Copy of Groundwater and Surface Water-2

Evaporation

The process where heat is added to water molecules, causing them to transform from liquid into vapor.

Condensation

The process where water vapor travels up into the atmosphere and cools, forming clouds.

Precipitation

The process where water droplets form in clouds and fall as rain, sleet, snow, or hail.

Infiltration

The process where water soaks into the ground, replenishing groundwater supplies.

Runoff

Water that flows from higher elevations to lower elevations due to gravity.

Groundwater

Water that is stored underground in aquifers and moves through soil particles.

Aquifer

An underground layer of rock or sediment that holds and allows the flow of groundwater.

Watershed

The land area from which surface runoff drains into a stream channel, lake, or other body of water.

Headwaters

The source and upper part of a stream, typically small streams at the outer limits of a watershed.

Tributary

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

Gradient

A measure of the change in elevation over a certain distance affecting the speed of water.

River flow

The amount of water that moves through a river channel in a given amount of time.

Bed Load

Sediment particles transported along a stream bed by rolling, sliding, or bouncing.

Suspended Load

Fine sediment particles kept afloat within the water column by the turbulence of flowing water.

Dissolved Load

Sediments carried in solution, particularly ions from chemical weathering, not visible in water.

Porosity

The percentage of open spaces in a given volume of rock or sediment, determining water storage capacity.

Permeability

The ability of a rock or sediment to let fluids pass through its pores.

Recharge Zone

An area where surface water travels downward to become part of an aquifer.

Discharge

Water that reaches the surface from an aquifer to form wetlands or flow out as springs.