EOSC 210 – Final Exam Study Material (comprehensive revision guide
and lecture summary)
Dam Construction: Materials - correct answer ✔✔Large amounts of clay, sand and gravel (or
concrete aggregate) are needed for dam construction.
If available, these materials will be collected as near to the site of the dam as possible.
-Poorly sorted, non-stratified moraine deposit
-Sorted, stratified outwash deposit (gravels and sand)
Earthquakes: Surface Waves - correct answer ✔✔- Transmit energy along Earth's surface,
causing the Earth's surface to vibrate
- Love Wave
- Rayleigh Waves
Chemical Weathering: Oxidation - correct answer ✔✔-Reaction of free oxygen with metallic
minerals
- Most affected rocks: Pyrite, pyrrhotite, Biotite, Amphibole, Pyroxene
-Causes coloration of rocks
Hydrologic Cycle - correct answer ✔✔Precipitation, Infiltration, Runoff, Evaporation,
Transpiration, Sublimation
Precipitation - correct answer ✔✔Rain or snowfall on land or oceans
Infiltration (Percolation) - correct answer ✔✔surface water soaks into the ground (fills cracks
and pore spaces in soil or rock)
,Runoff - correct answer ✔✔the portion of precipitation (rain + snow) that DOES NOT infiltrate
into the ground, but flows over the surface and eventually collects in streams, lakes, oceans
Evaporation - correct answer ✔✔transformation of fluid form to gas form (water from open
bodies of water become vapor in atmosphere)
Transpiration - correct answer ✔✔Groundwater is absorbed into plant roots, carried up to the
leaves and re-enters the atmosphere as water vapor
Evapotranspiration - correct answer ✔✔Evaporation + Transpiration
Sublimation - correct answer ✔✔snow or ice transform directly from solid form to gas form
(water vapour) and return to the atmosphere
Water Balance - correct answer ✔✔Flow in = Flow out
-Total flows between the various reservoirs
-approximately balance each other.
Dynamic Exchange
Groundwater - correct answer ✔✔- water beneath earth's surface
- about 1/5 of all fresh water on Earth
- to use it source must be
1. Be economical to extract from subsurface
2. Satisfy certain criteria regarding quality
,Water Table - correct answer ✔✔- Ground is saturated below water table
- Roughly follows the topography of the landscape, changes seasonally
Groundwater Use - correct answer ✔✔- Domestic use
- Irrigation
- Community water supply
- Pulp mills
- Mining
- Industrial processes
Where is Groundwater stored? - correct answer ✔✔pores spaces and fractures of sediments
and rocks
Groundwater Availability - correct answer ✔✔Porosity, permeability, sustainability
Porosity (n) - correct answer ✔✔- Defines how much void space is present per volume of
rock/sediment
- If saturated with water, it defines how much water is present per unit volume of rock or
sediment.
Typical Intergranular Porosity Values - correct answer ✔✔•Sediments: loose sand, gravel, silt,
clay (0.40; 40%)
• Sandstone (<0.30; 30%)
• Shales (<0.10; 10%)
• Granite (<< 0.01; 1%)
Permeability (k) - correct answer ✔✔- Capacity of rock/soil to transmit water (or other fluids)
, - How pore spaces in a porous medium are connected
- Depends on grain size distribution and connectivity of pores
Most permeable: sand, gravel, sandstone, limestone, fractured rock
Least permeable: silt, clay, shale, unfractured crystalline rock (ig,met)
-reflects ONLY the medium properties
-Influences
•size, shape, packing of grains,
•degree of cementation, and
•amount/nature of fracturing (especially rock)
Hydraulic Conductivity (K) - correct answer ✔✔- the ability of a porous medium to transmit
fluids;
- includes properties of
the porous medium (e.g., permeability)
AND properties of the fluid (e.g., viscosity)
Hydraulic Head (h) - correct answer ✔✔- a combined measure of pressure and elevation,
relative to a specified datum (z=0) in an aquifer, and is expressed in units of length.
Hydraulic Gradient (i) - correct answer ✔✔-Measure of the driving force for groundwater
movement or flow (~slope)
- Water flows from High head to low head
and lecture summary)
Dam Construction: Materials - correct answer ✔✔Large amounts of clay, sand and gravel (or
concrete aggregate) are needed for dam construction.
If available, these materials will be collected as near to the site of the dam as possible.
-Poorly sorted, non-stratified moraine deposit
-Sorted, stratified outwash deposit (gravels and sand)
Earthquakes: Surface Waves - correct answer ✔✔- Transmit energy along Earth's surface,
causing the Earth's surface to vibrate
- Love Wave
- Rayleigh Waves
Chemical Weathering: Oxidation - correct answer ✔✔-Reaction of free oxygen with metallic
minerals
- Most affected rocks: Pyrite, pyrrhotite, Biotite, Amphibole, Pyroxene
-Causes coloration of rocks
Hydrologic Cycle - correct answer ✔✔Precipitation, Infiltration, Runoff, Evaporation,
Transpiration, Sublimation
Precipitation - correct answer ✔✔Rain or snowfall on land or oceans
Infiltration (Percolation) - correct answer ✔✔surface water soaks into the ground (fills cracks
and pore spaces in soil or rock)
,Runoff - correct answer ✔✔the portion of precipitation (rain + snow) that DOES NOT infiltrate
into the ground, but flows over the surface and eventually collects in streams, lakes, oceans
Evaporation - correct answer ✔✔transformation of fluid form to gas form (water from open
bodies of water become vapor in atmosphere)
Transpiration - correct answer ✔✔Groundwater is absorbed into plant roots, carried up to the
leaves and re-enters the atmosphere as water vapor
Evapotranspiration - correct answer ✔✔Evaporation + Transpiration
Sublimation - correct answer ✔✔snow or ice transform directly from solid form to gas form
(water vapour) and return to the atmosphere
Water Balance - correct answer ✔✔Flow in = Flow out
-Total flows between the various reservoirs
-approximately balance each other.
Dynamic Exchange
Groundwater - correct answer ✔✔- water beneath earth's surface
- about 1/5 of all fresh water on Earth
- to use it source must be
1. Be economical to extract from subsurface
2. Satisfy certain criteria regarding quality
,Water Table - correct answer ✔✔- Ground is saturated below water table
- Roughly follows the topography of the landscape, changes seasonally
Groundwater Use - correct answer ✔✔- Domestic use
- Irrigation
- Community water supply
- Pulp mills
- Mining
- Industrial processes
Where is Groundwater stored? - correct answer ✔✔pores spaces and fractures of sediments
and rocks
Groundwater Availability - correct answer ✔✔Porosity, permeability, sustainability
Porosity (n) - correct answer ✔✔- Defines how much void space is present per volume of
rock/sediment
- If saturated with water, it defines how much water is present per unit volume of rock or
sediment.
Typical Intergranular Porosity Values - correct answer ✔✔•Sediments: loose sand, gravel, silt,
clay (0.40; 40%)
• Sandstone (<0.30; 30%)
• Shales (<0.10; 10%)
• Granite (<< 0.01; 1%)
Permeability (k) - correct answer ✔✔- Capacity of rock/soil to transmit water (or other fluids)
, - How pore spaces in a porous medium are connected
- Depends on grain size distribution and connectivity of pores
Most permeable: sand, gravel, sandstone, limestone, fractured rock
Least permeable: silt, clay, shale, unfractured crystalline rock (ig,met)
-reflects ONLY the medium properties
-Influences
•size, shape, packing of grains,
•degree of cementation, and
•amount/nature of fracturing (especially rock)
Hydraulic Conductivity (K) - correct answer ✔✔- the ability of a porous medium to transmit
fluids;
- includes properties of
the porous medium (e.g., permeability)
AND properties of the fluid (e.g., viscosity)
Hydraulic Head (h) - correct answer ✔✔- a combined measure of pressure and elevation,
relative to a specified datum (z=0) in an aquifer, and is expressed in units of length.
Hydraulic Gradient (i) - correct answer ✔✔-Measure of the driving force for groundwater
movement or flow (~slope)
- Water flows from High head to low head
