What is an estuary?
Semi-closed areas where freshwater and seawater meet and mix
What is brackish water?
Water of intermediate/mixed salinity
What is an organism that is non-native or indigenous to a particular area?
Invasive species
What property of water is shown in this picture?
Adhesion
List two negative impacts an invasive species could have on its new home.
Competition with other species
Predation
Overpopulation
Spreading new disease
Overconsumption of resources
Loss of habitat
What is shown in this picture?
Salt marsh
A deposit of sediment at the mouth of a river that accumulates as the river flows into a standing body of water is called a ____________.
Delta
What is eutrophication?
The increased growth of algae as a consequence of excess nutrients; can lead to harmful algal blooms or dead zones
What is cohesion?
The sticking together of water molecules
What is the phenomenon called when bottom-dwelling creatures, like crabs and fish, are carried up with the bottom water to the shallow water of the beaches?
A jubilee
______________ are formed when the bottoms of estuaries are exposed at low tide.
Mudflats
What kind of estuary is Mobile Bay?
Coastal Plain Estuary
What is salinity and in what unit is it measured in?
The amount of dissolved salts in seawater
Parts per thousand (ppt)
What kind of bonds do water molecules form?
Hydrogen bonds
What is more dense:
Freshwater vs. Saltwater
Hot water vs. Cold water
Salt water and cold water or more dense
What are the specialized roots of mangroves that allow for gas exchange?
Pneumatophores (Knees)
. Name this type of estuary
Tectonic estuary
What is the most abundant element in seawater?
What property of water is shown in the picture?
Surface tension
What is a plant that takes up large amounts of water to dilute the salts that it takes up?
A succulent
List the 4 types of estuaries
Bar-built
Coastal plain
Tectonic
Fjord
How did estuaries form?
Estuaries formed when sea levels rose because of the melting ice at the end of the last ice age
List 3 ways in which the oceans got salty?
-Weathering of rocks
-Hydrothermal Vents
-Ash from volcanic eruptions
What property of water is displayed in this photo?
Density
List one pollutant from EACH of the following categories that you would not want to end up in the streams of your watershed:
-Factories:
-Farms:
-Roads:
Factories: chemicals, trash
Farms: fertilizers, manure
Roads: litter, oil from cars