Problem: The weather phenomena this last month had an immense impact on Dirk county, the precipitation lead to many flood evens, the steady rain lead to massive water infiltration. 20 miles away, in Saulk county, they had a few thunderstorms, they had quite a bit of runoff, but less infiltration and less soil saturation. Given the paragraph above, please answer correctly the following question: Which county experienced more soil saturation? Hint: Precipitation can impact infiltration in many ways. The amount, type and duration of precipitation all have an impact. Rainfall leads to faster infiltration rates than any other precipitation events, such as snow or sleet. In terms of amount, the more precipitation that occurs, the more infiltration will occur until the ground reaches saturation, at which point the infiltration capacity is reached. Duration of rainfall impacts the infiltration capacity as well. Initially when the precipitation event first starts the infiltration is occurring rapidly as the soil is unsaturated, but as time continues the infiltration rate slows as the soil becomes more saturated. This relationship between rainfall and infiltration capacity also determines how much runoff will occur. If rainfall occurs at a rate faster than the infiltration capacity runoff will occur.

A: Dirk

Problem: White mountains are often visited by tourists because of the many beautiful caves, stalactites, stalagmites and karst phenomena. Dome mountains are interesting to tourists because they are very massive, of volcanic origin and excellent for climbing. Given the paragraph above, please answer correctly the following question: Which mountain is made of more soluble rock? Hint: About 10% of sedimentary rocks are limestones. The solubility of limestone in water and weak acid solutions leads to karst landscapes, in which water erodes the limestone over thousands to millions of years. Most cave systems are through limestone bedrock.

A: White

Problem: Jimbo and Jedd are both farmers who have lakes and water wells downstream from their farms. Jimbo's products have been in high demand recently, so he has started to use very high amounts of fertilizers on his farms. Jedd has recently decreased the amount of fertilizer he uses because his products aren't wanted as much by the people in his town. Given the paragraph above, please answer correctly the following question: Who will be more likely to contaminate their respective water wells? Hint: Huge amounts of chemicals, such as fertilizers and pesticides, are applied to farm fields (see Figure below ). Some of the chemicals are picked up by rainwater. Runoff then carries the chemicals to nearby rivers or lakes. Dissolved fertilizer causes too much growth of water plants and algae. This can lead to dead zones where nothing can live in lakes and at the mouths of rivers. Some of the chemicals can infiltrate into groundwater. The contaminated water comes up in water wells. If people drink the polluted water, they may get sick.

A: Jimbo

Problem: Rocks commonly found in Beijing are often found spread out in smaller pieces, whereas rocks in Montreal typically remain large in size and don't break apart as much. Both Beijing and Montreal are expected to experience bouts of acid rain in the upcoming weeks. Given the paragraph above, please answer correctly the following question: Which area's rocks will have lower rates of chemical weathering caused by the acid rain? Hint: Mechanical weathering increases the rate of chemical weathering. As rock breaks into smaller pieces, the surface area of the pieces increases. With more surfaces exposed, there are more places for chemical weathering to occur ( Figure below ). Let's say you wanted to make some hot chocolate on a cold day. It would be hard to get a big chunk of chocolate to dissolve in your milk or hot water. Maybe you could make hot chocolate from some smaller pieces like chocolate chips, but it is much easier to add a powder to your milk. This is because the smaller the pieces are, the more surface area they have. Smaller pieces dissolve more easily.

A:
Montreal