AP Environmental Science : Surface Water and Underground Water
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Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Surface Water And Underground Water
Which of the following is not a reason that plants transpire?
To carry soil minerals into the leaves
To promote gas exchange with the environment
To conserve water
To prevent leaves from overheating
To allow uptake of CO2 from the atmosphere
To conserve water
Transpiration invovles the opening of the stomata pores on the surface of the plant's leaves. When the pores are open, water is able to evaporate and be released from the plant. The result is a negative pressure differential that helps pull water upwards via capillary action through the xylem. Water is lost during transpiration, not conserved.
Example Question #2 : Surface Water And Underground Water
Approximately what percent of fresh water is readily available in bodies of above-ground water?
Fresh, above-ground water (rivers, lakes, reservoirs, etc.) compose roughly 0.5% of all fresh water on earth.
Example Question #2 : Surface Water And Underground Water
What percent of the world's fresh water is available in underground water tables?
Below-ground water tables consist of roughly 22% of all fresh water on Earth.
Example Question #1 : Surface Water And Underground Water
Which of the following water bodies would be most likely to be oligotrophic?
A swamp-wetland ecosystem with a healthy population of aquatic vegetation
A lake that is located in a geographically mountainous area where clear-cutting is pervasive
The rivers and freshwater lakes on and nearby Mount St. Helens shortly after the 1980 volcanic eruption
A river that runs through a fertile, heavily-cultivated delta
A newly formed glacial lake
A newly formed glacial lake
Oligotrophy occurs when there are insufficient nutrients (mainly nitrogen and phosphorus) for the development of aquatic vegetation. This phenomenon is common with newly-formed lakes where primary succession has not yet fixed enough nitrogen for larger plant communities. This is especially true for glacial lakes, where the receding of ice sheets uncover land often devoid of nutrients.
Example Question #3 : Surface Water And Underground Water
Which two factors contributed mostly to the 1930s Dust Bowl?
A market that lessened demand for cultivation and insufficient rainfall
Over-dependence on chemical fertilizer and insufficient rainfall
The soil was lacking a healthy root system and producing more food than the ecosystem could support
Over-dependence on chemical fertilizer and failure to mulch regularly
Insufficient precipitation and soil that lacked a healthy root system
Insufficient precipitation and soil that lacked a healthy root system
Dried-out topsoil that has no root system or ground cover is at the highest risk of being lost to wind erosion. The Dust Bowl was mainly a result of a decrease in annual precipitation and farming methods that relied heavily on tilling, effectively destroying the root systems and organic cover from the native prairie grasses.
Example Question #4 : Surface Water And Underground Water
Which of the following best describes a confined aquifer?
An aquifer that is sealed off by manmade efforts (e.g. concrete) to limit percolation of water
An aquifer that can only be recharged by precipitation
An aquifer that is surrounded by an impermeable bedrock or clay
An aquifer that has been contaminated by pollutants or pathogens and must be sealed off through manmade efforts to prevent contamination to other water tables through percolation
An aquifer where percolation occurs, but only upward toward above-ground sources
An aquifer that is surrounded by an impermeable bedrock or clay
A confined aquifer is a naturally occurring phenomenon where the water table is sealed by impermeable bedrock or clay. This geological phenomenon makes it impossible for the water table to recharge by precipitation or from above-ground water percolating through porous rock.
Example Question #5 : Surface Water And Underground Water
Which of the following is a serious drawback of pumping water from an unconfined aquifer compared to a confined aquifer?
Sulfur deposits (which taste horrible) are more common in unconfined aquifers.
There are few sources for an unconfined aquifer to recharge and it is very easy to pump out more water than what replenishes the table naturally.
An unconfined aquifer is more likely to contain pathogens and pollutants.
An unconfined aquifer can be exhausted faster than a confined aquifer.
An unconfined aquifer is usually further below ground and can be very expensive to drill into and pump water out of the well.
An unconfined aquifer is more likely to contain pathogens and pollutants.
Unconfined aquifers are not as deep below ground as confined water tables and are usually surrounded by porous soil and bedrock. This results in a heightened potential for pathogens and pollutants (particularly from agricultural leeching) to make their way into the ground water.
Example Question #8 : Surface Water And Underground Water
Which of the following is not a type of freshwater body?
River
Lake
Wetlands
Pond
Estuary
Estuary
Lakes, ponds, streams, rivers, and glaciers are all examples of freshwater bodies. An estuary, on the other hand, is formed where freshwater and saltwater bodies mix.
Example Question #6 : Surface Water And Underground Water
Karl is a stream ecologists that researches riparian ecosystems. His research focuses on how runoff, sediments, and dissolved materials makes their way into a stream. This land area is referred to as a(n) __________.
estuary
source zone
drainage basin
mesotrophic lake
drainage basin
The correct response is drainage basin. This term refers to the entire landscape and how water and sediment moves from the terrestrial into the riparian zone.
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