What is a Watershed Webquest?

Name: Cameron Mitchell

Access the following link and answer the questions:

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watershed.html

1. What is a watershed?
the area of land where all of the water that falls in it and drains off of it goes to a common
outlet
2. Watersheds can vary in size. True/False
true
3. What type of watershed is shown in the map?
8- digit hydrologic units
4. The word watershed is sometimes used interchangeably with drainage basin or catchment.

5. Ridges and hills that separate two watersheds are called the drainage divide.

6. What does watershed consist of?

`

All the underlying ground water and the surface water

7. Larger watersheds contain many smaller watersheds. It all depends on the outflow point.

8. What is the outflow point?

The place where all water in the watershed exits
9. Why are watersheds important? Watersheds are important because they affect the way we
clean water
1

A Watershed is a precipitation collector:

1. Name 6 factors that determine how much of the streamflow will flow by the monitoring site?
Precipitation, Infiltration, Evaporation, Transportation, and Storage
2. What is the greatest factor controlling streamflow?
Downslope
3. The amount of water that will infiltrate (soak in over time) depends on which four characteristics?
Precipitation, Soil saturation, soil characteristics, Land cover
4. Water from rainfall returns to the atmosphere largely through evaporation.
5. The root systems of plants absorb water from the surrounding soil in various amounts through the
process of transportation.
6. Reservoirs store water and increase the amount of water that evaporates and infiltrates.

River Basins of N.C.:

http://wwweenorthcarolina.org/riverbasins-interactive.html
Choose one of the NC. River Basins and list out 10 facts about the one you
investigate. Also include one picture that best represents a main feature of
the River Basin.

Catawba River Basin

1. Grandfather Mountain is inside of this watershed.
2. Begins at the eastern slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains,
and flows east to Lake Wylie.
3. The basin is also a land of lakes.
4. The watershed contains more major dams than any other
North Carolina watershed.

5. The Catawba watershed is being contaminated by the huge

city of Charlotte.
6. In 2008, the Catawba river was deemed the most
endangered river in America.
7. Hiking, biking, and other similar activities are popular in this
watershed.
8. Much of this watershed are tour sites, such as Linville,
Grandfather Mountain, and Charlotte.
9. There are 66 rare and endangered species found in a reserve
in this watershed
10.

The Catawba river flows for 225 miles.