Hydrosphere and water cycle
This term describes all the water on Earth, including oceans, lakes, rivers, groundwater, ice, and water vapor.
What is the hydrosphere?
These large-scale movements of ocean water transport water and heat around Earth.
What are ocean currents?
This term describes harmful substances or materials entering and contaminating water.
What is water pollution?
This body of freshwater generally flows downhill through a channel.
What is a river?
This coastal ecosystem forms where freshwater from rivers mixes with saltwater from the ocean.
What is an estuary?
This process occurs when liquid water is heated and changes into water vapor.
What is evaporation
This force is a major cause of surface ocean currents.
What is wind?
This type of pollution occurs when rain carries fertilizers, oil, and other contaminants from many locations into waterways.
What is nonpoint-source pollution?
This inland body of standing water is surrounded by land.
What is a lake?
This word describes the mixture of freshwater and saltwater commonly found in estuaries.
What is brackish water?
This process forms clouds when water vapor cools and changes into liquid droplets.
What is condensation?
This effect, caused by Earth's rotation, helps deflect the paths of ocean currents.
What is the Coriolis effect?
This process occurs when excess nutrients cause rapid algae growth in a lake or other body of water.
What is eutrophication?
This term describes the land area that drains water into a common river, lake, or other outlet.
What is a river basin (or watershed)?
Estuaries are often called these because they provide shelter and food for young fish and other organisms.
What are nurseries of the sea?
This water-cycle process occurs when rain, snow, sleet, or hail falls from clouds.
What is precipitation?
This warm Atlantic current transports warm water northeastward from the region near the southeastern United States.
What is the Gulf Stream?
This pollution source occurs when contaminants enter water through one identifiable discharge location, such as a pipe.
What is point-source pollution?
This process wears away and transports soil and rock through moving water.
What is erosion?
These regular rises and falls of sea level bring ocean water into and out of many estuaries.
What are tides?
This process allows water to soak into soil and rock, helping replenish groundwater.
What is infiltration?
These two properties of seawater influence its density and help drive deep ocean circulation.
What are temperature and salinity?
This term describes the buildup of pollutants in an organism over time.
What is bioaccumulation?
This boundary of higher land separates neighboring drainage basins.
What is a drainage divide?
These coastal wetland habitats contain salt-tolerant grasses and help filter pollutants, trap sediment, and protect shorelines.
What are salt marshes?