when surface material is carried downward through the voids. Drought,
along with high water withdrawals, can make conditions favourable for sinkholes
to form.