Name______

Watershed Study Guide 2015 Answer Key

  1. Define the term watershed. An area of land, separated by a divide, that drains into a common body of water, such as a pond, stream, river, lake or bay.
  1. In the map below, (a) write in the following where they are located:Maryland, Virginia, the Delmarva Peninsula, West Virginia, the Shenandoah, Sterling VA, Goose Creek, Washington, D.C., the Atlantic Ocean, and Norfolk, VA. These are on the map below, except for the Delmarva Peninsula, which is the peninsula between the Delaware Bay, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Chesapeake Bay.

(b) write in the names of the 5 main rivers flowing into the main body of water shown on the map.The Susquehanna is just visible at the top of the Chesapeake Bay, be sure to write that in, plus in this order, the Potomac, the Rappahannock, the York, and the James Rivers.

(c) write in the names of the two estuaries and one ocean on the map. The Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware Bay are shown below. The Atlantic Ocean is from the end of the Delaware Bay, the body of water East of the Delmarva, and where the Chesapeake Bay opens at Cape Henry and Cape Charles.

  1. In the map below, show where the Eastern Continental Divide will be found. Also use arrows (or words) to show the flow of water near the Divide. The divide will be the same.

Color in, or use pointer arrows, to show the divide between the New to the West, and the Roanoke and James to the East.

  1. Given a piece of foil, shape it in the form of the United States with the appropriate continental divides in place to actually function as they do in real life. (____)
  2. Estuary.

a)What is an estuary?_an area where fresh and salt water mix.

b)Give two examples: Puget Sound, Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay.

c)Explain the role of tides in an estuary: to mix the salt and fresh water, and to change the water levels.

  1. “Dead zone” in bodies of water

a)What does it mean?An area in the water.where plant and animal life doesn’t exist.

b)What are two ways it can happen? Chemicals can pollute the water..and

Dissolved oxygen can disappear due to algae bloom thanks to fertilizer runoff.

  1. What isbiotic? Living factors. Give 3 examples of biotic factors: Plant life, fish, presence of people.

what isabiotic? Nonliving factors. Give 3 examples of abiotic factors: Dissolved oxygen, pH level (acid or base), water temperature, turbidity (cloudiness of water.)

(c) as water temperature increases, what happens to dissolved oxygen?Dissolved oxygen decreases.