A
| B | C | D
| E | F | G
| H | I | L
| M | N | O
| P | R | S
| T | V | W
| Z
A
Agriculture:
the growing and raising of plants and animals for food
Alluvial delta: an almost flat plain of alluvial soil
that is deposited when a river meets the ocean and no
longer has the ability to carry sediment
Alluvial fan: a fan shaped deposit of alluvial
soil at the mouth of a river
Alluvium:
deposit of sand and mud formed by flowing water, such
as a river
Aquarium: a public building for the display of
aquatic plants and animals
Aquatic: having to do with water
Aquifer: an area of rock or sediment that is saturated
with water and through which water can easily move
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B
Barrier
Island:
sandy islands found off the coast of the Southeastern
United States that protect the inland areas from the eroding
powers of the ocean
Bedrock: the area of solid rock that underlies
the soil at the earth's surface
Best Management Practices (BMP’s): policies that are
designed to create practices or structures that will reduce
nonpoint source pollution, or polluted runoff
Buffer zone: an area of woods, field, marsh, or
other type of landscaped area that acts as a barrier or
trap for flood waters or runoff
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C
Chlorides: compounds containing chlorine, a chemical
used to purify water and used to make bleach
Clay: sediment with the smallest particle size,
less than .002 mm
Coastal Plain: the region of South Carolina between
the Coast and the Piedmont characterized by flat land
and many wetlands.
Community: a group of plants and animals living and
interacting in the same environment
Collection pool: a man made pond or pool that collects
runoff from agricultural, livestock, or other sources
of polluted runoff for later processing
Critical erosion velocity: the minimum velocity
of water flow in a stream that will create erosion of
stream bank sediments of a particular particle size
Current speed: how fast the water is flowing
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D
Dendritic Pattern: the pattern a river and its tributaries
in a watershed will take that resembles a tree and its
branches
Deposition: the laying down of sediment by air, water
or ice
Detritus: pieces of decaying organic (plant and
animal) material in water
Discharge: the amount of water passing a certain
point along a river or stream for a given time period
Drainage basin: the total area from which water
drains into a stream or river
Drainage divide: a relatively high feature in the
landscape that divides drainage basins
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E
Empathy: the ability to identify with another person’s
feelings
Erosion: the wearing away and transport of particles
of rock and sediment
Estuary: a partially enclosed coastal area where
salt water and freshwater mix
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F
Fall Line: the boundary between the Piedmont and the
Coastal Plain where sudden elevation changes create a
series of rapids on the rivers.
Fecal coliform: a type of bacteria that thrives
in feces and can cause illness or death if ingested by
humans
Fertile Crescent: the area in the Middle East around
the Nile and Tigris and Euphrates River Valleys where
agriculture had its beginnings because of the high fertility
of the soil
First Person Writer: writing written from the author’s
perspective, uses the pronoun "I" a lot
Flooding: when a body of water overflows its banks
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G
Gradient: the rate of ascent or descent in elevation
of a river or stream
Gravel: coarse grained sediment particles between
2 and 60 mm in diameter
Groundwater: water that completely fills the pore
space of rock or sediment below the surface
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H
Habitat: a place in the environment where an organism
can find the things it needs to survive
Hard bottom reef: a marine habitat formed by the outcropping
of rock or ancient corals through the sand
Headwaters: the streams in a watershed that are
the farthest tributaries away from the mouth of the main
river and can be said to "begin" the watershed
Heavy metals: traces of metals in polluted runoff,
such as mercury and lead, toxic to most life
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I
Impermeable
surface: a surface that water cannot flow through
Invertebrate: an animal without a backbone
or spinal column
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L
Live
bottom reef:
another name for a hard bottom reef, given because of the large
number of invertebrate animals that attach themselves to this
habitat
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M
Migration: when animals travel from one geographical
location to another, often coinciding with seasonal changes
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N
Nitrates: compounds that contain nitrogen, such as
fertilizers, that can act as nutrients for aquatic plant
life, causing environmentally damaging algae blooms.
Nonpoint source water pollution: pollution that
has entered an aquatic environment but which cannot be
traced back to the source of the pollution
Nutrient: inorganic minerals that must be replenished
in the bodies of living things to sustain life
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O
Organism:
a living thing
Overland flow: the disorganized method by which
rainwater will run on the surface of the land downhill
until it joins a stream or other body of water
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P
pH: the measure of the hydronium concentration
in a water solution
Particle size: the measurement of a piece or portion
of a rock or soil, usually measured in centimeters and
millimeters; characterized as clay, silt, sand, gravel,
cobbles or boulders
Permeability: a measure of how well solid substances
allow fluids to flow through them
Personification: the act of attributing human characteristics
to non-human things
Phytoplankton: microscopic aquatic plants that
float around with the ocean's currents
Piedmont: the region between the Mountains and the
Coastal Plain characterized by rolling hills and river
valleys
Point source water pollution: pollution that has entered
an aquatic environment that can be traced back to the
source of pollution
Porosity: the percentage of pores and spaces in
the total volume of a rock or other substance
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R
Region:
an area of land characterized by specific climate,
geology and ecosystems
Relief: differences in elevation over an area
Reservoir:
a man-made lake
Riparian zone: a buffer zone of vegetation between
a body of water and land that helps to keep the water
clean by filtering out impurities from the runoff of the
land
Runoff: water that flows or drains off of surface
features, such as lawns or paved areas
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S
Salinity:
the
amount of dissolved salts in water or soil
Sand:
sediment with a particle size between 0.06 and 2 mm
Sediment: particles of loose rock and mineral fragments
that have been transported water, wind or ice and then
deposited
Sediment load: the amount of sediment a river or
stream is transporting
Sessile: an organism that attaches itself to a
surface and remains there its entire life
Settling velocity: the velocity beneath which a
stream or river can no longer transport a specific sediment
size and that size will settle out
Shock loadings: when runoff enters a body of water
carrying high concentrations of pollutants
Silt: sediment with a particle size between 0.002
and 0.06 mm
Soil: the combination of sediment and organic material
that covers the surface of the earth
Solvent: a substance that can dissolve other substances
Sportsmanship: to follow proper rules of conduct
and play when participating in an athletic event
Surface runoff: water that flows along the surface
of land
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T
Tannins: organic compounds in plants that stain
water and other substances reddish-black
Topography: the characteristics and distribution of
landscape features for a certain area
Tributary:
a
stream or smaller river that flows into a larger river
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V
Vertebrate: an animal with a backbone or spinal column
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W
Water quality: the physical, biological and chemical characteristics
of water
Water table: the top surface of an area underground that
is saturated with water; the boundary between the zone of saturation
and the zone of aeration
Watershed: an area of land in which all of the
rainwater will eventually drain into the same river, stream,
lake or wetland
Weathering: the chemical and physical breakdown of rock
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Z
Zone of
aeration:
the layer of soil above the zone of saturation, that contains
both water and air
Zone of saturation: the layer of soil that is completely
saturated with water
Zooplankton: microscopic aquatic animals that float
around with the ocean's currents
