Reading Guide for Water Lecture: Oct. 29 (Josh Stein)

Imagine the earth without water. This is hard to do because just about all of the landscape we see is or has been influenced by the flow or water. In the reading focus on the terms and concepts which are used to distinguish different processes by which water erodes material, transports it to other locations, and deposits it in other environments.
The first part of the reading deals with the flow of surface water (Chapter 9). Think especially about the long profile of a river and how it changes with distance from the source and how different environments effect these changes. Think about rivers emerging from a mountain range into a valley for instance. What happens when they enter the sea?
You can skip the sections at the end of the chapter on Drainage Systems (p. 275-279).

Chapter 10 :: Groundwater


Water flowing underground may not be as visible to to us surface creatures but its flow paths are certainly just as varied or even more so than that of surface water.
In your reading pay attention to the differences between porosity and permeability; and unconfined and confined aquifers. Also pay attention to the sections about what happens when you lower the water table. Read the section about groundwater flow (p. 288) which talks about Darcy's Law. We will discuss this important law in class and you will be using it in a homework exercise. The section of the chapter about groundwater contamination (p. 295-298) can be skipped. Read pages 300 306 about geologic features caused by groundwater flow (caves and karst) paying attention to how you might recognize these features in the field and distinguish them from other geomorphic features. Remember much of the geomorphology of the UCSC campus has been caused by cave forming processes. How do you recognise a dissolution topography?