Table of Contents
What 2 things affect the vigor of circulation in an estuary?
Estuarine water circulation is controlled by the inflow of rivers, the tides, rainfall and evaporation, the wind, and other oceanic events such as an upwelling, an eddy, and storms.
How do tides affect estuaries?
When the waters rise along the coast, tides push seawater into estuaries. When tides ebb, the water flows back out to sea. Each day, estuaries can have one or two high tides, as well as one or two low tides. Animals and plants in estuaries have to adapt to the daily change of water levels, otherwise they won’t survive.
Which best describes the water found in estuaries?
Which best describes the water found in estuaries? Estuaries are dynamic ecosystems where salt water and fresh water mix. Usually this happens as fresh water flows from a river to an ocean. Estuaries provide high concentrations of nutrients, allowing great diversity of life.
When a river meets the sea the two main properties of water that are affected are?
Bodies of water form layers based on differences in density, usually affected most by temperature and salinity. As fresh water from rivers enters an estuary it mixes with saltwater from the sea. What happens to the two different densities of water when they meet? Water will become more dense as its salinity increases.
Why are estuaries so biodiverse?
Because river water is full of organic (dead plant and animal) matter, estuaries are rich in nutrients, and tiny water plants and animals, called plankton, are plentiful. The pattern of salinity is crucial to the diversity of organisms that live in an estuary.
How does the water in an estuary compared to the water in the open ocean?
How does the water in an estuary compare to the water in the open ocean? Estuaries have less concentrated nutrients and salt. Estuaries have more concentrated nutrients and salt.
Does an estuary have salt water?
An estuary is an area where a freshwater river or stream meets the ocean. In estuaries, the salty ocean mixes with a freshwater river, resulting in brackish water. Brackish water is somewhat salty, but not as salty as the ocean. An estuary may also be called a bay, lagoon, sound, or slough.
What happens when river water meets the sea water?
Answer: When river water meets sea water, the lighter fresh water rises up and over the denser salt water. Sea water noses into the estuary beneath the outflowing river water, pushing its way upstream along the bottom. Often, as in the Fraser River, this occurs at an abrupt salt front.
How do estuaries filter water?
They filter water brought in by the surrounding watershed, which is the area of land that drains into a particular body of water. Estuaries and their surrounding wetlands filter out pollutants such herbicides, pesticides, heavy metals and excess nutrients and sediments.