Human Impact on the Environment Vocabulary Quiz

waste matter or other material that is introduced into water and that is harmful to organisms that live in, drink, or are exposed to the water

• Air pollution

• Water pollution

• Thermal pollution

• Smog

pollution that comes from a specific site

• Agricultural runoff
• Industrial waste
• Point source pollution
• Non-point source pollution

pollution that comes from many sources rather than from a single specific site

• Industrial waste
• Point source pollution
• Non-point source pollution
• Chemical runoff

a temperature increase in a body of water that is caused by human activity and that a harmful effect on water quality and on the ability of that body of water to support life

• Chemical pollution
• Biological contamination
• Nutrient overload
• Thermal pollution

an increase in the amount of nutrients in, such as nitrates, in a marine or aquatic ecosystem

• Pollution
• Eutrophication
• Acidification
• Overfishing

suitable for drinking

• non-potable
• toxic
• contaminated
• potable

 an artificial body of water that usually forms behind a dam

• Aquifer
• Pond
• Reservoir
• Lake

an increase in the proportion of a population living in urban areas rather than in rural areas

• Suburbanization
• Ruralization
• Urban Sprawl
• Urbanization

the process by which human activity and natural processes damage land to the point that it can no longer support the local ecosystem

• Urbanization
• Land degradation
• Desertification
• Soil erosion

the process by which human activities or climatic changes make arid or semiarid areas more desert like

• Soil Erosion
• Climate Change Mitigation
• Desertification
• Desertification Control