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Glossary Rivers

  
     
Abrasion Erosion by rocks and stones.
Aforestation Replanting of trees in the catchment area.
Alluvium When a river floods it leaves behind fine silt called alluvim.
Attrition Stones and rocks hitting each other which causes them to break into smaller pieces
Bedload The material carried along the bottom of the river.
Catchment area The area of a valley that collects water for a river. (drainage basin)
Condensation Water vapour changes to liquid.
Dam Man made walls to trap water forming a reservoir.
Delta Formed where the river has lots of load, when the river meets the sea it slows down and drops its load.
Deposition The dropping of transported material.
Discharge The volume of water flowing down a river in m3/s.
Drainage basin The area of a valley that collects water for a river. (catchment area)
Embankments Artificial banks to make the channel of a river larger.
Erosion The breaking down of material by water, ice, wind …
Estuary A wide deep mouth.
Evaporation The transfer of water from the sea to the air as water vapour.
Flood plain The flat land next to a river which is flooded during flooding.
Flood walls Artificial walls to stop a river flooding.
Groundwater The water in the ground.
Groundwater flow The movement of water down the valley through the rocks.
Hydraulic action Water in fast flowing rivers is forced into cracks, opening them with the force of the water causing erosion.
Hydrograph A graph that shows the discharge of a river.
Infiltration Rain water soaking into the ground.
Interception Leaves catching rainfall.
Interlocking spurs Hills that stick out on alternate sides of a V-shaped valley like the teeth of a zip.
Lagtime The time that passes between peak rainfall and peak discharge.
Land-use zoning Control of building and flooding areas.
Levees (Levées) When the river floods it leaves behind its load, the biggest first. This big material forms banks: terraces.
Load The material that a river carries.
Meander The twisting of a river.
Middle course The part of a river which is not so high above sea level so there isn't so much downcutting.
Mudflats When the sea tide goes out from a river the sides are left exposed, these exposed sides are mudflats.
Oxbow lake A lake formed when a loop of a river is cut off in a flood.
Peak discharge The moment of highest discharge.
Peak rainfall The moment of the highest rainfall.
Percolation Water moving through cracks and pores in the soil and rock.
Permeable Rock lets water infiltrate (see porous)
Plunge pool A rounded pool created by the falling water of a waterfall.
Point bar The deposited material on the slow flowing side of a river.
Precipitation Rain, snow, hail, sleet.
Reservoir A man made lake.
River bank The sides of the channel built up by the river.
River bed Bottom of the river.
River cliff The eroded side of a river.
River Channel The bed and sides of a river.
River mouth Where the river meets the sea.
Saltation The jumping of larger rocks along the bottom of the river.
Sediment Deposited material.
Silt A very fine sediment like fine sand.
Slip-off slope The gentle slope down to the point bar.
Solution Water dissolves rock which helps with erosion.
Surface run-off When the ground is hard or saturated rainfall cannot infiltrate so it runs along the surface.
Suspension Small particles of rock and soil carried in the water.
Swan's neck meander A very tight meander.
Terraces A long time ago sea level was higher which meant rivers didn't have to cut down so far to reach the sea. Now the sea level is lower meaning that rivers have had to cut down more to reach the sea. This has left terraces in the flood plain.
Throughflow The movement of water down the valley through soil. 
Traction Large rocks being rolled along the bottom of the river.
Transpiration The transfer of water from the plants to the air as water vapour.
Transportation The movement of eroded material.
Undercut ledge The area where soft rock is eroded back under soft rock in a waterfall.
Upper course Top part of the river, near the source where the valleys are v-shaped.
V-Shaped valley A valley shaped like a V formed by downcutting action of a stream.
Washlands Areas that are left to flood.
Water table The ammount of water soil holds.
Waterfall Formed where there is hard rock on top of soft rock. 
Watershed Imaginary line which divides two drainage basins.