Deck 9: The Hydrosphere

Question 1

The tides with the maximum tidal elevation are ________ tides.

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

Answer 1

D

Question 2

The top of permafrost is sometimes called ________.

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

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Thawing permafrost sometimes degenerates into ________.

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

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The difference between swamps and marshes is mainly one of ________.

A) trees versus grassland
B) high water table versus low
C) sandy soil versus clayey soil
D) salt water versus fresh water
E) seasonality of precipitation

Question 5

The world's longest river is the ________.

A) Amazon
B) Missouri
C) Nile
D) Hwang Ho
E) Amur

Question 6

It has been calculated that ________ percent of the world's total precipitation falls over continents.

A) 2
B) 22
C) 52
D) 72
E) 92

Question 7

Water not in oceans accounts for ________ percent of the world's total water.

A) 2.8
B) 12.8
C) 28
D) 56
E) 74

Question 8

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

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

Question 9

Lakes which contain water only a fraction of the time are called ________.

A) vadose
B) phreatic
C) subartesian
D) ephemeral
E) annuals

Question 10

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

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

Question 11

Which of the world's largest lakes is saline?

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

Question 12

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

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

Question 13

The top of the saturated zone of groundwater is called the ________.

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

Question 14

Most of Earth's water is stored ________.

A) on the surface in liquid form
B) in gaseous form
C) on the surface in solid form
D) underground in liquid form
E) as capillary water in the soil

Question 15

The average salinity of sea water is approximately ________ percent.

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

Question 16

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

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

Question 17

Approximately ________ percent of all continental water flows into the oceans.

A) 7
B) 10
C) 15
D) 25
E) 30

Question 18

The oceans contain approximately ________ of all water on Earth.

A) )7
B) 17
C) 57
D) 77
E) 97

Question 19

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

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

Question 20

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

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

Question 21

The Arctic Ocean contains about ________ percent of Earth's total ocean water.

A) 0.4
B) 4
C) 40
D) 60
E) 90

Question 22

The tides migrate following the ________ course around the Earth.

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

Question 23

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

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

Question 24

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

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

Question 25

Over three-fourths of the world's fresh water is held in the form of ________.

A) soil moisture
B) underground water
C) atmospheric water
D) glaciers
E) icebergs

Question 26

Approximately ________ percent of the Earth's lake water is salty.

A) 10
B) 25
C) 40
D) 75
E) 85

Question 27

The largest ice shelf on Earth approximates ________ square kilometers.

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

Question 28

Most of the north polar region is covered by ________.

A) land
B) permafrost
C) ice pack
D) ice floes
E) tundra

Question 29

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

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

Question 30

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

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

Question 31

Uptake of water vapor by the atmosphere is known as ________.

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

Question 32

A chunk of independently floating ice is an ice ________.

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

Question 33

Europe's longest river is the ________.

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

Question 34

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

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

Question 35

Which of the following has the greatest area?

A) an ice sheet
B) floe ice
C) shelf ice
D) pack ice
E) ice pinnacles

Question 36

The lowest high tides are ________ tides.

A) neap
B) spring
C) ebb
D) flood
E) none of the above

Question 37

Of the places listed below, ocean waters generally have the least salinity in ________.

A) subtropical zones
B) polar regions
C) small seas and gulfs
D) hot places
E) places with lack of rainfall

Question 38

North America's largest lake is ________.

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

Question 39

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

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

Question 40

Which ocean is bounded by the most continents?

A) Pacific
B) Atlantic
C) Arctic
D) Indian
E) They are all bounded by all of the continents.

Question 41

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

Question 42

A single oscillation of the tides (from low tide to high tide and back again) takes about ________ hours.

A) 24
B) 12
C) 6
D) 3
E) 2

Question 43

Approximately ________ percent of all atmospheric water comes from ocean surfaces.

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

Question 44

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

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

Question 45

The north and south polar ice packs ________ in size during their respective winter seasons.

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

Question 46

The Amazon River yields about ________ percent of Earth's total freshwater discharge.

A) 0.2
B) 2
C) 20
D) 40
E) 60

Question 47

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

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

Question 48

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

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

Question 49

________ is the world's deepest lake.

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

Question 50

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

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

Question 51

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

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

Question 52

The layers of rock through which groundwater cannot run or flow is a/an ________.

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

Question 53

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

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

Question 54

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

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

Question 55

In terms of the total global supply of water, how much of it is in circulation at any one time?

A) none of it
B) a small percentage
C) half of it
D) most of it
E) impossible to estimate

Question 56

By inference of reading this chapter, it can be concluded that biological water (water in living organisms) constitutes what percentage of water in the Earth system?

A) much less than 1%
B) 10%
C) 20%
D) 30%
E) impossible to estimate

Question 57

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

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

Question 58

Asia's longest river is the ________.

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

Question 59

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

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

Question 60

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

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

Question 61

Surface water occupies somewhat more than ________ percent of our planet.

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

Question 62

The level to which water will rise on its own in a drilled well is the

A) artesian level.
B) aquiclude.
C) cone of depression.
D) piezometric surface.
E) subartesian surface.

Question 63

Foraminifera study has shown the oceans are becoming ________.

A) larger
B) deeper
C) more acidic
D) more salty
E) greener

Question 64

Which of the below would do most to affect the components of the hydrologic cycle to the greatest extent for the Earth as a whole?

A) a drought in the American Midwest
B) a wet year for central Asia
C) the onset of an ice age
D) the "mining" of water in the Ogallala aquifer
E) the damming of the Amazon River

Question 65

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

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

Question 66

The water table is the top of the

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

Question 67

Lakes are common in areas which have been recently

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

Question 68

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

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

Question 69

Presently, how much of the land surface of the Earth is covered by glacial ice?

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

Question 70

In terms of underground water, the waterless zone generally begins

A) at the top of the soil.
B) at the bottom of the soil.
C) in the soil.
D) in the bedrock 15 meters or so under the soil.
E) several kilometers under the soil.

Question 71

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

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

Question 72

The salinity of ocean water is derived mainly from

A) hydrogen peroxide.
B) coral reefs.
C) sodium chloride.
D) granite.
E) perspiration from fish.

Question 73

Which of the following storage locations contains the most water?

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

Question 74

The primary vertical motion of all ocean water is caused by

A) winds.
B) density.
C) earthquakes.
D) currents.
E) density differences.

Question 75

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

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

Question 76

Which is the shallowest ocean in the world?

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

Question 77

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

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

Question 78

The deepest oceanic trenches are in which ocean?

A) Atlantic
B) Pacific
C) Arctic
D) Indian
E) In any of the above, the trenches are approximately the same depth.

Question 79

Which of the following concerning the Ogallala is FALSE?

A) It is the largest water supply in Mexico.
B) Most of it is literally being "mined".
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) The aquifer is most abundant under the Sandhills.

Question 80

Which of the following locations is known for its great tidal range?

A) the U.S. Gulf Coast
B) Florida
C) the Bay of Fundy
D) Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
E) the Gulf of California