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Physical geography > Water and carbon cycles 3 - Drainage Basin > Flashcards

Water and carbon cycles 3 - Drainage Basin Flashcards

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1
Q

What type of systems are drainage basins?

A

Natural systems viewed as open hydrological cycles

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2
Q

What is a drainage basin?

A

The area surrounding the river where the rain falling on the land falls into that river

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3
Q

What is the watershed?

A

The boundary of a drainage basin

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4
Q

What is this area also known as?

A

Catchment

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5
Q

What happens to precipitation falling beyond the water shed?

A

Enters a different basin

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6
Q

What kind of system is a drainage basin

A

Open - receives inputs and outputs

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7
Q

How does water come into the system

A

Precipitation

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8
Q

How does water leave the system

A

Evaporation, transpiration and river discharge

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9
Q

What is an input

A

Water coming into the system

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10
Q

How does this happen

A

Through Precipitation

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11
Q

How is precipitation an input

A

Includes all the ways moisture comes out of the atmosphere. Precipitation is mainly rain, but also includes snow, hail, dew and frost

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12
Q

What is a store?

A

Water stored in the system

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13
Q

What are the 6 stores of a drainage basin

A
  • Interception
  • Vegetation storage
  • surface storage
  • Soil storage
  • Groundwater storage
  • Channel storage
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14
Q

What is interception

A

When some precipitation lands on vegetation or other structures, like buildings or surface or in wooded areas. It is only temporary because the water collected may evaporate quickly or fall from the leaves as through fall

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15
Q

What is vegetation storage

A

Water that’s been taken up by plants. All the water contained in plants at one time

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16
Q

What is surface storage

A

Includes water in puddles (depression storage), ponds and lakes

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17
Q

What is soil storage

A

Includes moisture in soil

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18
Q

What is groundwater storage

A

Water stored in the ground, either in the soil or rocks. The water table is the top surface of the zone of saturation .

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19
Q

What is the zone of saturation?

A

the zone of soil or rock where all the pores in the soil or rock are full of water

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20
Q

What are p0orous rocks that hold water called

A

aquifers

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21
Q

What is channel storage

A

Te water held in a river or stream channel

22
Q

What are flows

A

Water moving from one place to another

23
Q

What are the 10 flows in the basin

A
  • Infiltration
  • overland flow / runoff
  • Throughfall
  • Stemflow
  • Throughflow
  • Percolation
  • Groundwater flow
  • Baseflow
  • Interflow
  • Channel flow / river discharge
24
Q

What is infiltration

A

Water soaking in the soil. Infiltration rates are influenced by soil type, structure and how much water is already in the soil

25
Q

What is overland flow / runoff

A

Water flowing over land. It can flow over the whole surface or in little channels. It happens because rain is falling on the ground faster than infiltration can occur

26
Q

What is through fall

A

Water dripping from 1 leaf to another

27
Q

What is stem flow

A

Water running down a plant stem or tree trunk

28
Q

What is through flow

A

Water moving slowly downhill through soil. It’s faster through pipes - things like cracks in the soil or animal burrows

29
Q

What is percolation

A

The water seeping down through soil into the water table

30
Q

What is groundwater flow

A

The water flowing slowly below the water table through permeable rock. Water flows slowly through most rocks, but rocks that are highly permeable with lots of joints have faster groundwater growth

31
Q

What is base flow

A

Groundwater flow that feeds into rivers through riverbanks and river beds

32
Q

What is interflow

A

Water flowing downhill through permeable rock above the water table

33
Q

What is channel flow / river discharge

A

Water flowing in the river or stream itself

34
Q

What is an output

A

Water leaving the system

35
Q

What are the 4 outputs

A
  • Evaporation
  • Transpiration
  • Evapotranspiration
  • River discharge / flow
36
Q

What is evaporation

A

Water turning into water vapour

37
Q

What is transpiration

A

Evaporation in leaves - plants and trees take up water through their roots and transport it to their leaves where it evaporates to the atmosphere

38
Q

What is evapotranspiration

A

Evaporation and transpiration together

39
Q

What is potential evapotranspiration (PET) in comparison to actual evapotranspiration

A

The amount of water that could be lost by evapotranspiration, where as in actual it happens

40
Q

What is river discharge / flow

A

The discharge of a river is the volume of water that flows through at a given time. Normally measured in cubic metres per second

40
Q

What is evapotranspiration like in the dessert

A

PET is high as heat increases evaporation, but actual transpiration is low as there isn’t much moisture

41
Q

What does the water balance show

A

The balance between inputs and outputs

42
Q

What does the water balance affect

A

How much water is stored in the basin

43
Q

What does the general water balance in the UK show

A

Seasonal patterns

44
Q

What happens in wet seasons

A

Precipitation exceeds evapotranspiration

45
Q

What does this create

A

A water surplus

46
Q

Why does this create a surplus

A

The ground stores fill with water so there more surface run off and higher discharge so river levels rise

47
Q

What happens in drier seasons

A

Precipitation is lower than evapotranspiration

48
Q

What happens to the groundwater stores

A

They’re depleted as some water is used by plants or humans and some flows into the river channel but isn’t replaced by precipitation

49
Q

What happens at the end of the dry season

A

There’s a deficit of water in the ground. The ground stores are recharged in the next season

Physical geography (16 decks)

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