Surface Water

Includes:

River SystemsPondsLakes

RIVER SYSTEMS

Headwaters:• The source of a river powered by gravity• Includes many small streams

Tributary:•Are where streams and smaller river feed

into a main river•Tributaries along with the rivers make up

the River System

RIVER SYSTEMS

Flood Plains:•A flat valley where rivers flow through.

Oxbow Lake:•Formed when a river curves and then is cut off from the flow

Meander:•Looping and curves of a river

RIVER SYSTEMS

Mouth:•Where the river flows into a larger body of water. (lake or ocean)•River slows•River deposits sediment creating a “delta”

RIVER SYSTEMS

Watersheds:•Land that supplies water to the river system•Also known as “drainage basins”•Large rivers can ‘drain’ into larger rivers becoming part of their watershed.

RIVER SYSTEMS

Divides:•Separate one watershed from another by a ridge of land

•Two divides:•Rocky Mountains•Water flows to Pacific Ocean or Great

Basin•Appalachian Mountains

RIVER SYSTEMS

Erosion:•Occurs along riverbank curves

•Changes the route of a river or stream•Will deposit material into lakes and Oceans

Rivers Shaping the Land

Activity

Summarize : River systems

Ponds

•Bodies of freshwater•Contain still standing water•Differ from lakes:

•Smaller•Shallower•Sunlight usually reaches the bottom

Ponds

•Forms when water collects in hollows and low-lying area of land• Formed by rainfall, melted snow and ice, rivers, groundwater, and runoff• Thriving Habitats

•Algae and plants provide the oxygen•Bottom covered in mud and algae

Lakes

Lake Bottoms:•Sand•Pebble•Rocks•Sunlight does not reach

Lakes

Life/biome:•Wildlife/vegetation similar to ponds around edge.•No plant life on bottom•Bottom alive with worms, clams and mollusks•Larger predator fish (sturgeon, pike)

Lakes

Types of Lakes:•Volcanic crater

•Formed when water collects in craters of old volcanoes

•Depression by glacier’s•Formed by movements of glaciers

•Reservoir•Human made for human use

Lakes

Lake Formation (cont.):•Oxbow

•Formed when rivers change course•Movement of Earth’s crust

•Forms deep valleys

Lakes

Lake changes over time:•Seasonal change•Long-Term change•Death of a Body of Fresh Water

Lakes

Seasonal Change:•Summer lake stays cool lower down and warm on the surface•Fall the water cools and sinks to the bottom causing “turnover”•Turnover: when lake water mixes•Materials rise from the bottom to top

Lakes

Seasonal Change (cont.):•Turnover refreshes nutrients throughout the lake•Nutrients: are substances such as nitrogen

and phosphorus•Enables plants and algae to grow

Lakes

Long-Term Change:•Organism waste and plant debris

•Release nutrients•Build up on the bottom•Algae feed on nutrients

•Build up of nutrients cause eutrophication•eutrophication: build up of nutrients and

increase in algae

Lakes

Death of a lake:•Occurs when algae gets so thick it blocks out sunlight•Lack of photosynthesis and oxygen•Organisms begin to die off•Lake becomes shallower•More plants take root, water evaporates, grasses

Lakes

Death of a lake:•More plants take root•Water evaporates•Grasses grow•Change from lake, to swamp, marsh, pond, to bog •Eventually changing to meadow

Ponds, Lakes and Pools

Activity

Summarize : Ponds and Lakes