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Watershed midterm 2
second midterm
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What happens to a hydrograph as you go downstream? | more water volume (bigger watershed above point) lag to peak increases (water has to travel a longer distance, so takes a longer time) bigger peak discharge as you go downstream |
| normalized hydrographs | discharge divided by drainage area |
| attenuation | taking something sharp (lots of volume, short period of time) and spreading it out over time |
| Promotion of storage (things that lead to pondage) | -higher friction • vegetation, rocks, etc -shape of the channel • shallow & wide = slower velocities -restrictions • dams, or just channel narrowing longer hydrograph, lower peak downstream |
| translation | (water leaves quickly once it travels through that reach) narrower hydrograph, higher peak downstream |
| Humans ruin stuff | -levees keep it in place & promoting translation (gets deeper instead of wider) -doing that makes it worse for communities downstream that can’t do that (disadvantages lower income communities) |
| Probability (P) | percentage chance of getting rank 1 or more as the largest number for the observational period |
| Recurrence Interval (RI) | tells us on average, once out of # data (years, coin tosses etc.) you’ll get rank 1 or # greater as the max number in the experiment, every 28th experiment |
| 100 year flood = | On average, once every hundred years, a flood of this size or greater will be the biggest flood in that year. Well we don’t have that much data, so the 100 year flood is changed every year. |
| Annual exceedance probability | how likely is it that you equal or exceed the biggest flow in a year? |
| Flood frequency | has to be normally distributed, so you can have a bell curve. If it’s normally distributed, it will be linear on a log log plot. They insist that annual flood data is independent of previous years, but they can’t be. |
| carbonic acid | CO2 + H2O → H2CO3 (carbonic acid) ←→ H + HCO3 H2CO3 (in H2O) → H + HCO3 (biocarbonate ion) • pH of 5.8 |
| Associated with chemical weathering | -water hydrolysis -acid carbonation -oxidation |
| Dissolution of limestone | CaCO3 + H + Cl → Ca + CO3 = H + Cl |
| What ions dissolve in water? | -easily • Na+ • K+ • Cl- • SO4— -less easily • Ca++ • Mg++ • CO3-- -hard • Al+4 • Fe+2 • Si+4 |
| Water hardness | (softeners dissolve Ca & Mg) |
| CO2 & H2O ←light & plants→ CH2O (organic matter) + O2 | ^Photosynthesis. Classic redox reaction (one being oxidized, one being reduced) Carbon dioxide is reduced, water loses electrons & is oxidized LEO(loss of electrons is oxidation) GER (gain of electrons is reduced) |
| Who’s photosynthesizing? | Autotrophs -plants -algae -bacteria |
| Nitrogen & Phosphorus | -N is involved in proteins & amino acids -P is involved in ATP (produces energy), DNA, and cell membranes |
| Respiration & heterotrophs | The energy we get is stored as ATP Phosphate & Ammonium are excreted • PO4--- • NH4+ • NO3- If there’s high levels of respiration in a body of water, the oxygen use might exceed how fast the atmosphere can replenish it |
| Alternate Terminal Electron Acceptors (bacteria that oxidize organic matter to yield CO2 without utilizing oxygen) | -one uses organics & Nitrate (NO3-), which yields N2 gas (and CO2) -one uses iron hydroxides (Fe(OH)3), which yields Fe+2 -one uses sulfate (SO4--), yields H2S -one uses CO2, yields CH4 (which is called Methanogenesis) |
| Projected source amounts of N from watersheds to large river systems in the year 2030: | -40% from synthetic fertilizer -40% from atmosphere • nitric acid -20% from STP (sewage treatment plants) |
| solubility | CO2(dissolved) = Sc x pCO2 • Sc is solubilty constant o Sensitive to temperature • p is partial pressure (of CO2 in the atmosphere) |
| Temperature increases, conductivity should increase | CO2 is more soluble in water as the temperature is lower. So solubility constant goes up. As the p goes up, we get more CO2 dissolved in the water |
| atmospheric vs soil pore CO2 | Rainfall has adjusted pH dependent on the gasses in the atmosphere. Decomposing organic matter in subsurface fills pore space with CO2, leading to a higher concentration (trapped, can’t escape into atm). CO2 in atmosphere is 0.04%, 0.25% in soil |
| precipitation of calcite | CaCO3 + H2CO3 ←→ Ca2+ + 2HCO3 As it reaches the surface & pressure decreases, calcite re-precipitates As temp goes up, liquid is less able to hold dissolved gas. Plants remove CO2, which reduces carbonic acid (and again, causes calcite to precipitate) |
| Travertine | occurs where there are abundant limestones and waterfalls. Waterfalls basically like shaking the bottle of soda. Used for housing, pyramids, Spanish steps, tiles. |
| types of Phosphate (PO4) | • Dissolved Inorganic Phosphorous (DIP) • Dissolved Organic Phosphorous (DOP) • Particulate Inorganic Phosphorous (PIP) o Could be a mineral o Could be sorbed onto some other particle • Particulate Organic Phosphorous (POP) o Diatom, leaves, people |
| Phosphate and closed root systems | moving between organic and inorganic within the same system (organics die, are broken down, gasses are fixed by organisms at roots). Doesn’t have an atmospheric form, very rarely gaseous. |
| N cycle | ??? |
| Molar ratios for N & P | -the incorporation of DIN and DIP from the environment into organic matter generally occurs at a molar ratio of 16:1 |
| Non-molar ratios for N & P | -if N:P >> 16:1, then the ratio is large and the organisms are considered P-limited. Freshwater. -if N:P << 16:1, then the ratio is small and that means the organisms are probably limited by the availability of N. They are N-limited. Saltwater. |
| energy flows in aquatic systems | • light • inorganic molecules • organic molecules |
| light | • light o photoautotrophs o the earth re?00 W/m^2 o the remainder of all that power, roughly 1%, is used in the process of photosynthesis o who photosynthesizes? • Plants, bacteria, protists o o o Use of water, oxygen gets o |
| inorganic molecules | • inorganic molecules o used to create organic matter o c?eir geochemical oxidation provides the energy for reductive biosynthesis? o ahhh o ahhhh |
| organic molecules | • organic molecules o heterotrophs present in all kingdoms of organisms, reduced carbon as an energy source o with some obvious exceptions, the direct source of energy to most aquatic systems is photosynthesis |
| Photosynthesis limited by | -light -water -nutrients like CO2, N, P -reaction rates |
| 1st law of thermodynamics | -energy (mass) is neither created nor destroyed -energy may flow into and out of aquatic ecosystems, it may be converted from light to chemical to heat energy, but it never arises from nothing or disappears outright |
| 2nd law of thermodynamics | -no conversion of energy is 100% efficient -systems that exhibit order tend to disorder unless energy is input to maintain order -nothing lasts forever -aquatic and …. |
| Surface & groundwater contamination across the nation | -what are the major contaminants of concern? • Nitrogen • Dissolved C • Phosphorous • Heavy metals • Suspended sediment -what are the primary sources? • Urban & agricultural runoff • Human atmospheric contamination |
| Herbicides & emerging contaminants | -many are unregulated -when herbicides decay, their products are not regulated. And we don’t know much about the products. -and we don’t know what happens when you mix together even the regulated contaminants. |
| Herbicides & emerging contaminants2 | We know what chemical x does to you on its own over a certain level, but we don’t know what chemical x does when mixed with chemicals y & z. -roundup is in 75% of all water and air samples in the US. And it causes cancer. |
| Endocrine disruptors | • normally hormone attached to receptor causes a cell to react in a certain way • disruptors are hormone mimics, makes cell have a reaction (could be under-reaction, overreaction, reaction block) |
| Net Primary Production | -this is the reduced organic matter (unit of currency that can be converted to kcal of energy) available to all the other heterotrophs in the ecosystem. The autotrophs fuel the heterotrophs. -NPP is the amount of CH2O available to heterotrophs |
| How do you measure NPP in aquatic ecosystems? | o Filter o Measure oxygen production -there is allochthonous organic matter (derived from outside water body) • leaves, food, fecal matter, runoff, etc. -also autochthonous production (occurs within) |
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haleyBUGoxox
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