Vocabulary Flashcards
Catchment Areas aka market, trade, or tributary area:
geographic area from which the participants in an activity are drawn. It grows and shrinks with the activity.
Proctor Compaction Test:
Geotechnical tests to determine the maximum, practically achievable, density of soils and aggregates.
Baseline:
parallel (line that follows latitudes of earth) used as the basis for the east‐west layout of the US Survey system
Standard Parallels:
parallels between the baselines in the US Survey
Principal Meridian:
meridian (north-south line that follows longitude of earth) that serves as the basis for the north‐south grid layout of the US Survey
Guide meridian:
meridians between the principal meridians
Metes‐and‐bounds:
verbal description of land that begins at a known point and describes the bearing and length of each side of the property until the point of the beginning is reached
(topography) Contour interval:
change in elevation between two contours. Smaller scaled maps typically have a larger interval for clarity.
(topography) Crown/Ridge:
contours point “down” toward the lower elevation
(topography) Swale/Valley:
contours point “up” towards the higher elevation
Swamp:
wetland that features permanent inundation of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water, generally with a substantial number of hummocks, or dry‐land protrusions
Swale:
an elongated depression in the land surface that is at least seasonally wet, is usually vegetated and is normally without flowing water.
Detention Pond:
low lying area that is designed to temporarily hold a set amount of water while slowly draining to another location. They are more or less around for flood control when large amounts of rain could cause flash flooding if not dealt with properly
Retention Pond:
designed to hold a specific amount of water indefinitely. Usually the pond is designed to have drainage leading to another location when the water level gets above the pond capacity, but still maintains a certain capacity
Riparian Rights:
system of rights and duties that determine the reasonable use, duties, and allocations of water to owners of waterfront property (includes bottomland, beach, and upland, but not the water itself). Owners can use water adjacent to their property, but can’t infringe upon the rights of others to use the water.!
Sheet Flow:
water that flows across paved surfaces.
Albedo:
how much radiant energy that is reflected by a surface where 0 is a flat black surface which absorbs all heat and 1 is a mirror (rate is listed as a fraction).
Conductivity:
the speed with which heat passes through a material. Metals are high, and soils/sand are low.
Macroclimate:
based on latitude, elevation, and proximity to water. Water reduces temperature extremes.
Microclimate:
based on solar radiation, the angle between the ground and altitude
Geodetic:
it is used for very large land areas. This survey takes into consideration the spherical shape of the earth, and describes large land areas with great precision.
Check:
24 mi. square bounded by parallels and meridians, divided into 16 townships
Township:
6 mi. on one side divided into 36 sections
Sections:
1 mi. square parcel of land containing 640 acres further divided into quarter sections. (Note: 1 acre = 43,560 ft)
Quarter Section:
.5 mi square further divided into four more parcels
Mothballing:
term used in historic preservation when you designate certain areas to be repaired or restored at a later date, under a later contract.
Adaptive Reuse:
process of adapting old structures for purposes other than those initially intended while retaining their historic features.
