Key Words For Water Moving Through a Drainage Basin

Question 1

INPUT:
Define precipitation.

Answer 1

Rain, snow, or hail, formed when cloud droplets or ice crystals join together and become too heavy to remain in the cloud.

Question 2

STORE:
Define interception.

Answer 2

When precipitation is caught by vegetation before it reaches the ground.

Question 3

STORE:
Define surface storage.

Answer 3

When precipitation reaches waterlogged ground it forms puddles on the surface.
Snow and hail on the ground are also forms of surface storage.

Question 4

STORE:
Define soil storage.

Answer 4

When water is trapped and stored in the pores in the soil.

Question 5

STORE:
Define groundwater storage.

Answer 5

When water becomes trapped and stored in the natural pores and cracks within the bedrock below the soil.

Question 6

TRANSFER:
Define stem flow.

Answer 6

Some precipitation flows down twigs and tree trunks onto the ground.

Question 7

TRANSFER:
Define infiltration.

Answer 7

• When water reaches the ground it soaks into the soil through holes, cracks, and worm tunnels etc.
• There is a maximum rate at which infiltration can occur, which depends on the size of the holes and pores in the soil.

Question 8

TRANSFER:
Define percolation.

Answer 8

Water flows down through the pores and cracks in the bedrock under the soil.

Question 9

TRANSFER:
Throughflow.

Answer 9

Once water is in the soil, it flows through spaces such as pores and natural cracks left by decayed plant roots.

Question 10

TRANSFER:
Define groundwater flow.

Answer 10

The movement of water sideways to lower levels where it reappears on the surface at springs and the sides of river channels.

Question 11

TRANSFER:
Define surface run-off.

Answer 11

Water flowing across the surface. This happens when the soil is saturated or the rate of infiltration is too slow.

Question 12

OUTPUT:
Define transpiration.

Answer 12

Soil moisture and ground water is drawn up into trees via their roots and released as water vapour into the atmosphere through their leaves.

Question 13

OUTPUT:
Define evaporation.

Answer 13

Water trapped as surface storage changes from liquid into gas and enters the atmosphere as water vapour.

Question 14

OUTPUT:
Define evapotranspiration.

Answer 14

The combination of transpiration and evaporation.

Question 15

OUTPUT:
Define river output.

Answer 15

This is water that flows out of a drainage basin via a river.