Geological Structures and Streams and Floods and Groundwater

For project 5, please provide short answers for the following:

• Explain how rocks respond to those stresses within the Earth’s crust by brittle, elastic, or plastic deformation, or by fracturing
• Summarize how rocks become folded
• Describe the conditions under which rocks fracture
• Briefly describe the different types of faults, including normal, reverse, thrust, and strike-slip
• Briefly describe the difference between strike and dip
• Briefly describe the hydrological cycle
• Describe a drainage basin and explain the origins of different types of drainage patterns
• Explain how streams become graded
• Describe the formation of stream terraces
• Describe the processes by which sediments are moved by streams and the flow velocities that are necessary to erode them from the stream bed and keep them suspended in the water
• Explain how natural stream levees form
• Describe the types of environments where one would expect to find straight-channel, braided, and meandering streams
• Explain some of the steps that we can take to limit the damage from flooding
• Explain the concepts of porosity and permeability and the importance of these to groundwater storage and movement
• Define aquifers, aquitards, confining layers, and the differences between confined and unconfined aquifers
• Explain the concepts of hydraulic head, the water table, potentiometric surface, and hydraulic gradient
• Describe the flow of groundwater from recharge areas to discharge areas
• Describe how observation wells are used to monitor groundwater levels and the importance of protecting groundwater resources
• Describe some of the ways that groundwater can become contaminated, and how contamination can be minimized