Science Vocabulary Ch.3

Front 1

erosion

Back 1

the process by which water, ice, wind, or gravity moves weathered rock

Front 2

sediment

Back 2

earth materials deposited by erosion

Front 3

deposition

Back 3

process in which sediment is layed down in a new location

Front 4

mass movement

Back 4

any one of several processes that by which gravity moves downhill

Front 5

runoff

Back 5

water that flows over the ground surface than soaking into teh ground

Front 6

rill

Back 6

a tiny groove in soil by flowing water

Front 7

gully

Back 7

a large channel, or group of rills, in soil formed by erosion

Front 8

stream

Back 8

a channel though which water is continually flowing downhill

Front 9

river

Back 9

a large strem

Front 10

tributary

Back 10

a stream that flows into a river or larger stream

Front 11

drainage basin

Back 11

the land area from which a river and tributaries collect their water

Front 12

divide

Back 12

the ridge of land that separates one drainage basin to another

Front 13

flood plain

Back 13

wide valley through which a river flows

Front 14

meander

Back 14

a looplike bend in a course of a river

Front 15

oxbow lake

Back 15

a meander cut off from a river

Front 16

alluvial fan

Back 16

a wide, sloping deposit of sediment formed where a stream leaves a mountain range

Front 17

delta

Back 17

a landform made of sediment that is deposited where a river flows into an ocean or lake

Front 18

groundwater

Back 18

water that fills the cracks and spaces in underground soil or rock layers

Front 19

stalactite

Back 19

a calcite that hangs from the roof of a cave

Front 20

karst topography

Back 20

a type of landscape in the rainy regions where there is limestone near the surface characterized by caverns, sinkholes and valleys

Front 21

energy

Back 21

the ability to do work or cause change

Front 22

potential energy

Back 22

energy that is stored and used later

Front 23

kinetic energy

Back 23

the energy an object has due to its motion

Front 24

abration

Back 24

the grinding away of rock by other rock particles carried in water ice or wind

Front 25

load

Back 25

the amount of sediment that a river or stream carries

Front 26

friction

Back 26

the force that opposes motion of one surface as it moves across another surface

Front 27

turbulence

Back 27

a type of movement of water in which rather moving downstream the water moves in every way

Front 28

glacier

Back 28

a large mass of moving ice and snow on land

Front 29

valley glacier

Back 29

a long narrow glacier that forms when ice and snow build up on a mountain

Front 30

continital glacier

Back 30

a glacier that covers most of a continent or large island

Front 31

ice age

Back 31

one time in the past when continental glaciers covered almost all large parts of the Earth's Surface

Front 32

plucking

Back 32

the process in which a glacier picks up rocks as it flows over the land

Front 33

till

Back 33

the sediments deposited directly by a glacier

Front 34

moraine

Back 34

a ridge formed by the till deposited at the adge of a glacier

Front 35

kettle

Back 35

a small depression that forms when a chunck of ice is left in glaciers till

Front 36

beach

Back 36

wave-washed sediment along the coast

Front 37

longshore drift

Back 37

the movement of water and sediment down a beach caused by waves coming in at an angle

Front 38

spit

Back 38

a beach formed by longshore drift that projects like a finger out into the water

Front 39

deflation

Back 39

wind erosion that removes surface materials

Front 40

sand dune

Back 40

a deposit of wind blown sand

Front 41

loess

Back 41

a wind formed deposit made of fine particles of clay and silt