SCIENCE LESSON 3 VOCABULARY

Water above the earth’s surface. Found in: streams, rivers, and lakes Comes from: precipitation, or water that comes up from underground to the surface of the earth.

Water that is found in the spaces between rock particles below the Earth’s surface.

This is the upper boundary, or surface, of Groundwater. The amount of water can rise or fall.

the path that a stream follows, this can get wider and deeper, as the stream continues to erode rock and soil.

a smaller stream that feeds into a river and eventually into a river system.

is the area of land that is drained by a river system

watersheds are separated by a ridge or an area of higher ground is called a divide

A measure of the change in elevation over a certain distance. In other words, this measures the steepness, or slope/ The higher this is the faster the water moves and the energy is higher so the erosion of rock and soil is greater.

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

materials that are carried by a stream. The high flow carries a larger stream load. The size of the particles depends on the water speed. The stream load is usually dumped where the stream enters lakes and oceans.

is a body of rock or sediment that stores groundwater and allows it to flow.

The open spaces between particles of rock or sediment is called pores.

This is the percentage of the rock that is composed of pore space. The greater the pore space the higher the porosity. Example: Gravel has higher porosity than sand.

is the measure of how easily water can flow through an aquifer. When many pores in the aquifer are connected this means it has a high permeability.

surface water that trickles down into the ground can reach the water table and enter an aquifer, this is called a recharge zone.

where the water table meets the surface, may pool to form a wetland, or may flow out as a spring, this is called discharge.

source of drinking water The water located within the rocks below Earth’s Surface

Also a form of drinking water

Fresh water is used for drinking, agriculture, industry, transportation, and recreation.

97% of water on Earth is salt water and only 3% is fresh water.

Large cities use a lot of water, this is a problem as the cities get larger and larger.

is the availability of water

is a measure of how clean or polluted water is.

this is what carries water from groundwater or surface water so people can use the water. Examples: pipes, buckets…