1.1 Drainage basin Flashcards
Hydrology
Study of water
Hydrological cycle
Movement of water between air, land and sea
Precipiration
Includes all forms of rainfall, snow, frost, hail and dew.
Interception
Precipitation collected and stored by vegetation
Overland flow
Water that flows over the land’s surface
Infiltration
Water that seeps into the ground
Evaporation
Water from the ground or lake that changes into a gas
Transpiration
Water loss from vegetation to the atmosphere
Evapotranspiration
Combined losses of evaporation and transpiration
Drainage basin
Area of the land drained by a river system
Interception
Precipitation that is collected and stored by vegetation
Throughfall
Water flowing off wet leaves onto the ground
Stemflow
Water flowing down the trunks of trees and stems of grasses and shrubs
Percolation
Movement of water down into the groundwater zone
Throughflow
Water flowing through the soil down to the groundwater zone
Baseflow
Movement of water through rock. Slowest form of water movement (Due to it there’s constant water flow even on low rainfall season)
Water Table
Upper layer of permanently saturated pore spaces in the groundwater zone
Groundwater
Water stored underground in a permeable rock. e.g Chalk.
Aquifers
Layers of rock filled with groundwater
Recharge
Topping up of groundwater levels following abstraction
Open system
It allows the movement of energy and matter across its boundaries
Wilting point
Range of moisture content in which permanent wilting of plants occur
Percolines
Lines of concentrated water flow between soil horizons
