Watersheds Unit Review

Flashcards created to review key vocabulary terms related to watersheds and the water cycle.

Watershed

A section of land where rain or snow water drains downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, estuary, sea or ocean.

Precipitation

Moisture deposited on the Earth as dew, rain, or snow.

Evapotranspiration

The transfer of water to the atmosphere by evaporation from the soil and transpiration by land plants.

Groundwater

Water contained within an aquifer, i.e. soil or rock.

Aquifer

Layers of earth that contain water; underground sources of water.

Water Table

The top of the water surface in the saturated part of an aquifer.

Urbanization

The change of a landscape from a country to city setting.

Infiltration

Water seeping into the ground.

Impervious Surface

A material that water cannot pass through.

Runoff

Water that travels across the land surface to rivers, lakes, and the ocean.

Transpiration

The process by which liquid water taken into a plant from the soil is released into the atmosphere as a gas.

Hydrologic Cycle

The Earth's water cycle - movement of water from the atmosphere to the Earth, its distribution on the Earth, and its return to the atmosphere.

Saturated

Unable to hold any more water.

Condensation

Changes from a gas to a liquid.

Evaporation

Changes from a liquid to a gas.

Permeability

The ease with which water passes through the ground.

Tributary

A stream that flows into a larger stream or body of water.

Bioaccumulation

The build-up of toxins in an individual organism's body over its lifetime.

Biomagnification

Increasing concentration of toxins higher up in a food chain.

Delta

A landform that is formed by river-borne sediments deposited at the river mouth where it joins the sea.

Estuary

A partially enclosed waterbody along the coast where fresh water meets and mixes with salt water of the ocean.