| Term | Definition |
|---|
| oceans | Where is most of the earth's water? |
| 2.8 | Percentage of the earth's water that is freshwater. |
| 2.15 | Percentage of the earth's freshwater that is in glaciers |
| 0.6 | Percentage of the earth's freshwater that is in groundwater |
| running water | Water that reaches the surface and runs off |
| stream | A channelized flow of a liquid |
| dissolved load | Dissolved solids carried in solution in a stream |
| bed load | Sediments being rolled along the bottom of a stream |
| suspended load | Particulate sediments (solid particles) being carried by currents. |
| suspended load | Which fraction of eroded material in a stream holds the most sediment? |
| alluvium | Term for anything deposited by a stream |
| headlands | Start of a stream |
| longitudinal profile | Term for the down-hill flow of water from it's headlands to the mouth of the stream at the ocean |
| dendritic | Drainage pattern of streams draining into larger streams |
| alluvial fan | geomorphologic unit formed where sediment is dropped at the foot of headlands. |
| meandering channel | The stream that bends and turns, with erosional and depositional features |
| point bar | Depositional feature on the inside of a meander's curve |
| cut bank | Erosional feature on the outside of a meander's curve |
| oxbow lake | Cut off section of a meander |
| floodplain | Flat land created by a meandering stream |
| levee | Higher bank of land running parallel beside a stream |
| 0 | What is the flow rate where the stream reaches the ocean? |
| delta | Depositional feature at the mouth of a stream where it joins the ocean or lake. |
| aquitard | Material that prevent the free movement of groundwater |
| porosity and permeability | The two things that movement of water through rock depends on. |
| porosity | Term for the amount of void space between particles in sediments and rocks (pore spaces) |
| permeability | How well water can move through material (how well pore spaces are connected) |
| zone of aeration | Part of the soil profile where pore spaces still have air in them |
| zone of saturation | Part of the soil profile where all pores spaces are filled with water |
| groundwater | Water found in the zone of saturation |
| water table | The surface of the zone of saturation |
| aquifer | Saturated material that can store and transmit groundwater (has high porosity and permeability) |
| spring | A naturally occurring flow of groundwater from the surface |
| well | Any opening dug down to the zone of saturation |
| artesian well | A well in which water rises above the level that it was initially encountered. |
| hot spring | Spring that formed when water is heated by underlying igneous rocks or by magma |
| geyser | A fountain of heated groundwater |
| limestone | Rock typically formed as the remnants of reefs and other marine deposits. Found in many places. |
| Carbonic acid | Dissolution chemical formed in groundwater as it moves through soil or other acidic materials. |
| cavern | A subsurface chamber formed by the dissolution of limestone. |
| dripstones | Structure formed in caverns where the water table drops, and the caverns become partially or completely filled with air. |
| stalactites | Dripstones that hang from the ceiling |
| stalagmites | Dripstones that rise from the floor |
| columns | dripstones formed when stalactites and stalagmites join |
| sinkhole | Featured that is formed when a cavern caves in. |
| Karst topography | Landscape containing lots of caverns and sinkholes. |
| mammoth cave system | Example of karst topography |
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