“The sandy beach is a harsh, constantly changing environment,” explained by the UKMCS (2). This is the ocean is constantly moving because of the wind in the earth’s atmosphere (Crawford 4). Along the edge of most coastlines, a commonly found zone is an estuary (Marine Conservation Society (UK) SouthEast 1). This is where brackish waters, an area where freshwater is released and mixed with the ocean’s salt water, is created (1). However, even though there are small amounts of freshwater added, this does not change that the salinity of the ocean is remarkably high. Salt is carried into the ocean by rain, rivers, streams, and underwater volcanoes (Office of Naval Research 3). Because of the multiple sources of salt, the levels of salinity within the ocean shoot up rapidly. The Office of Naval Research states, “Salinity is expressed by the amount of salt found in 1,000 grams of water” (3). Marine ecologist created an expression for the amount of salt inside a given area. If there is one gram of salt within 1,000 grams of water, then it is represented as 1 pound per ton (3). The oceans salinity varies between about 32 and 37 ppt (3). Most humans would not be able to live in an ecosystem with salinity levels being this high, however some organisms have adapted to surviving is such an environment. Osmosis is an animal’s way of adapting to different types of salinities (Office of Naval Research 3). All marine mammals have special traits that they adapted to help them survive in or around marine habitats (Marietta College 1). As prompted by the Marietta College of Ohio “Many organisms in saltwater are osmoconformers.” (1). An osmoconformer is an organism that has the same concentration of salt within its body as the surrounding water (1).... ... middle of paper ... ...terials into the water and can threaten organisms (1). Most NSP is located close to people’s homes. Most importantly is the hazard material that is used and not properly cleaned or disposed of. If people have a septic tank on their property, and it is not the correct size, they can leak and pollute surrounding ground water (1). Poisonous materials from cars and other vehicles such as oil, brake fluid, grease, and gasoline, can be washed off and channel into storm drains, giving them direct access to the ocean (1). If it is not being washed off, then another large problem is when it is spilled or dumped out (Hemminger 4). These products can be picked up by rain and pushed down into storm drains (Natural Resources Defense Council 1). The last most common NSP is when non-degradable products are flushed down the toilet, which can damage the sewage treatment process (1).
...eading contributor of pollutants to lakes, rivers, and reservoirs…..Surface discharges can be caused by heavy storms or floods that cause storage lagoons to overfill, running off into nearby bodies of water. Pollutants can also travel over land or through surface drainage systems to nearby bodies of water, be discharged through manmade ditches or flushing systems found in CAFOs, or come into contact with surface water that passes directly through the farming area.
About half of the people in North Carolina use groundwater as their primary supply of drinking water, and groundwater quality is generally good. The leading source of groundwater contamination is leaking underground storage tanks, which contaminate groundwater with gasoline, diesel fuel, and heating oil. Comprehensive programs are underway to assess potential contamination sites and develop a groundwater protection strategy for the state. In 1993-1995, North Carolina continued its aggressive program to control nonpoint source pollution. North Carolina established the NPS Workgroup, implemented NPS Teams for each of the 17 river basins, published a guide for establishing a point/nonpoint source pollution reduction trading system, and introduced the Draft Interim Plan of the Neuse River Nutrient Sensitive Waters (NSW) Management Strategy.
our pipelines and sewers where it goes to a treatment plant to be treated, but
Though the bay is filled with life, it faces many problems caused by humans. The three most important physical characteristics of the Chesapeake Bay are salinity, temperature, and circulation. Salinity is the measure of the amount of dissolved salts in the water and matters because certain types of fish and bay grasses need a certain amount of salt in the water (“Physical Description”). In general, the lower parts of the Chesapeake Bay are salty and the upper bay is mostly fresh, which means that the fish that need salt like to stay in the lower part of the bay. Fish that cannot survive in salt water will stay in the upper bay (“Chesapeake Bay Program”).
In many areas, prevailing winds produce waves that consistently approach the coast at oblique angles. Even the slightest angle between the land and the waves will create currents that transport sediment along the shore. These longshore currents are a primary agent of coastal movement; they are a major cause of sand migration along barrier and mainland beaches. (Fig 3) Fig 3. Fistral Beach, Newquay, Cornwall UK [IMAGE] Tides ebb and flood in response to the gravitational attraction of the
Salinity is the state of high salt concentration or it can be define as the presence of minerals at high levels in water and soil. For example, there are some cations: Na, K, Mg, Ca and anions: NO3, HCO3, SO4, Cl, which accumulates in soil at high concentration and cause salinity in that soil.
Fine, sandy beaches often occur in areas with light wave action (California's Ocean Resources, 1995). While a more coarse sand is found with heavy wave action (California's Ocean Resources, 1995). The slope gradient of a beach also helps determine the grain size of the sediment (Bascom, 1959). The steeper a beach is, the larger the sand particles (Ted Klenk, 1999). The water retention of coarse sand is quite low allowing temperatures to rise easily at low tide (MB2050 lecture notes). Any organisms on a coarse particle beach will not only have to deal with the very unstable substrate but also the real danger of desiccation (MB2050 lecture notes).
Freshwater fish and saltwater fish are very similar in a lot of ways, but also have differences between them so you can tell them apart. Marine water (saltwater) equals over 96 percent of the water on Earth and over 70 percent of Earth’s total surface. Freshwater is less than four percent of Earth’s total water and is about one percent of Earth’s surface (Freshwater Fish). Interestingly a few species of fish can live in either freshwater or saltwater, but for the majority, they must live in a specific environment. All species of fish used to live in a saltwater environment until certain geological events (earthquakes, volcanic activity, etc.) occurred, creating conditions that isolated groups of fish. The new habitats, included freshwater, and new food sources caused fish to either adapt, or to die (Lohrey).
... incredibly relevant to today world. Brine shrimps are also used as test subjects due to their incredible resilience, and are also sold as a novelty item “sea monkeys.” Unfortunately, these unique critters have become threatened in some cases as water is diverted away (for human use) from high saline environments inhabited by brine shrimp. As a result, the water becomes more saline and usually results in a rising pH which can endanger the shrimps. The information provided in these two studies shows the need, function, means, and genetic explanation for osmoregulation. As humans continue to impact the environment, changing salinity will result in changing need for osmoregulation, and as a result, future scientists will need to explore how organisms can react to the need to osmoregulate more or less and how that will impact organism populations’ survival as a whole.
Infiltration of brackish water from estuaries or artificial canals may be a source of salinity. In this case, there may be 3 types of water interacting in the same aquifer.
Ocean water is often referred to as salt water. Ocean water becomes salty as water flows in rivers, it picks up small amount of mineral salts form rocks and soil of the riverbeds. This very-slightly salty water flows into the oceans. The water in the oceans only leaves by evaporating, but the salt remains dissolved in the ocean, it does not evaporate. So the remaining water gets saltier and saltier as time goes on.
The ocean can serve man purposes things for many different people; as a school, a home, a park...
What is soil salinity? Salinity is simply the amount of salts contained in the soil, which is estimated by measuring the electrical conductivity of a removed soil solution. An electrical device can easily measure the amount of salt contained in the soil. In millimhos/cm or micromhos/cm, a salt concentration of a gram per litre is about 1.5 millimhos/cm. Does soil salinity affect plant growth?
People from all over the world go to beautiful beaches that are filled with water as clear as ice or as beautiful as diamonds. But, what will happen if we do not conserve the appealing sites that draw attraction to the public? Contaminated beaches has become a controversial issue to the public because of the causal problem, the harm to the people and marine animals, the government agencies supporting or opposing pollution, and the industries involved in creating such unlawful decisions. To create and find a solution, we must first find the core to the problem.
5. The average amount of salt in one litre salt water is 35 grams. If the freezing point if salt water decreases the amount of salt ink the water increases. (To be continued)