The Handy Geography Answer Book. Paul A Tucci
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million liters) per day.
What is an aquifer?
An aquifer is an underground collection of water that is surrounded by rock. The creation of an aquifer is a very slow process, as it relies upon precipitated water (rainwater) to percolate through the soil and rock layers and into the aquifer. An aquifer lies above a lower layer of rock that holds the water in place and keeps it from moving further underground.
What is the Ogallala Aquifer?
The Ogallala Aquifer is a huge aquifer that spans an area from western Texas to South Dakota, including parts of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. The oldest water deposited in the aquifer is over one million years old, and only a very small amount of water is added each year. The Ogallala Aquifer is being pumped rapidly by the farms in the region, causing a reduction in the amount of water in the aquifer. Consequently, wells have to be continually deepened so that they can continue to pump water. The aquifer supports 20% of the wheat, corn, cotton, and cattle produced in the United States.
Why are we losing groundwater?
Water is pumped from aquifers around the world for irrigation, industrial, and household needs. Aquifers do not refill as rapidly as water is being pumped out, so in many areas, there is a danger that some aquifers may disappear altogether.
What are ice ages?
Ice ages began during the Precambrian Era approximately 600 million years ago. Throughout the life of the planet, the climate has warmed and cooled many times. During the cooling periods, ice ages have occurred. Large sheets of ice cover large portions of land. In the most recent ice age, which began approximately 3 million years ago and ended about 10,000 years ago, large parts of northern Europe and North America were covered by ice sheets. Some experts argue that there is evidence to suggest that the most recent ice age continues to this very day.
Will there be another ice age?
Yes, eventually the Earth will again cool and ice will cover land at higher latitudes and elevations. It may be a hundred years from now or it may be thousands of years away, but the Earth’s climate is always slowly changing.
If I keep walking in a straight line, will the Coriolis effect cause me to veer off in one direction or another?
If your body were completely symmetrical (it is not) and neither leg were longer and you were walking on perfectly flat land, then, yes, you might start veering due to the Coriolis effect.
What is the Coriolis effect?
Due to the rotation of the Earth, any object on or near the Earth’s surface will veer to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. This applies especially to phenomena such as ocean currents and wind. Imagine an airplane flying to New York from Los Angeles. As the plane flies over the United States, the Earth continues to rotate under the plane, and it lands in New Jersey instead. Pilots need to factor the spinning of the Earth into their trajectories in order to end up in the right place. North of the equator, ocean currents and winds rotate clockwise, but south of the equator, the opposite is true.
Does the Coriolis effect make the water in my toilet, sink, and bathtub swirl clockwise?
No, the Coriolis effect has very little effect on such small bodies of water. The flow down the drain is mostly a function of the shape of the container that holds the water.
What is the difference between a bay and a gulf?
Both a bay and a gulf are bodies of water partially surrounded by land, but a bay is a smaller version of a gulf. Famous bays include the San Francisco Bay (California), the Bay of Pigs (Cuba), Chesapeake Bay (Maryland/Virginia area), Hudson Bay (Canada), the Bay of Bengal (near India and Southeast Asia), and the Bay of Biscay (France). Famous gulfs include the Gulf of Mexico (southern United States), the Persian Gulf (between Saudi Arabia and Iran), and the Gulf of Aden (between the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea).
Where does the Loch Ness Monster live?
Loch Ness lies along a natural fault line in Scotland. The fabled monster is supposed to live in Loch Ness. The term “loch” is Gaelic and is used in Scotland to refer to a lake or narrow inlet of the sea. Loch Ness is fully surrounded by land and is therefore a lake. The first recorded sighting of this alleged monster was in the sixth century C.E. by St. Columba. In 1933, the first photograph of the supposed monster, known as Nessie, was taken.
How are waves created?
Waves are created by wind blowing across the surface of water. Though waves appear to move along the surface of the water, they are simply the movement (oscillation) of water up and down due to the friction of the air. When waves occur near the shore, they may become steeper and “break.”
How does the Old Faithful geyser shoot water into the air?
A geyser, such as the famous Old Faithful, located in Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park, is the result of an underground aquifer that is warmed by heated rocks and magma. There is a small fissure or crack in this aquifer’s surface that allows the steam and heated water to jet from the ground (about every hour).
Possibly the most famous geyser on the planet is Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park.
How does water wash away the land?
Drops of rain hit soil and rock and displace grains of material. When water flows over the surface, it loosens and carries away pieces of rock or soil. There is a tremendous amount of energy in a raindrop. Over days, weeks, months, years, centuries, and millennia, the erosive power of water can cut through even the strongest rocks. The material that the flowing water picks up is eventually deposited when the flow of the stream slows down, a process known as deposition.
How much does a gallon of water weigh?
Water is quite a heavy substance. One gallon of water at room temperature weighs about 8.33 pounds (3.78 kilograms).
How is water used in the home?
In the United States, we use approximately 80 to 100 gallons of water per day. A typical family of four people might use up to 400 gallons of water per day. About 26.7% of household water is used for flushing toilets; 21.7% is used for washing clothes; 20% may be used for washing dishes. The remaining water that we use is for showers/baths, drinking, and drips/leaks.
What waterfall has the largest flow of water?
Boyoma Falls (formerly known as Stanley Falls), on the Congo River in the central African nation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has the greatest flow of water in the world, estimated to be 4.49 million gallons per second (17 million liters per second), over the course of a drop of 196.85 feet (60 meters).
What is the most visited waterfall in the world?
Niagara Falls, on the border of Canada and the United States between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, has 212,000 cubic feet (6,000 cubic meters) of water flowing over its 173- and 182-foot-high (52.7- and 55.5- meter-high) waterfalls.
What is the highest waterfall in the world?
The highest waterfall in the world is Angel Falls, located in Canaima National Park in southeast Venezuela. It is 3,212 feet (979 meters) high.
How does the boiling point of water help determine altitude?
The boiling point of water at sea level is 212 degrees Fahrenheit (100 degrees Celsius). The boiling point drops about one degree for every 500-foot (152-meter) increase in altitude. Therefore, in Denver, Colorado, in the United States, at 5,280 feet (1,609 meters) above sea level, water boils at about 202 degrees Fahrenheit (94.4 degrees Celsius). The change in the boiling point is why cooking instructions are nearly always modified for higher altitudes, when they involve the use of boiling water.
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