Warm Up Do Now Read the passage and answer the question following (This is only for question number 1): The Chesapeake Bay—tucked between Maryland and Virginia—is the largest estuary in the United States. The Chesapeake has abundant aquatic life, including fish, crabs, and oysters. But the area around the estuary has grown crowded with cities, farms, and industry. All of them discharge wastes into the Chesapeake and its tributaries. Because the estuary is so shallow, much of the waste remains in it and does not pass out into the Atlantic Ocean. The estuary receives phosphates from sewage treatment plants, nitrates and pesticides from farms, and toxic waste from industry. The result has been a decline in water quality and in some aquatic populations. But people and organizations in the states around the Chesapeake have joined together to clean up the estuary. Water quality in the bay has slowly improved as a result, but there is still much more to do. It will take billions of dollars and many years to restore the Chesapeake. What type of body of water is the Chesapeake Bay and what distinguishes it from other bodies of water?
Transcript
Warm UpDo Now
Read the passage and answer the question following (This is only for question number 1):The Chesapeake Bay—tucked between Maryland and Virginia—is the largest estuary in the United States. The Chesapeake has abundant aquatic life, including fish, crabs, and oysters. But the area around the estuary has grown crowded with cities, farms, and industry. All of them discharge wastes into the Chesapeake and its tributaries. Because the estuary is so shallow, much of the waste remains in it and does not pass out into the Atlantic Ocean.The estuary receives phosphates from sewage treatment plants, nitrates and pesticides from farms, and toxic waste from industry. The result has been a decline in water quality and in some aquatic populations. But people and organizations in the states around the Chesapeake have joined together to clean up the estuary. Water quality in the bay has slowly improved as a result, but there is still much more to do. It will take billions of dollars and many years to restore the Chesapeake.
What type of body of water is the Chesapeake Bay and what distinguishes it from other bodies of water?
HydrologyPart 1
Water is one of the most common substances on Earth.Water is a universal solvent (having the power of
dissolving). Some things water can’t dissolve.Water is called the universal solvent because more
substances dissolve in water than in any other chemical. This has to do with the polarity of each water molecule. The hydrogen side of each water (H2O) molecule carries a slight positive electric charge, while the oxygen side carries a slight negative electric charge.
Water is circulated on Earth by a process known as the water cycle.
Transpiration is the process by which moisture is carried through plants from roots to small pores on the underside of leaves, where it changes to vapor and is released to the atmosphere.
Evaporation is the process by which water changes from a liquid to a gas or vapor.
Condensation is the process by which water vapor in the air is changed into liquid water. Condensation is crucial to the water cycle because it is responsible for the formation of clouds. These clouds may produce precipitation, which is the primary route for water to return to the Earth's surface within the water cycle.
Continued….A portion of the precipitation seeps into the ground to replenish
Earth's groundwater. Most of it flows downhill as runoff. Runoff is extremely important in that not only does it keep rivers and lakes full of water, but it also changes the landscape by the action of erosion. Flowing water has tremendous power -- it can move boulders and carve out canyons (check out the Grand Canyon!).
Precipitation occurs when so much water has condensed that the air cannot hold it anymore. The clouds get heavy and water falls back to the earth in the form of rain, hail, sleet or snow.
Wells provide the best source of information about an aquifer.
When a water-bearing rock readily transmits water to wells and springs, it is called an aquifer.
Wells
Transport nutrients, salts, sediments and pollutants from watersheds to estuaries and to the ocean.
Rivers and Streams
Oceans, oceans, and moreOceans!!!
Things to know about the oceanThe oceans connected to major lakes, watersheds, and
waterways because all major watersheds on Earth drain to the ocean.
The ocean is the dominant physical feature of our planer, There is one ocean with many ocean basins, such as the North Pacific, South Pacific, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic.
Currents and recycling processes make nutrients, minerals, and gases available to marine life. Upwelling is a type of ocean current in which cold nutrient-rich water rises to the surface from the ocean depths.
Estuaries are places where fresh and salt waters meet.
Oceans The oceans of the earth are one continuous
body of water covering the majority of our planet.
The ocean is an integral part of the water cycle and is connected to all of the earth’s water reservoirs via evaporation and precipitation processes.
Estuaries They are partially enclosed bodies where seawater
is diluted by fresh water that drains from the land. Estuaries serve as an important habitat for many
marine species, buffer zones for pollutants and breeding grounds of many organisms.
They also act as a filtering system to remove some chemical elements and compounds from land run off.
They provide important and productive nursery areas for many marine and aquatic species.
Marine resources are used to provide many important products to humans in addition to food.
OceansAlthough the ocean is large, it is finite and
resources are limited. The salt in seawater comes from eroding
land, volcanic emissions, reactions at the sea floor, and atmospheric deposition.
There are three different marine ecosystems: shore, open ocean and deep ocean.
OceansDeep ocean exploration and technology continues
to provide information about new life forms, Earth resources, and geologic processes.
Tides, waves and predation cause vertical zonation patterns along the shore, influencing the distribution, diversity and availability of organisms.
Use of ocean resources has increased significantly; therefore the future sustainability of ocean resources depends on our understanding of those resources and their potential and limitations.
The ocean affects every human life.
The Serious Science Behind OceansMicroscopic algae serve as the base of open ocean
food webs and provide the majority of the world’s oxygen.
Terrestrial and aquatic food webs are often interconnected and affected by the level of nutrients.
Many organisms spend parts of their life cycle in aquatic and terrestrial surroundings.
Most of life in the ocean exists as microbes. Microbes are the most important primary producers
in the ocean. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8101vCjM7nY
Science Behind OceansThe salinity of the open sea is fairly constant,
but the ocean consists of several zones with different properties due to variations in temperature, pressure and penetration of light.
Many earth materials and geochemical cycles originate in the ocean. Productivity is greatest in the surface layers of the ocean, where sunlight penetrates and photosynthesis occurs.
Science Behind OceansMost rain comes from the ocean and over half of Earth’s
oxygen. From the ocean we get foods, medicines, minerals, and
energy resources. Not only are they the most abundant life form in the
ocean, they have extremely fast growth rates and life cycles.
There are many deep ocean ecosystems that are independent of energy from sunlight and photosynthetic organisms.
Hydrothermal vents, submarine hot springs, and methane cold seeps rely only on chemical energy and chemosynthetic organisms to support life.
