Water Flashcards
aquifer
underground reservoir
zone of aeration
in soil & rock where pore spaces contain air
zone of saturation
in soil & rock where pore spaces contain water
water table
top of the aquifer (shifts with seasons and usage from people’s wells)
infiltration
water soaking into ground
permeability
ability for water to infiltrate
porosity
amount of pore space between grains and soil particles
capillarity
ability for water to move upward between pore spaces
drainage basin/water shed
a river system and all of the area where it travels and drains
delta
big deposit of sediment where river enters ocean or big lake
drainage divide
a feature (like a mountain) that separates watersheds
meander
bend in a river
outside of meander
fast = erosion
inside of meander
slow = deposition
dendritic drainage pattern
looks like a tree pattern from above; forms over horizontal sed. rocks
rectangular drainage pattern
looks like long, parallel lines with smaller lines perpendicular to the bigger lines; forms over faults and folds
radial drainage patter
looks like rays from the Sun (in kid’s pictures); forms on peaks or volcanoes where rivers radiate from central high point
annular drainage pattern
looks kind of circular from above like the rivers are flowing around something; forms where rivers cut through softer rocks that surround a harder, igeneous dome
levee
human-made structure designed to protect an urban floodplain from a river’s floods (keep the river in the channel)
discharge
the amount of water and sediment in a stream
runoff
water that doesn’t infiltrate and runs over the landscape instead
