Option A Flashcards
Drainage basin
The area of land drained by a river and its tributaries.
Freshwater
Freshwater includes rivers, lakes, wetlands, groundwater, glaciers and ice caps
Watershed
Also known as the drainage divide, this is the imaginary line defining the boundary of a river or stream drainage basin separating it from the adjustment basin.
Discharge
The volume of water passing a given point at a set time.
Physical water scarcity
Lack of available water where water resource development is approaching or has exceeded unstainable levels
Storm hydrograph
A graph showing how a river changes over a short period, such as a day or a couple of days
Flood –
A discharge great enough to cause a body of water to overflow its channel and submerge surrounding land.
What type of system is the drain basin
An open one
Precipitation
An input where water is introduced to the drainage basin system.
Interception
precipitation that does not reach the soil but instead is stopped by vegetation
Evapotranspiration
water vapor is evaporated from the trunk and leaves of trees and other vegetation, back to the atmosphere.
Infiltration
Water soaks or filters into the soil
Percolation
Water moving from the soil into spaces (pores) in the rock
Surface runoff / overland flow
Water moves across the surface of the earth becoming a stream, tributary or stream.
Through flow
Water moves downhill through the soil
Groundwater flow
Water moving slowly through the soil and porous rocks to move back towards the sea.
Evaporation
When the water (liquid) is turned to water vapor (gas)
Infiltration capacity
the maximum rate at which rain can be absorbed by the soil
Through fall
Water which falls through the gap of vegetation or falls from leaves and twigs
Stem flow
Water that trickles along leaves and sticks and loves slowly down
Field capacity
refers to the amount of water help in the soil after the excess drains away
Wilting point
The amount of water that causes a plant to wilt
Phreatic zone
Permanently saturated zone within solid rocks
Recharge
refers to the refilling of water in pores where the water has dried up or been exaggerated by human activity
Aquifers
Layer of underground water bearing permeable rock
Drainage density calculation
Length of the streams / Area of drainage basin
Endorheic / closed drainage basins
These drain inland or evaporate. There is no outflow to external bodies of water.
Exoreic / open drainage basin
These drain into the ocean
Hydrological cycle
A conceptual model that describes the storage and movement of water between the biosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere and the hydrosphere
Cryosphere
is the frozen part of the earths system (snow and ice environment)