Unit 5: Hydrosphere Vocabulary

3. surface water where photosynthesis takes place.
4. body of water where freshwater and saltwater mix, supporting biodiversity in aquatic ecosystems.
7. small stream that flows into a larger river.
10. process in which an overload of nutrients is introduced to water, causing an excess in plant or algae growth.
12. water occurs when the freshwater from a river or lake meets the salty seawater of an ocean body.
15. the land water flows across on its way to the river.
16. a collection of wet, underground rocks that allows water to pass through it slowly.
17. measures the amount for dissolved salts in water.
20. the movement of water through the soil.
22. the total amount of water on a planet.
23. naturally occurring water that contains a high concentration of dissolved salts.
25. biotic factors such as macroinvertebrates, that are used to help determine the health of an ecosystem.
26. naturally occurring water that is not salty or highly contaminated.

1. measures if water is “drinkable”.
2. the introduction of harmful materials into the environment.
5. an opening in the seabed of the Earth by which geothermal energy escapes and chemical-rich fluids provide nutrients to organisms in extreme environments.
6. an oceanic event when warm surface water is blown offshore and cool ocean water rises, bringing nutrients from deep zones to the surface.
8. measures the clarity of water and how much light can get through it.
9. area of the ocean receiving sunlight.
11. the process of water being absorbed into the ground.
13. water contaminants that come from a single, identifiable source.
14. water that is stored underground.
18. water contaminants that are not distinctive and whose origins are not easily identifiable.
19. United States Environmental Protection Agency
21. area of the ocean that receives no sunlight.
24. a small area of land that drains to a smaller steam, lake or wetland.