Rivers Definitions Flashcards
Abrasion
Rocks carried along by the river wear down the river bed and banks
Absrtraction
Process of removing something especially water from a river or other source
Afforestation
Planting trees and vegetation soft engineering
Antecedent moisture conditions
Moisture that comes before an event
Aquifer
Ground water storage normally old water paleo
Bank full channel width
Width of channel from bank to bank when full
Bank full discharge
The amount of water that passes the width of the bank/ channel when full
Base flow
Portion of stem flow that comes from the sum of deep subsurface flow and delayed shallow subsurface flow
Basin lag time
Difference between be peak of the rain event and the peak discharge
Capacity
What a river actually carries
Cavitation
Formation of bubbles In a liquid
Channel flow
Water flowing in a stream or a regulated pathway/ direct pathway it is organised
Competence
Maximum size of material that a river is able to transport
Confluence
When one or more smaller river joins a main one
Cumec
Cubic meter per seccond as a unit of flow of water
Distributory
Small rivers coming off of a main/ large river
Eddy/eddies
Circular movement of water causing a small whirlpool
Flocculation
Where a solute comes out of a solution
Geomorphology
Study of the physical feature of the surface of the earth
Helicoidal flow
Corkscrew
Infiltration
Water sinks through gaps in the top surface ground layer. Sink more downhill under the force of gravity
Interception
Precipitation falls directly onto a surface and does not reach the ground level
Laminar flow
Straight impossible
Lateral erosion
Makes a river channel deeper and wider
Mitigation
Lateral migration of alluvial river channel across a floodplain driven by back erosion and point bar erosion
Overland flow
Movement of water over the land downslope toward a surface water body
Peak flow
Peak rainfall is at its highest and it is at us peak discharge
Percolation
Water soaks deep into the ground past the water table and going into the ground water
