Water Flashcards
What are drainage basins
They are subsystems of the global hydrological cycle , areas of land which are drained by rivers and their tributaries
Open systems
Separated by watershed - ridges of land which separate neighbouring basins
Mississipi - 3.3 million km2 but remote
Thames - 16000 but densely populated
Drainage basins
Iunputs outputs
Stores
Flows
Inputs - precipitation
Out puts - evepotrainspiration , river evaporation = transpiration
Stores , groundwater , soil moisture
Flows - groundwater flow, through flow, infiltration , percolation
Watershed
Boundary separating neighbouring basins
Ridge of land
Drainage basin source
The point furthest from the mouth
Upland lake spring or glacier
Confluence
the place where two or more streams or rivers meet
Tributary
A stream or river flowing into a larger stream or river
Basin mouth
Where the river enter the ocean
Orographic rain
Where warm moist air is forced to rise over high ground
Evaporated from sea and forced by prevailing wind to rise over mountains
Cools and condenses forming clods - precipitation
On other side of mountain - rain shadow
Frontal rainfall
When warm air and cool air masses meet and the warm air rises over the cold air
Forms a front
Rains heavily along the front
Conventional rain
Occurs when the ground heats the air above it
Energy from the suns heats the ground
The warm ground heat warms the air abouve and moisture from the ground evaporates
Warm moist air raised rapidly
Cools and condenses to from clouds
Precipitation
Above flows of a drainage basin
Throughfall
Drip flow
Trunk and stem
Overland surface flow
Interception
Buildings
Drainage basins
Throughfall
Precipitation that makes it to the ground without interception by plant canopy
Drainage basin
Drip flow
