Unit 5: Hydrosphere Test
True/False:
_______ 1. Dissolved load consists of teeny, tiny
sediment particles.
_______ 2. Rainwater is a weak acid due to
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
_______ 3. Water is the only substance on Earth
Multiple Choice:
11. Stream water
a. erodes, but does not deposit.
b. erodes and deposits.
c. deposits, but does not erode.
d. does not deposit or erode.
12. A stream overflows its banks onto its
and on Mars that is present in all three states of
a. base level
matter – as a solid, liquid or gas
b. alluvial plain
c. delta
_______ 4. Streams usually begin with water from
snow melt and possibly springs.
d. flood plain
13. Flooding can wipe out farms and even towns
when
_______ 5. The Great Lakes are so large they can
alter the weather.
a. an earthquake lowers the elevation of
the farms and towns.
b. the natural levees get too high.
_______ 6. A tributary is the larger of two steams
that join together.
c. the farms and towns are placed on a
floodplain.
d. concrete allows the stream water to
_______ 7. A good aquifer has rock in it that is
run off.
porous and permeable.
_______ 8. A wave is a transfer of energy, that
initially began with wind.
_______ 9. The first sign that a tsunami is coming
could be that water moves out to sea, leaving
the shore exposed.
_______ 10. Waves continually move sand along
the shore.
14. As a stream exits a canyon into open land,
the sediments form a(n) ____________.
a. alluvial fan
b. fluvial fan
c. sediment fan
d. fan
15. A stream's competence is highest when
a. its gradient is nearly flat and it moves
slowly
b. it has a higher dissolved load
c. it cannot carry a sediment load
d. it has a steep gradient and faster
velocity
a. when the roof of a lava tube collapses
and fills with water.
b. when glaciers gouge out a hole in the
ground that fills with water.
c. when the roof of a limestone cave
16. If a stream's competence increases, it is
likely that
a. the amount of water in the stream
has increased.
b. the stream's gradient has increased.
c. either a or b, or both a and b
d. a and b together
17. Tiny particles in a stream that can be carried
in solution are known as ____________.
a. dissolved load
b. suspended load
c. bed load
d. fluvial load
18. In a meander, the stream
a. erodes at the inside of the bend, and
deposits at the outside of the bend.
b. deposits at the inside of the bend,
and erodes at the outside of the
bend.
c. erodes all along the meander, inside
collapses and fills with water.
d. when ice trapped in glacial sediment
melts and makes a pond.
20. A river erodes most deeply when
a. it is at its base level.
b. it is meandering across a plain.
c. it is farthest from its base level.
d. it is carrying a lot of sediment.
21. Water is stored in
a. ice and snow
b. the atmosphere
c. lakes and streams
d. all of these
22. Which is not a major part of the
hydrological cycle?
a. evaporation
b. transpiration
c. crustation
d. condensation
and outside.
d. deposits all along the meander, inside
and outside.
23. The largest amount of fresh water is
contained in
19. A sinkhole forms
a. ice caps, glaciers and inland seas
b. rivers and streams
c. the atmosphere
d. groundwater and soil moisture
24. The water cycle
a. begins and ends in the oceans.
28. If the climate warms and glaciers melt, sea
levels will rise. This means that
a. there is a constant amount of water
b. has no beginning and has no end.
c. begins in the oceans and ends in
groundwater aquifers.
d. begins in the atmosphere and ends in
on Earth.
b. water takes up more space than ice.
c. the seas will never lower again.
d. none of these.
the oceans.
29. Two streams meet at a point called:
25. The energy for the water cycle comes from
a. radioactive decay.
b. Earth's internal heat.
c. the Sun.
a. conjoinment
b. confluence
c. consignment
d. condense
d. water when it changes state.
30. Most lakes formed
26. The ocean is salty because
a. in volcanic craters
a. only water evaporates.
b. by glaciers
b. salts undergo condensation.
c. in down-dropped fault zones
c. only water infiltrates the ground.
d. during marine transgressions
d. none of these.
31. Lakes
27. In the process of transpiration, water goes
from the soil
a. through the ground to an aquifer.
b. to the atmosphere by changing from
liquid to gas.
c. to the atmosphere through a plant.
d. none of these.
a. are all features that last thousands of
years.
b. are permanent features of a
landscape.
c. can be seasonal, or can disappear
over time.
d. none of these.
b. vein action
32. Estuaries have high biodiversity because
c. permeable movement
they have
d. porous movement
a. a large diversity of salt content.
b. warm water temperatures and high
salinity.
c. low salinity and a variety of water
temperatures.
d. a wide range of temperatures, but a
small range in salinity.
36. Below ground, the water table
a. is flat
b. roughly slopes downward to the
discharge area
c. roughly slopes upward to the recharge
area
d. roughly follows the slope of the land
surface
37. For the water in a groundwater aquifer to
stay at the same level
33. A levee on a river bank
a. keeps flood waters from going over
the banks all along the river.
b. does little to protect the land near the
river bank.
a. recharge must be greater than
discharge
b. recharge must be equal to discharge
c. recharge must be less than discharge
d. none of these; the two are not related
c. may increase flood waters upstream or
downstream from the levee.
d. none of these.
38. Underground water that is not part of a
34. What happens when the water table is
lowered?
a. Deflation
b. Inflation
c. Contraction
d. Subsidence
35. The way water moves through soil particles
is called
a. capillary action
large water body is a(n)
a. Aquifer
b. Aquiclude
c. Spring
d. Sinkhole
39. Groundwater is
a. a renewable resource that is often used
in a renewable way.
b. non-renewable resource that is often
used in a non-renewable way.
c. a renewable resource that is often used
in a non-renewable way.
d. a non-renewable resource that is often
used in a renewable way.
a. salinity increases, temperature
decreases, pressure decreases
b. salinity increases, temperature
increases, pressure increases
c. salinity decreases, temperature
increases, pressure decreases
d. salinity decreases, temperature
40. Overpumping groundwater can result in
decreases, pressure decreases
a. an increase in spring action.
b. land faulting.
45. The deepest point in the ocean is a(n)
c. salt water incursion.
a. mid-ocean ridge
d. all of these.
b. atoll
c. submarine trench
41. The most common minerals in seawater are
e. calcium chloride
b. calcium carbonate
c. sodium chloride
d. magnesium
d. none of these.
46. What is the primary cause of the tides?
a. Earth's rotation
b. The moon's gravity
c. the Sun's gravity
d. wind
42. Salt in the oceans comes from
a. deep-sea hydrothermal vents
47. Where is wave energy the greatest?
b. near shore salt deposits
a. at the surface
c. river inflow
b. at the ocean floor
d. mid-ocean ridges
c. half way between the surface and the
ocean floor
43. What causes the Coriolis effect?
d. None of the above
a. Moon's gravity
b. Sun's gravity
48. A wave breaks because
c. gyres
a. the base has friction with the bottom.
d. Earth's rotation
b. it becomes too tall to be supported
44. Water density decreases as
by its base.
c. it reaches the shore.
d. all of these.
a. brings nutrients to the surface so
49. Surface currents are created by
a. local wind patterns
b. the depth of the seafloor
c. the rotation of the Earth.
d. all of these.
50. Wave energy is
a. the same from the surface to its
there is a lot of life.
b. brings warm water to the surface so
there are coral reefs where there are
islands.
c. brings cold, saline water from near
South America to near eastern Asia.
d. none of these.
greatest depth.
b. lowest at the surface and increases
with depth.
c. greatest at the surface and decreases
with depth.
d. none of these.
51. The highest high and lowest low tides occur
a. in the spring.
b. when Sun, Moon and Earth are
aligned.
c. When Sun and Moon are at 90degrees to each other relative to
54. What does ROV stand for?
a. Renovated Operated Vehicle
b. Remotely Obtuse Vehicle
c. Remotely Operated Vehicle
d. Really Outdated Vehicle
55. What fishing method involves a net that
scrapes the ocean floor?
a. bottom trawling
b. line casting
c. bottom feeding
d. line trawling
Earth.
d. during the one-quarter and threequarter moon.
56. Resources in the oceans are
a. both living and non-living.
b. Scarce
52. Thermohaline circulation is due to
a. salinity differences in water masses.
c. virtually impossible to obtain.
d. mostly at the surface.
b. temperature differences in water
masses.
c. density differences in water masses.
d. none of these.
53. Upwelling along the equator
57. A wave is ____________ that passes through a
material.
a. speed
b. energy
c. motion
d. water
58. Beaches are formed when
a. waves deposit sediments along the
coast
b. waves carry sediments to sea
c. humans erect sea walls
d. tides rise
59. Erosion from waves produces which of the
following:
a. cliffs
b. sea stacks
c. arches
d. all of the above
60. A structure made of sand and is connected
to the land extending into the water is a
__________.
a. breakwater
b. seawall
c. spit
d. groin