Water key terms (HD) Flashcards
Exogenous water
Water from ridges that originate externally to the desert and flow to the sea
Endoreic water
Water from closed drainage basins that flow to inland lakes/marshes
Ephemeral water
Rivers that only flow on the surface periodically
Sheet floods
Large/expansive but relatively shallow floods after intense rainfall, causing sheet erosion
Channel flash flooding
Flooding as water is channeled into a steep sided valley
Wadi
Steep-sided gorge-like valleys formed by fluvial erosion, often covered in sediment
Braided streams
A stream consisting of small, shallow channels which divide and recombine
Pediment
A distinct break in the gradient, with a low angle slope covered in sediment
Capacity
The maximum volume of load that a river can carry at a specific point in its course
Competence
The largest particles that a river can carry
Alluvial fan
Distributaries formed as a load carried out from wadis onto pediment is deposited
Graded sediment
When the coarsest sediment is left upstream and the finest downstream in an alluvial fan
Bajada
When alluvial fans coalesce in an area where a linear mountain range has several parallel wadis in close proximity
Playa
A salt lake caused by the evaporation of water deposited in an inland basin by an ephemeral lake
Mesa
Isolated, flat-topped rock features
