1.
aqueduct: a system of large surface pipes and channels used to transport water
2.
aquiclude: a body of rock that will absorb water slowly, but will not transmit it fast enough to supply a well
3.
Aquifer: a body of porous rock or sediment that id sufficiently permeable to conduct groundwater
4.
artesian well: a well in which water rises under pressure from a permeable stratum overlaid by impermeable rock.
5.
brook: a term used for a small stream
6.
capillarity: the force and attraction between water and a solid surface
7.
closed system: a system in which material moves from place to place but is not gained or lost from the system.
8.
confined aquifer: when an aquifer is bounded by two (2) aquitards (one above and one below)
9.
creek: a term used for a small stream
10.
desalination: the process of removing dissolved salts from sea water in order to make it potable
11.
distributary system: an
outflowing branch of a river,
such as what occurs
characteristically on a delta.
12.
downcutting: erosion of a valley by a stream
13.
drainage basin: the area
from which all of the rain that
falls eventually flows to the
same final destination, usually
the ocean.
14.
drainage divide:: the
boundary between adjacent
drainage basins.
15.
evaporation: the change of state of matter from a liquid to a gas. Heat is absorbed
16.
evapotranspiration: loss of water from a land area through transpiration of plants and evaporation from the soil and surface water
17.
floodplain: the area of a river valley next to the channel which is built of deposited sediments and is covered with water when the river overflows its banks at flood stage
18.
flux: the movement of water from one reservoir to another
19.
gradient: slope of a stream or river expressed as a loss in elevation of the stream or river with difference downstream
20.
ground water: the part of the subsurface water that is in the zone of saturation, including underground streams.
21.
headwaters: - the areas of the river system that are farthest away from the mouth of the river
22.
infiltration: the process of water getting into the ground
23.
meander bend: one of a series of curves or loops in the course of a mature river
24.
meander scars: low ridges on the part of the floodplain inside the meander bend caused by deposition of sediment on the point bar during a flood
25.
meandering streams: a stream with a channel that curves or loops back and forth on a wide floodplain
26.
Oxbow lake: a crescent-shaped body of a standing water situated in the abandoned channel (oxbow) of a meander after the stream formed a neck cutoff and the end of the original bend were plugged up be fine sediment
27.
permeability: a measure of how easy it is to force water to flow through a porous material
28.
porosity: a measure of the percentage of pores (open spaces) in a material
29.
precipitation: water that falls to the surface from the atmosphere as rain, snow, hail, or sleet.
30.
recharge: addition of new water to an aquifer by downward flow of surface water
31.
reservoir: a place in the Earth system that holds water
32.
river: small or large flow of water in natural channels
33.
saturated zone: the zone,
beneath the water table
where all of the pores are
filled with water
34.
stream: small or large flow of water in natural channels
35.
stream discharge: the volume of water passing a point along the river in a unit of time
36.
surface runoff: the part of the water that travels over the ground surface without passing beneath the surface.
37.
transpiration: the process by which water absorbed by plants, usually through the roots, is emitted into the atmosphere from the plant surface in the form of water vapor.
38.
tributary system: a group of
streams that contribute water
to another stream.
39.
trunk stream: a major river,
fed by a number of fairly large
tributaries; the main stream in
a river system.
40.
unconfined aquifer: an aquifer that has a free connection upward to the surface
41.
water cycle: the constant circulation of water from the sea, through the atmosphere, to the land, and its eventual return to the atmosphere by way of transpiration and evaporation from the land and evaporation from the sea.
42.
water table: the upper surface of zone saturation
43.
water table: the surface between the saturated zone
and the unsaturated zone
(zone of aeration)
44.
zone of aeration: mostly air but some interstitial water
45.
zone of saturation: pores completely saturated with water; main aquifer storage zone
