EARTH SCIENCE Assignment # _____

Name:______Date:______Period:_____

River Flooding

Go to http://www.sciencecourseware.org/VirtualRiver, then choose “River Flooding”

Throughout this exercise you will be learning about various aspects of stream flooding and the frequency of flooding. When finished, you should be able to answer some simple questions about what you have learned. Below are ten of these questions. Give them a try now. If you don't know the correct answer, click the "hint" button. You will be asked some of these same questions at the end of this exercise.

1. Should you really build a house on that flat, scenic area next to a stream?

Yes No Only if it is lower in elevation than nearby ancient stream terraces.

2. A stream's watershed and its drainage basin refer to different areas.

Yes No The watershed only refers to the main stream and not its tributaries

3. Which of the following rivers has the largest watershed? Platte River of NE and the eastern Rockies, the Gunnison River of Colorado, the New River of VA and NC

Platt River of Nebraska and the eastern Rockies Gunnison River of Colorado New River of Virginia and N. Carolina

4. What's does the term "stream discharge" mean?

Stream velocity Water volume moved by the stream over time Flooding frequency

5. A stream's rating curve shows the relationship between:

Discharge and time Stream height and velocity Discharge and stream height Velocity and discharge

6. The stage of a stream is a measure of:

Its average elevation Its height relative to a reference elevation at a fixed location.

Its highest flooding level Its total annual discharge

7. A stream's hydrograph shows the relationship of discharge over years.

True False

8. The Recurrence Interval of a certain size flood is the average time between flooding events.

True False

9. The "100 year" flood will occur once every 100 years.

True False

10. What's the probability of a 50 year-type flooding event during a 50 year period?

50% 100% Neither answer is correct.