1. Water Vocab

2. 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. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

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