River Environments Flashcards
Abstraction
Removal of water from rivers, lakes or groundwater for human use
Base flow
That part of a river’s discharge fed by groundwater
The normal discharge of a river
Channel
The part of a valley floor occupied by the flowing water of a stream or river
Channel network
The system of tributary streams that join increasingly larger river channels in a drainage basin
Dam (damp; reservoir)
A barrier (made on earth, concrete or stone) built across a valley to interrupt river flow and create a man-made lake (reservoir) to store water
Discharge
The quantity of water that passes a given point on a stream or river-bank within a given period of time
Drainage basin
The area drained by a river and its tributaries, bounded by a watershed
Erosion
The wearing down of the land by water, ice, wind and gravity
Flood
When river discharge exceeds river channel capacity and water spills out of the channel onto the floodplain and other areas
Flood plain
That part of a valley floor over which a river spreads during seasonal floods
Hydrograph
A graph on which variations in a river’s discharge are plotted against time
Hydrological cycle
The unending movement of water between land, sea and atmosphere
Impermeable
Rocks that do not allow water to pass through them
Interlocking spurs
A series of ridges projecting out on alternate sides of a valley and around which a river winds its course
Landform
A physical feature with recognizable characteristics e.g. waterfall, meander formed by specific processes such as erosion or deposition
Levee
A bank of sediment formed along the edge of a river channel deposited by floodwater
