Hydrosphere

Hydrosphere

water cycle

• the constant movement of water among the oceans, the atmosphere geoshpere and the bioshpere

infiltration

• the movement of surface water into rock or soil through cracks and pore space

transpiration

• the process by which moisture is carried through plants from roots to small pores on the underside of leaves, where it changes to vapor and is released to the atmosphere.

stream channel

• the course that water in a stream follows

discharge

• the quanity of water in a stream that passes a given point in a period of time

meander

• a loop like bend in the course of a stream

bed load

• sediment that is carried by a stream along the bottom of its channel

capacity

• the total amount of sediment a stream able to transport

delta

• an accumulation of sediment formed when a stream enters a lake or ocean

natural levee

• an elevated landform that parallels a stream an acts to confine its water,except during flood stage

drainage basin

• the land area that contributew water to a stream

zone of saturation

• zone where all open spaces in sediment and rock are compleltely filled with water

ground water

• water underground in the zone of saturation

water table

• the upper level of saturatied zone of ground water

porosity

• the volume of open space in rock or soil

permeability

• a measure of a materials ability to transmit fluids

aquifer

• an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock, rock fractures or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt) from which groundwater can be extracted using a water well.

artesian well

• a well in which the water naturally rise above the level of the water table

carven

• naturally formed underground chamber most most commonly produced by solution activity in limestone

karst topography

• an area that has land surface pr topography with numerous depressions called sinkholes

sinkhole

• a depression produced in a region in where soluble rock has been removed by groundwater