Intro & Catchement Flashcards
Water Cycle
conceptual model describing storage & movement of water between bio,atmo,litho and hydro sphere
Particularities of water cycle
Can examine differrent geographic scale
Can examine different temporal scale
Precipitation
water condensed in clouds that falls on land because it is too heavy to remain in the air
evaporation
liquid water in lakes, rivers, oceans and soils heated by the sun and converted to gas and returned to atmosphere
Infiltration
water moving from above-ground to subsurface
Storage
water held in contained area for given amount of time
Runoff
water moving away from terrestrial location via surface/ subsurface flow process
River Discharge
flow ofwater within river channel
Interception
water prevented from reaching the ground by plant leaves and branches and return to atmosphere via evaporation
Evapotranspiration
combination of evapo and transpi
Transpiration
liquid water from plant leaves & stems converted to water vapor and returned to atmo
Percolation
water moving vertically through soil toward water table
Water table
subsurface boundary below which the ground is completely water saturated
Recharge
water added to water table
GW flow
water flowing below water table
Residence time
average time spent by a water molecule in one of the reservoir of hydrological cycle
Tr = Vol / Q
Water budget inputs
precipitation
GW inflow from outside system
surface & subsurface runoff from outside system
Artificial import via pipes & canals
Water budget outputs
Evapotranspiration
Surface runoff
GW outflow
Man-made withdrawal
River discharge
Interception
Water budget change in storage
Water level of reservoir
% of moisture of GW
etc.
steady-state
change in storage = 0
transient state
change in storage =/ 0
Surface water budget equation
P = Q + E + I + delta (M, G, S)
Green water
unsaturated water storage AND ET fluxes
Blue water
saturated storage, GW flow & surface water fluxes
Grey water
non-sewage wastewater -> suitable for reuse
Watershed
land area that drains water to particular stream (various definition possible = all with water)
why caring about watershed
-landscape architecture (unit of natural organization)
-upstream-downstream geoscience (process up affect down)
-watershed management ( organizing resource at watershed lvl)
water body types
flowing (lotic)
non-flowing (lentic)
Riparian zone
non-cultivated, vegetated land touching & immediately surrounding body of water
-functions: water quality/ flood control/ wildlife & aquatic habitat
Floodplain
flat area of land surrounding water body and subject to periodic flooding
-functions: filters sediments/ habitat for wildlife/ recreation for humans/ hold excess rainfall event water
upland
area of land at higher elevation above water body
Controlling factors of drainage density (Dd)
-morphometric variables ( - Dd with + area of watershed)
-geology
climate
time
vegetation
human impacts
vegetation
Hydrological & ecological functions of watershed
hydrological:
-collection of matter from external sources
-storage of matter in x quantities for x amount of time
-release of matter at diff rate
Ecological:
-provide diverse site for biochem reactions
-provide habitat form plants & animals
