River vocab Flashcards
Atom
Smallest part of an element that cannot be separated into substances, these make up everything in the world.
Molecule
Made up of two or more of the same or different atoms
Water cycle
Process of water going up into the sky, and back down again over and iver
Evaporation
Process of water molecules getting heated, spreading apart into gas form, and rising
Condensation
Process of water vapor cooling, and moving closer together into liquid form.
Precipitation
Water falling down from the sky such as rain, sleet, snow, and hail.
Surface runoff
Process of precipitation hitting the ground and rolling downhill to the lowest spot, also precipitation soaks into the ground and still runs downhill underground to the lowest spot.
Storage
Low spots where water gathers and sits until evaporation
Transpiration
The process where plant roots pull up deep water from underground and their leaves release the water into the atmosphere
Density
Measurement of how tightly packed together molecules are; found by taking mass divided by volume
Cohesion
The property of water molecules that makes them stick together
Stoma
The opening on the surface of leaves through which gasses enter and depart
Saturation
The degree to which something is “full” of something else
Water table
The highest part in the ground that is saturated with water
Aquifer
Underground layer of porous rock that contains water; this is where wells get their water from
Permeable
A material that water can flow through
Imperable
A material that water can’t flow through
Storm sewer
A system of pipes that drain storm water from streets, parking lots, and sidewalks and empties directly into the river.
Sanitary sewer
A system of pipes that drain used water from businesses and hi,da and takes it to the wastewater treatment plant to get cleaned
Ppm
Means “parts per million” it is the unit of measurement
Watershed
All of the land that water rolls across or soaks into on its wa to storage
Divide
A continuous ridge of high ground that forms the boundaries of a watershed
Discharge rate
The amount of water assign a specific point in the river per second
Riparian zone
Land next to river
Buffer strip
Strips of grass land between the river and everything else
Riprap
Large rocks
Point source pollution
The is pollution that comes from a pipe and dumps directly directly into the water
Non-point source pollution
Any pollution that is found in or around the river
Organic matter
Anything that is now dead but was recently alive (re: dead plants and animals, feces)
Inorganic matter
Anything that was never alive or has been through a lot of processing (re: trash such as paper, plastic, rubber, glass etc)
Substrate
Material on bottom of river
Riffle
Bumpy water created by rocks just under the surface of the water
Upstream
Direction water is going to
Downstream
Direction water is going to
Meander
Curves in the river
Run
Narrow area of fats moving water
