Question
click below
click below
Question
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Rivers Terminology
Words relating to rivers
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Condensation | The cooling of a gas so that it changes into a liquid, for instance as water vapour cools, it condenses to become water droplets, which, when heavy enough, fall as rain |
Confluence | Where two rivers meet and join to form one larger river. |
Delta | A build up of sediment at the point where a river meets a sea or lake, due to the water velocity slowing and the river having less energy to carry the sediment.See later section for details. |
Drainage Basin | The area of land drained by a river and its tributaries. |
Estuary | The point at which a river begins to meet the sea. The river will be tidal, meaning that it will have both salt water and fresh water in it. |
Evaporation | Water that is warmed, usually by the sun, so that it changes into a gas (water vapour). |
Evapo-transpiration | The combination of evaporation and transpiration. |
Fluvial | relating to a river, from the Latin for water. |
Groundwater | see Percolation |
Hydrology | The study of water |
Infiltration | The downward movement of water that seeps into the soil or a porous rock. |
Mouth | The end of the river, where it meets the sea, or a lake. |
Overland Flow | When water flows over the surface of the ground. This occurs for a number of reasons |
Percolation | The movement of water through the soil or underlying porous rock. This water collects as groundwater. |
Precipitation | Waterfalling to Earth in any form |
Surface Run-off | see Overland Flow |
Throughflow | the movement of water with in the soil sideways, towards the river. |
Transpiration | The water loss from vegetation into the atmosphere. |
Tributaries | rivers running into the main one, that form part of the same drainage basin system. |
Velocity | The speed of the flow of the river. |
Watershed | The imaginary dividing line between neighbouring drainage basins. |