The hydrosphere - Key terms

Frage	Antworten
Drainage basin	An area of land drained by a river and its tributaries.
Watershed	A ridge of high ground surrounding a basin.
Transpiration	Biological process where water is lost from vegetation.
Throughfall	Water falling of leaves to the ground.
Stemflow	Water reaching the ground by trickling down the stem/trunk.
Secondary interception	The presence of undergrowth meaning the water may fall from vegetation to lower vegetation as oppose to the ground.
Surface runoff	Surface storage like puddles may flow away over the surface thus becoming surface runoff.
Antecedent precipitation	The amount of water already in the soil.
Infiltration capacity	The maximum amount of water that can pass into the soil (mm/hour)
Throughflow	The lateral movement of water within the soil.
Capillary action	The process by which water is drawn up to the surface (during dry periods).
Percolation	the slow passage of a liquid through a filtering medium
Water table	the level below which the ground is saturated with water
Channel flow	Water that enters the river channel and then flows out of the drainage basin.
Channel storage	Water stored in the rivers channel.
The water balance	An equilibrium state in the basin where inputs are equal to outputs.
Soil moisture deficit	When E > P
Cumecs	Cubic metres per second
Bankfull discharge	When river discharge fill the channel to maximum capacity without spilling over onto the floodplains. The maximum volumetric capacity of the channel.
Velocity	Rate of flow.
Isovels	Lines of equal velocity.
Thalweg	The line of the fastest flowing water.
Sinuous	Having many curves and turns.
Eddies	Circular movements of water causing small whirlpools.
Longitudinal profile (of a river)	The plot of a river's height above base level against the distance from source to mouth.
Potholing	An extreme form of abrasion where small pebbles whirl round in circular eddies and drill holes into the rock bed.
Unconsolidated	Loose material
Cavitation	A type of extreme hydraulic erosion. Where there is exaggerated turbulence, shockwaves from the bursting air bubbles hit and weaken the banks.
River competence	The maximum size of material that a river is able to transport.
Capacity	The total load actually transported by a river.
Saltation	Pebbles, sand and gravel being temporarily picked up and bounced along the riverbed.
Traction	Larger boulders or cobbles being rolled along or slid along the bed.
Impermeable	Not allowing fluids to pass through.
Spur	A Spur in Geography is a narrow neck of highland extending into a river valley, often forming the divide between two tributaries.
Headward erosion	Headward erosion is the lengthening and cutting upstream of a valley or a gully at its head.
Gorge	A narrow valley between hills or mountains, typically with steep rocky walls and a stream running through it.
Salinity	The dissolved salt content of a body of water.
Colloids	Suspended particles to light or small to settle.
Turbidity	Together, colloids make a fluid look cloudy, hazy. The more cloudy a fluid looks the more turbid it is.
Delta	A river delta is a landform that forms at the mouth of a river, where the river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, or reservoir. Deltas form from deposition of sediment carried by a river as the flow leaves its mouth. Over long periods, this deposition builds the characteristic geographic pattern of a river delta.
Floodplain	An area of land prone to flooding when a river has exceeded bankfull discharge.
A bluff line	A prominent slope marks the edge of floodplain. Bluffs are truncated spurs.
Truncated spurs	They are rounded areas of land which have been cut off. They are often rounded at the top but steep at the bottom. They are formed when glaciers move through the main valley and cut off spurs.
Accretion	The gradual accumulation of layers or matter.
Anastomosing	The reconnection of two streams that previously branched out.
Fluvioglacial landscapes	Fluvioglacial landforms are landforms molded by glacial meltwater.
Ephemeral	Existing only briefly.
Helicoidal flow	Helicoidal flow is the cork-screw-like flow of water in a meander. It is one example of a secondary flow.
Points of inflexion	Where the meander bends.

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The hydrosphere - Key terms

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