Problem 2
If you collect a jar of water from a stream, what part of its load will settle to the bottom of the jar? What portion will remain in the water indefinitely? What part of the stream's load would probably not be represented in your sample?
Problem 4
Streamflow is affected by several variables, including discharge, gradient, and channel roughness, size, and shape. Develop a scenario in which a mass wasting event influences a stream's flow. Explain what led up to, or triggered, the event and describe how the mass wasting process influenced the stream's flow.
Problem 6
Several times during the past 2.5 million years, huge ice sheets (continental- size glaciers) formed and spread across large parts of Northern Hemisphere landmasses and then gradually melted away. a. How do you think the formation of ice sheets affected sea level? b. How would rivers flowing into the ocean have been affected as the ice sheets expanded? c. What kind of adjustments would these rivers make as the glacial ice melted?
Problem 7
Building a dam is one method of regulating the flow of a river to control flooding. Dams and their reservoirs may also provide recreational opportunities and water for irrigation and hydroelectric power generation. This image, from near Page, Arizona, shows Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River upstream from the Grand Canyon and a portion of Lake Powell, the reservoir it created. a. How did the behavior of the stream likely change upstream from Lake Powell? b. How might the behavior of the Colorado River downstream from the dam have been affected? c. Given enough time, how might the reservoir change? d. Speculate on the possible environmental impacts of building a dam such as this one.
