Geology 20 part 4
Terms
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- What does the ability of a sponge to hold water depend on?
- It depends on how many holes it has in it, also known as POROSITY.
- What makes the Earth's surface act like a sponge?
- Soil and surfical sediment.
- What happens when the precipitation rate is greater than the infiltration rate?
- More water lands on the surface than can be soaked in, which results in floods.
- What happens when more water is added to a river at bankfull discharge?
- A flood will occur.
- What happens when the soil is already full of water?
- Any more rain will flow over earth's surface as RUNOFF.
- What is glowing combustion?
- A reaction between oxygen or an oxidizer and the surface of a solid fuel so that there is emission of heat and light without a flame. Also known as surface burning.
- How is the spread of wildfires controlled?
- Sensitive and risk-prone parts of the landscape undergo CONTROLLED BURNS to remove potential fuel sources.
- Why does water that gets soaked into the ground continue to flow downhill?
- Gravity keeps pulling at it.
- What is infiltration rate?
- It is the speed that water gets soaked up into the ground.
- What is bankfull discharge?
- It is the largest amount of water a river can carry without flooding.
- Infiltration rate is the function of...
- Porosity, permeability, and the presence of water already in the soil.
- In what direction do wildfires tend to spread?
- Up hill slopes.
- What is precipitation rate?
- It is the speed in which rain is delivered to land.
- What is an efficient way of spreading fire through a tree canopy?
- Fire tornadoes.
- What allows fire to climb from grasses to tree tops?
- Vegetation of varying heights.
- How does backburning work?
- The smaller, nearby fire is drawn into the bigger fire by convection, thereby removing the fuel source around the wildfire.
- What are flash floods?
- A flood-related death.
- What are fire tornadoes?
- It's when wildfires generate so much heat that it forces air to rise quickly, which, in some cases, cause rising air to swirl.
- How do firefighters attempt to fight (contain) wildfires?
- Backburning (lighting a backfire).
- What is water holding capacity?
- It is the total amount of water that soil and sediment can hold.
- What do wildfires need to continue combusting organic material?
- Oxygen.
- In what conditions can soil and sediment hold more water?
- The smaller the particles, the tinier the pore spaces and the greatest total amount of space, the ore roots extended into the material.
- What captures most of the water that flows as runoff, throughflow, and ground water?
- Rivers and streams.
- What is discharge?
- It defines the volume of water carried by the river at some time.
- What causes the time lag between the peak in rainfall and the flood peak?
- It is due to the time it takes for water to get to the channel.
- Why do fires tend to spread up hill slopes?
- It happens because the vertical flames and convection dry out the land upslope of the fire.
- What is permeability?
- It is the speed that water flows through soil and sediment.
- What is flaming combustion?
- It's when the pyrolized gases in the presence of oxygen ignites, and combustion begins.
- What is a hydrograph?
- It plots the discharge the river is carrying with time.
- What causes the flames and heat energy to be directed at a particular direction?
- A prevailing wind direction.
- Why is gravity constantly squeezing on soil and sediments on land?
- It's trying to get the water stored on land back to the ocean.