Water Cycle Quiz
Questions: 16 · 10 minutes
1. Rainwater has infiltrated the topsoil and continues moving downward through soil and permeable rock toward an aquifer. What is this downward movement called?
Condensation
Surface runoff
Percolation
Atmospheric transport
2. On a cold, dry day, part of a snowpack changes directly into water vapor without first melting. Which phase change occurred?
Freezing
Condensation
Sublimation
Deposition
3. When rainwater first soaks into the soil surface, which process is occurring?
Precipitation
Condensation
Infiltration
Collection
4. Inside a cloud, water droplets collide and grow until they can no longer remain suspended. What is most likely to happen next?
They become groundwater without reaching the surface
They fall as precipitation
They enter plants through transpiration
They become surface runoff while still in the cloud
5. After prolonged rain, the soil is saturated and water begins moving downhill across the land into a stream. What is this movement called?
Surface runoff
Transpiration
Condensation
Sublimation
6. A shallow puddle usually disappears faster on a warm, windy afternoon than on a cool, still morning. Which explanation best fits the water cycle?
Moving air turns the puddle into groundwater flow
Wind changes the liquid water directly into ice crystals
Warmth causes the puddle to infiltrate any surface equally quickly
Warmth and moving air generally increase evaporation from the puddle
7. What is the principal external energy source powering evaporation and much of the water cycle?
Earth's magnetic field
Solar radiation
Ocean salinity
Groundwater pressure
8. Water infiltrates the ground, reaches a saturated layer, and then moves slowly toward a spring. Which process describes that later movement?
Atmospheric transport
Groundwater flow
Evaporation
Surface runoff
9. Which term describes the release of water vapor mainly through plant leaves?
Surface runoff
Deposition
Groundwater flow
Transpiration
10. Which water-cycle process changes liquid water at Earth's surface into water vapor?
Evaporation
Condensation
Infiltration
Precipitation
11. Which definition best describes a watershed, also called a drainage basin?
An area of land where water drains toward a shared outlet
Only the underground layer that stores groundwater
A cloud system that produces rain over an ocean
Any place where seawater changes into water vapor
12. Moist air rises along a mountain slope, expands, and cools until clouds form. Which change most directly allowed condensation to begin?
The air gained enough salt to hold cloud droplets
The air cooled to the point where vapor could condense
The air became groundwater as its pressure decreased
The air absorbed runoff from the mountain surface
13. Frost forms when water vapor changes directly into ice on a sufficiently cold surface. What is this process called?
Sublimation
Melting
Evaporation
Deposition
14. Why can water continually move through the water cycle even though Earth's total supply remains broadly stable over ordinary timescales?
Water is transferred and recycled among different reservoirs
Most water disappears permanently after entering plants
Each precipitation event creates entirely new water molecules
Ocean water remains separate from atmospheric water
15. What process most directly forms cloud droplets when water vapor cools?
Sublimation
Percolation
Transpiration
Condensation
16. A neighborhood replaces absorbent soil with roofs, roads, and parking lots. During a similar rainstorm, which change is most likely?
More infiltration and less water entering drains
More transpiration from the paved surfaces
Less infiltration and more rapid surface runoff
Less runoff because pavement stores rain underground