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24 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Water cycle |
The continuous movement of water between the atmosphere, land, and oceans |
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Evaporation |
The total loss of water from an area, which equals the sum of the water lost by evaporation from the soil and other surfaces and the water lost by transpiration from prganisms |
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Condensation |
The change of state from a gas to a liquid |
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Precipitation |
Any form of water that falls to earths surface from the clouds; includes rain, snow, sleet, and hail |
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Desalination |
A process of removing salt from ocean water |
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Tributary |
A stream that flows into a lake or into a larger stream |
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Watershed |
The area of land that is drained by a river system |
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Stream load |
The materials other than the water that are carried by a stream |
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Discharge |
The volume of water that flows within a given time |
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Gradient |
The change in elevation over a given distance |
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Meander |
One of the bends, twists, or curves in a low gradient stream or river |
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Braided stream |
A stream or river that is composed of multiple channels that divide and rejoin around sediment bars |
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Delta |
A fan shaped mass of rock material deposited at the mouth of a stream |
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Alluvial fan |
A fan shaped mass of rock material deposited by a stream when the slope of the land decreases sharply |
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Floodplain |
An area along a river that forms from sediments deposited when the river overflows its banks |
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Groundwater |
The water that is beneath earths surface |
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Aquifer |
A body of rock or sediment that stores groundwater and allows the flow of groundwater |
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Porosity |
The percentage of the total volume of a rock or sediment that consists of open spaces |
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Permeability |
The ability of a rock or sediment to let fluids pass through its open spaces, or pores |
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Water table |
The upper surface of underground water; the upper boundary of the zone of saturation |
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Artesian formation |
A sloping layer of permeable rock sandwiched between two layers of impermeable rock and exposed at the surface |
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Cavern |
A natural cavity that forms in rock as a result of the dissolution of minerals; also a large cave that commonly contains many smaller, connecting chambers |
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Sinkhole |
A circular depression that forms when rock dissolves, when overlying sediment fills an existing cavity, or when the roof of an underground cavern or mine collapses |
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Karst topography |
A type of irregular topography that is characterized by caverns, sinkholes, and underground drainage and that forms of limestone or other soluble rock |