Upgrade to remove ads
Only $2.99/month

Clevedon School Geography 3.1.1.2C The Water Cycle - Drainage Basins as Open Systems

Terms in this set (13)

Drainage basin
The catchment area from which a river system obtains its supplies of water.
Watershed
The boundary of the drainage basin.
Groundwater flow
Slowest transfer or water through rocks via hydrostatic pressure or gravity.
Groundwater storage
Water which collects underground in pore spaces in rock.
Infiltration
The movement of water from the surface downwards into the soil.
Interception
The process by which precipitation is prevented from reaching the soil by leaves and branches of trees as well as by plants and grasses.
Surface run off/ overland flow
The movement of water over saturated or impermeable land.
Percolation
The downward movement of water from soil to the rock below or within rock.
Stemflow
The water that runs down the stems and trunks of plants and trees to the ground.
Throughfall
The water that drips off leaves during a rainstorm.
Throughflow
The water that moves down-slope through soil.
Runoff
All the water that flows out of a drainage basin.
Discharge
(Q) = average velocity (V) x cross sectional area (A) The unit is cumecs, measured in m3s-1.
THIS SET IS OFTEN IN FOLDERS WITH...