Deck 9: The Hydrosphere

Question 1

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

Answer 1

B

Question 2

A water molecule is composed of ________ atom(s).

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

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Most water on Earth is in ________ form.

A) vapor
B) ice
C) liquid
D) plasma
E) evaporated

Answer 3

C

Question 4

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 5

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

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

Question 6

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 7

The maximum time water can be excluded from the hydrologic cycle (that is, exist in "storage") is at least ________.

A) a day
B) a month
C) a year
D) hundreds of thousands of years

Question 8

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

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

Question 9

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 10

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 11

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

A) )25
B) 2.8
C) 28
D) 56
E) 74

Question 12

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

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

Question 13

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

A) 10
B) 50
C) 86
D) 95
E) 100

Question 14

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

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

Question 15

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 16

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

A) 8
B) 10
C) 15
D) 25
E) 30

Question 17

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

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

Question 18

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

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

Question 19

Which of the following is the SMALLEST part of the hydrologic cycle?

A) advection
B) runoff
C) underground water flow
D) evaporation
E) soil moisture

Question 20

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

Question 21

The Aral Sea is ________.

A) an arm of the Pacific Ocean
B) the largest lake in the world
C) becoming much larger because of the increased melting of glaciers
D) about to disappear because of the diversion rivers feeding the sea
E) in Saudi Arabia

Question 22

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

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

Question 23

The "world ocean" spreads over ________ of Earth's surface.

A) one-hundredth
B) one-quarter
C) three-quarters
D) nine-tenths
E) 100%

Question 24

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 25

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

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

Question 26

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

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

Question 27

The average salinity of sea water is approximately ________ percent of total mass.

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

Question 28

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

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

Question 29

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 30

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 31

According to the textbook, our knowledge of the oceans is ________.

A) now complete
B) unimportant because humans live on the land
C) fairly limited until recently
D) never going to amount to much
E) equal to our knowledge of the continents

Question 32

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 33

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 34

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

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

Question 35

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

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

Question 36

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

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

Question 37

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 38

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

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

Question 39

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

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

Question 40

The oceans contain approximately ________ percent of all water on Earth.

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

Question 41

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

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

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) 35 parts per trillion

Question 44

The highest tides occur when the ________.

A) Earth and Mon are lined up
B) Earth and Sun are lined up
C) Sun and Moon are lined up
D) Earth, Sun, and Moon are lined up
E) Earth and Moon are lined up and the Sun is at a 90-degree angle

Question 45

The first ________ of the ocean depths exhibit significant differences from place to place.

A) few centimeters
B) few meters
C) ten meters
D) hundred meters
E) ten kilometers

Question 46

The tides with the maximum tidal elevation are ________ tides.

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

Question 47

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 48

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

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

Question 49

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 50

Foraminifera study has shown the oceans are becoming ________.

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

Question 51

The primary vertical motion of all ocean water is caused by ________.

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

Question 52

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

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

Question 53

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

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

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

The tides migrate following ________ course around the Earth.

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

Question 56

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

A) NaCl
B) Cl
C) K
D) Mg
E) U

Question 57

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 58

________ is making the oceans progressively acidic.

A) Salt
B) Nitrogen from fertilizers
C) Gypsum
D) Carbonic acid
E) Hydrochloric acid

Question 59

The lowest high tides are ________ tides.

A) neap
B) spring
C) ebb
D) flood
E) red

Question 60

Which seawater has been found to have the least density?

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

Question 61

The ________ ice shelf is the largest on Earth.

A) Greenland
B) Alaskan
C) Beaufort
D) Ross
E) Byrd

Question 62

The top of permafrost is sometimes called ________.

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

Question 63

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

A) solid sphere
B) cryosphere
C) ice sphere
D) mesosphere
E) glaciosphere

Question 64

Most of the north Polar region is covered by ________.

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

Question 65

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 66

The movement of a wave across the surface of the ocean is a movement of ________ rather than matter.

A) substance
B) wind
C) water
D) energy
E) time

Question 67

The largest ice shelf on Earth approximates ________ square kilometers.

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

Question 68

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

A) pack
B) floe
C) permafrost
D) crevasse
E) Ice Age

Question 69

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

Thawing permafrost sometimes degenerates into ________.

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

Question 71

Geographically speaking, the most important currents ________.

A) involve subsidence
B) involve upwelling
C) are caused by tides
D) are caused by underwater earthquakes
E) are the flows making up the oceans' general circulations

Question 72

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 73

Primarily, ocean currents are set in motion by ________.

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

Question 74

A chunk of independently floating ice is an ice ________.

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

Question 75

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) ice bergs

Question 76

Most of the ice of Antarctica is stored as ________.

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

Question 77

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 78

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 79

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

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

Question 80

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) ocean currents
C) streamflow
D) transpiration
E) waves