Water Resources - AP Environmental Science

Desalinization involves heating seawater to a boil, resulting in pure, distilled water vapor with no impurities. While any ferally-funded project is subject to environmental assesments, the major roadblock for these facilities is the heat energy required to distill the seawater.

When atmospheric carbon dioxide reacts with ocean water, they combine to product the bicarbonate iron, or . This ion acts as a buffer in the sea water, allowing the pH to remain relatively stable. While neither methane, glucose, nor carbon monoxide occur in large enough quantities in salt water, phosphoric acid actually contains no carbon.

Aquifers are part of groundwater. Saltwater intrusion occurs because of aquifer depletion. The empty space can then be filled with sea water. Confined and artesian are types of aquifers.

97% of the Earth's water is saltwater and unusable for drinking or farming. of the 3% that is actually freshwater, 2% is frozen in glaciers, leaving humans with 1% of all water on earth to use for farming.

Shade provided by the riparian zone is crucial to stream temperature regulation.

The riparian zone is the edge of a river or stream, therefore it has high biodiversity due to edge effects. Biofilters in the riparian zone protect the aquatic environment it surrounds. Also, because the riparian zone spans distances of an aquatic environment's edge, it serves as a corridor for wildlife.

The correct response was 10,000 years ago. The Great Lakes formed during glacial recession of the most recent glaciation. This most recent glacial recession occurred between 10-15 thousands years ago. As the glaciers receded northward across North America, melting glacial waters drained and formed what is now known as the Great Lakes.

The correct response is 0.02%. The rest of the water resources are either too salty, too deep, or too cold in frozen icecaps.

Lakes, streams, rivers and ground water account for about a half a percent of the fresh water found on Earth.

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.

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.

Fresh, above-ground water (rivers, lakes, reservoirs, etc.) compose roughly 0.5% of all fresh water on earth.

Below-ground water tables consist of roughly 22% of all fresh water on Earth.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

of the Earth's surface is water, but only is fresh water. Considering just the fresh water, only about is accessible to humans in the form of lakes, rivers, and other drinking sources. That is only .007% of the Earth's water. This is the basis for the clean water crisis that faces Earth's population.

Seawater is not fit for use in agriculture. An excess of salt in a field results in water being drawn from plant roots due instead of the other way around. Spartans salted the orchards of their enemies to cripple their civilizations; one should not irrigate with seawater if one's intent is to grow crops.

750 million people in the world do not have access to clean drinking water. The total world population is about 7 billion, meaning every one in nine people do not have access to clean drinking water.