Water Cycle

Front 1

Transpiration

Back 1

Is the process by which plants release water vapor into the air through their leaves

Front 2

Aquifer

Back 2

A rock layer that stores and allows the flow of ground water

Front 3

evaporation

Back 3

Occurs when liquid water from the Earth’s surface and living organisms changes into water vapor

Front 4

runoff

Back 4

Is water that flows across land and collects in rivers, streams, and eventually in the oceans

Front 5

condensation

Back 5

Occurs when water vapor cools and changes into liquid water droplets that form clouds in the atmosphere

Front 6

precipitation

Back 6

Is rain, snow, sleet, or hail that falls from clouds onto the Earth’s surface

Front 7

infiltration

Back 7

Is the movement of water in the ground due to the pull of gravity

Front 8

percolation

Back 8

Is the downward movement of water through pores and other spaces in soil due to gravity

Front 9

Deposition

Back 9

process by which material is dropped or settles

Front 10

Gradient

Back 10

change in elevation, divided by distance

Front 11

alluvium

Back 11

rocks and soil recently deposited by a river

Front 12

permeability

Back 12

a rock's ability to allow water to pass through

Front 13

Channel

Back 13

the path that a stream follows

Front 14

Discharge

Back 14

volume of water transported by a stream in a given amount of time

Front 15

erosion

Back 15

caused by a river removing rocks and soil from its riverbed

Front 16

water table

Back 16

the underground boundary where the zones of aeration and saturation meet

Front 17

ground water

Back 17

the water in rocks below the Earth's surface

Front 18

divide

Back 18

drainage basins are separated from each other by an area of higher ground

Front 19

Drainage basin

Back 19

Also known as watershed- an aread drained by a river system

Front 20

Tributary

Back 20

a small river that flows into a larger river

Front 21

load

Back 21

materials carried in a stream's water

Front 22

water cycle

Back 22

the continous movement of water from lakes and oceans, into the air, onto the land, into the ground and back to lakes and oceans.