CE633-ENVIRONMENTAL HYDROLOGY
FALL 2002
MIDTERM EXAM
OCTOBER 22, 2002, 1730-1845

Name: ______________________ S.S. No. ________________ Grade: _________

Instructions: Closed book, closed notes. Use engineering paper. When you are finished, staple your work in sequence, and return this sheet with your work. Answer only 10 questions.

  1. Define ``Environmental Hydrology.'' How does it differ from classical hydrology? What natural resources are considered in Environmental Hydrology?

  2. Explain the physical basis for the boomerang-shaped flood peak stage-date function at the Ladario gage in the Pantanal of Mato Grosso.

  3. What is the main reason for the existence of the Pantanal? What is the main reason for the fragility of the Pantanal ecosystems?

  4. What is autodredging? When does it occur? When does it not occur? What is the physical process responsible for autodregding?

  5. What is the process responsible for the oxygen in the atmosphere? What is the process responsible for the nitrogen in the atmosphere? What is the origin of the juvenile carbon dioxide in the atmosphere? What is the current carbon dioxide concentration (in ppm) in the atmosphere?

  6. Why is it a fallacy to state that tropical rainforests such as the Amazon will help in sequestering excess carbon from fossil fuel burning? Explain.

  7. What process is primarily responsible for the release of phosphorous from lake sediments? Why does phosphorous have the tendency to cycle between the biosphere and lithosphere? Is the ocean a sink for phosphorous?

  8. What processes take part in the nitrogen cycle? How does nitrogen enter the biospheric nitrogen cycle? How does nitrogen escape the nitrogen cycle in the biosphere?

  9. Why is it necessary to have alternate periods of aerobiosis and anaerobiosis in a floodplain or wetland to close the nitrogen cycle? How did the early inhabitants of the Llanos de Mojos manage to interrupt this natural process?

  10. What is BOD? What does it represent? What are typical BOD values in domestic wastewaters? Why is BOD5 taken as a standard of measure?

  11. What is redox potential? What does it describe? Describe the time sequence of oxidation-reduction in newly flooded wetland soils.

  12. Why are wetlands important? What functions do they provide? Are constructed treatment wetlands part of the regulated waters of the United States?