Question

During a rainstorm, water is flowing down the side of a hill composed of solid bedrock. What will be the effect on the relative amounts of runoff and infiltration when the water reaches an area of unsaturated soil with a gentler slope?

Answer 1

During a rainstorm in a scenario where water is flowing down the side of a hill composed of solid bedrock the effect of it will cause runoff to decrease and infiltration to increase.

Step-by-step explanation:

Runoff is the concept to describe the phenomenon in which water from any kind of flow surpasses earth absorption and starts flowing over it to find another contention source. Infiltration is the concept to identify the phenomenon in which water enters the soil in a storm. Now, In our case the water will be contained by the bedrock and accumulate there, making it possible for water to infiltrate the soil left behind.

Answer 2

Runoff will decrease and infiltrate will be large upon reaching the unsaturated soil.

Step-by-step explanation:

Firstly we have to differentiate between runoff and infiltrate; runoff the water that flows off the surface after precipitation whereas infiltrate is the precipitate that gets absorbed and sucked into the soil. The other factor used to determine amounts of runoff and infiltrate is typography. Typically, the steeper the slope the less infiltration and more runoff and the opposite for gentler slopes. In this case, the soil is also a factor, solid bedrock soil does not allow much infiltration whereas unsaturated soil is parched and is ready to absorb.

Thus resulting, there will be less runoff and more infiltration at the steep slope.