Unit 3 Vocabulary The Hydrosphere

1.Water Cycle - the unending circulation of Earth’s water supply. 2.Infiltration - the movement of surface water into rock or soil through cracks and pore spaces

3. Transpiration - plants absorb water and release it into the atmosphere. 4. Gradient - the slope or steepness of a stream channel 5. Stream Channel - the course the water in a stream follows.

6. Discharge - the volume of water flowing past a certain point in a given unit of time. 7. Tributary - a stream that empties into another stream. 8. Base Level - the lowest point to which a stream can erode its channel.

9. Meanders - a stream with many bends 10. Bed Load - the part of a stream’s load of solid material that is made up of sediment too large to be carried in suspension. 11. Capacity - the maximum load a stream can carry.

12. Alluvium - the sorted material deposited by a stream. 13. Delta - an accumulation of sediment formed where a stream enters a lake or ocean. 14. Natural Levee - a landform that parallels some streams.

15. Floodplain - the side-to-side cutting of a stream eventually producing a flat valley floor. 16. Flood - Occurs when the discharge of a stream becomes so great that it exceeds the capacity of its channel and overflows its banks.

17. Drainage Basin - the land area that contributes water to a stream. 18. Divide - an imaginary line that separates the drainage basin of one stream from another.

19. Zone of Saturation - the area where water fills all the open spaces in sediment and rock. 20. Groundwater - the water within this zone 21. Water Table - the upper limit of the zone of saturation

22. Porosity - the percentage of the total amount of rock or soil that consists of pore space. 23. Permeability - a material’s ability to release a fluid.

24. Aquifer - permeable rock layers or sediments that transmit groundwater freely. 25. Spring - a flow of groundwater that emerges naturally at the ground surface. 26. Geyser - an intermittent hot spring or fountain in which a column of water shoots up with great force at various intervals.

27. Well - a hole bored into the zone of saturation 28. Artesian Well - any formation in which groundwater rises on its own under pressure. 29. Cavern - a naturally formed underground chamber.

30. Travertine - the calcium carbonate that is left behind producing the limestone that creates this. 31. Karst Topography - landscape that has been shaped largely by the dissolving power of groundwater.

32. Sinkhole - a depression produced in a region where groundwater has removed soluble rock.