Resources
: Glossary
Sixth - Eighth Grade Online Curriculum : Watersheds
Sixth - Eighth Grade Online Curriculum : Watersheds
|
Resources
: Glossary
Sixth - Eighth Grade Online Curriculum : Watersheds |
|
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
Top
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
I
Impermeable
surface: a surface that water cannot flow through
Invertebrate: an animal without a backbone or spinal column
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
M
Migration: when animals travel from one geographical location to another,
often coinciding with seasonal changes
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
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
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
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
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
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
V
Vertebrate: an animal with a backbone or spinal column
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
Z
Zone of aeration:
the layer of soil usually 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