Erosion Vocab Flashcards
erosion
the process by which wind, water, ice, or gravity transports soil and sediment from one location to another
weathering
the process by which rock materials are broken down by the action of the physical or chemical process
water cycle
the continous movement of water from the ocean to the atmosphere to the land and ack to the ocean
evaporation
when the sun soaks water to make clouds
condensation
the change of state from a gas to a liquid
precipitation
any form of water that falls to the Earth’s surface from the clouds
percolation
water slowly passing through a filter
runoff
draining water
tributary
a stream that flows into a lake or into a large stream
watershed
area of land that separates water flowing like rivers and stuff
the continental divide
continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not connected to the open sea.
delta
a nearly flat plain of alluvial deposit between diverging branches of the mouth of a river
alluvial fan
An alluvial fan is a fan- or cone-shaped deposit of sediment crossed and built up by streams
floodplain
an area along a river that forms from sediments deposited when the river overflows its banks
water table
the upper surface of underground water; the upper boundary of the zone of saturation
