Land, Water and Human Interaction

1

100

The effect on living organisms and their nonliving environment due to human activity.

Human Impact

200

Small pieces of earth materials such as rocks, shells, and other debris.

Sediments

300

A near-shore area of water with little or no dissolved oxygen and, therefore, very few organisms.

Dead zone

400

• A measure of how well one set of data relates to another.

correlation

500

A minimum requirement for how the design must function

criteria

2

100

• Excess rainfall, melted snow, or irrigation water that flows across the ground.

Run-off

200

Information that supports or refutes a claim.

Evidence

300

Animals without backbones that are large enough to see without magnification.

Macroinvertebrates

400

A substance that dissolves other substances.

Solvent

500

 In engineering design, something that limits the solution to a problem.

constraint

3

100

Water that is found underground in spaces and cracks in the earth.

groundwater

200

A desirable outcome given up to gain another desirable outcome.

Trade-off

300

Any visible sign that shows the condition of the system being studied.

Indicator

400

• A fan-shaped landform that develops where sediments are deposited in one area as a result of flowing water, such as a stream or river, entering still water, such as a lake or ocean.

delta

500

A relationship in which one factor causes an effect to the other factor. The first event is the cause and the result is the effect.

Casual Relationship

4

100

Any physical, chemical, or biological substance in water.

contaminant

200

A measure of the condition of the water based on its characteristics.

Water Quality

300

• Chemicals that an organism takes in from its environment to use as a source of energy or as building blocks for growth.

Nutrients

400

To mix the particles of one substance evenly into the particles of another substance.

Dissolve

500

Sediments that settle out of the flowing water, ice, or winds and drop to the ground due to slowing water.

deposition

5

100

Someone who pursues understanding of the natural world by using evidence to answer

scientist

200

the movement of water through the air and land.

water cycle

300

the shape of the land with its various elevations in an area.

topography

400

• An earth process that breaks down rocks into smaller pieces. Rocks crack, crumble, and are broken apart by water and wind over time.

weathering

500

The removal of sediments from an area. Common causes of erosion are gravity and moving water, wind, and ice.

Erosion