Rivers and Water Flashcards
(15 cards)
What is the water cycle?
The continuous movement of water through the environment – evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and collection.
What is evaporation?
When the sun heats water and turns it into water vapour
What is condensation?
When water vapour cools and turns back into liquid, forming clouds.
What is precipitation?
When water falls from the sky as rain, snow, sleet, or hail.
What is a drainage basin?
The area of land drained by a river and its tributaries.
What is the source of a river?
The place where a river begins, often in hills or mountains.
What is the moth of a river?
Where the river meets the sea or a lake.
What are tributaries?
Smaller rivers that flow into a larger one.
What is convectional rainfall?
Caused by the sun heating the ground, leading to rising warm air and rain.
What is relief rainfall?
When moist air is forced up over mountains, cools and causes rain.
What is frontal rainfall?
Happens when warm and cold air masses meet, the warm air rises and cools, causing rain.
What is erosion in rivers?
The wearing away of riverbanks and beds.
Name 4 types of river erosion.
Hydraulic action, abrasion, attrition, solution.
What is transportation in rivers?
The movement of sediment and materials by the river.
What is deposition?
When a river drops the material it’s carrying, usually when it slows down.
