H2O Basics
This term describes all the water on, above, and below Earth's surface.
What is the hydrosphere?
The continuous movement of water on, above, and below Earth's surface.
What is the water cycle?
The breaking down of rocks into smaller pieces by physical or chemical means.
What is weathering?
Water found in cracks and pores in soil, sand, and rock beneath Earth's surface.
What is groundwater?
Florida's land is mostly made of this type of rock, formed from ancient marine deposits.
What is limestone?
Water found on Earth's surface in lakes, rivers, and oceans.
What is surface water?
The process where liquid water changes into water vapor, driven by this primary energy source.
What is the sun? (The process is evaporation)
The process of moving weathered rock and soil from one place to another, often by water.
What is erosion?
A layer of rock or sediment, like limestone, that holds and allows groundwater to flow.
What is an aquifer?
This is the name of Florida's major aquifer, which provides most of the state's drinking water.
What is the Floridan Aquifer?
The area of land where all runoff drains into a common body of water, like a river or lake.
What is a watershed?
This force pulls condensed water down as precipitation and pulls water downhill as runoff.
What is gravity?
The process where eroded material is dropped in a new location, building features like deltas.
What is deposition?
The ability of a material, like sand, to allow water to pass through it.
What is permeability?
The largest watershed in the state of Florida.
What is the St. Johns River Watershed?
The introduction of harmful substances into the environment, like chemicals in a river.
What is pollution?
The process where water soaks into the ground, or where water vapor from plants enters the atmosphere.
What is infiltration? (Acceptable alternative: What is transpiration?)
A type of pollution where excess fertilizers wash into waterways, causing algal blooms.
What is nutrient runoff?
The inability of a material, like clay or granite, to allow water to pass through it.
What is impermeability?
The apparent deflection of currents to the right in the Northern Hemisphere, caused by Earth's rotation.
What is the Coriolis effect?
A landform created by the deposition of sediment where a river meets a slower-moving body of water.
What is a delta?
The name for water that falls from clouds to Earth, such as rain, snow, sleet, or hail.
What is precipitation?
Large-scale movements of ocean water, driven by wind and the Coriolis effect.
What are ocean currents?
This Florida geological feature, like a sinkhole or spring, is formed when acidic rainwater weathers limestone.
What is karst topography?
This famous Florida ecosystem is described as a slow-moving "River of Grass" watershed
What are the Everglades?