Rivers and Inland Waters
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Created by:
xXSlimShadezXx on October 31, 2011
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48 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 River | Relatively large channel of water |
| Stream | Relatively small channel of water |
| Brook | Smaller stream |
| Creek | Smaller stream |
| Gradient | Slope |
| Headwaters | Areas of the river system that are farthest away from the mouth of the river |
| Downcutting | Erosion of a valley due to high gradient streams |
| Floodplain | The area that is flat in a valley |
| Stream Discharge | Volume of water passing a point along the river in a unit of time |
| Meandering Stream | Stream with a channel that curves or loops back and forth in a wide floodplain |
| Meander Bend | Curve in a meander stream |
| Meander Scars | Ridges in a meander bend |
| Oxbow Lake | Curved lake |
| Aquifers | Porous underground sediments and rocks |
| Tributary System | Many small streams that flow together into slightly larger streams, which flow into larger streams, which flow into even larger streams |
| Trunk Stream | Major river, fed by a small number of fairly large tributaries |
| Distributary System | A number of small channels that branch off from the main river near the river's final destination, which is often a delta or large depositional feature |
| Drainage Basin | The area from which all of the rain that falls eventually flows to the same final destination, usually the ocean |
| Drainage Divides | Boundaries between drainage basins |
| Water Cycle | The combination of all movement of water |
| Hydrologic Cycle | The combination of all movement of water |
| Closed System | System where material moves from place to place within the system but is not gained or lost from the system |
| Evaporation | A major process in the water cycle |
| Precipitation | A major process in the water cycle |
| Surface Runoff | Downhill flowing water |
| Ground Water | Zone where all of the pore spaces are filled with water |
| Transpiration | Water travels upward through the stem and branches of the plant into the leaves and is released into the atmosphere as a vapor |
| Reservoir | Place that holds water |
| Flux | The rate at which water flows from one reservoir to another in a given time |
| Zone of Aeration | Zone of mostly air, but some water |
| Zone of Saturation | Primary source of groundwater water |
| Infiltration | Process where water enters the ground |
| Capillarity | The force of attraction between water and a solid |
| Water Table | The upper surface of the zone of saturation |
| Aquifer | Layer of rock that is deliberately very porous |
| Confined Aquifer | A permeable layer between to impermeable layers |
| Artesian Well | A body of water pressured out of the well |
| Porosity | A measure of the percentage of pores (open spaces) in a material |
| Permeability | A measure of how easy it is to force water to flow through a porous material |
| Aquifer | Any body of sediment or rock that has sufficient size and sufficiently high porosity and permeability to provide an adequate supply of water from wells |
| Saturated Zone | The zone, beneath the water table where all of the pores are filled with water |
| Water Table | The surface between the saturated zone and the unsaturated zone (zone of aeration) |
| Evapotranspiration | Loss of water from a land area through transpiration of plants and evaporation from the soil and surface water |
| Unconfined Aquifer | An aquifer that has a free connection upward to the surface |
| Recharge | Addition of new water to an aquifer by downward flow of surface water |
| Aquiclude | A body of rock that will absorb water slowly, but will not transmit it fast enough to supply a well |
| Aqueduct | A system of large surface pipes and channels used to transport water |
| Desalination | The process of removing dissolved salts from sea water in order to make it potable |
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