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Rivers and the water cycle - Coggle Diagram
Rivers and the water cycle
All rivers recieve their water from precipitaion
The relationship between the precipiation and the amount of water in a river known as DISCHARGE, is not straightforward.
Once cloulds have released water, there are different destinations for the water
Evaporate back into the atmosphere
Be transpired by plants
Be kept by plants or in the soil
Stay fo a time in lakes, glaciers or reservoirs
Infilitrate into the ground to become groundwater
Run off the surface immediately into rivers
DEFINITIONS
WIDTH: How wide the wtaer in the river is. The distance from bank-to-bank of the surface water of the river. The opposite of Wide is NARROW
DEPTH: How deep the water in the river is. This varies across the river, so an average is usually taken from several measurements of the width. The opposite of deep is Shallow
VELOCITY: The speed at which the river is flowing.This varies with depth and width. The speed could be fast or slow.
WETTED PERIMETER: Lenght of the wet part the channel cross-section containing flowing river. The wetted perimeter could be high or low.
CROSS-SECTION AREA: Area of flowing water measured from bank to bank. The cross-section area could be small or large
DISCHARGE: The amount of water flowing in a channel. This is calculated by multipying cross-sectional area by velocity. The discharge could be low or high
The HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE OF WATER
EVAPORATION: Water is stored in the sea as a liquid. High temperature and warm winds change the liquid water into gas (water vapour), which rises into the atmosphere
EVAPOTRANSPIRATION: Vegetation not only intercepts rainfall but also take it up though roots from the soil. This water is eventually returned to the atmosphere by transpiration from leaves. Surface water is also evaporated from leaves.
CONDENSATION: As water vapour is blown towards mountains by the prevailing winds it is forced to rise, cools and condenses back into water droplets. These from clouds and relief (orographic) rainfall or snow
INTERCEPTION: Some rainfall is interceped by plants and trees before reaching the ground. Some falls on land and infiltrates the ground or flows on the surface as small fast-flowing streams
OVERLAND FLOW: Upland streams flow downhill and join at confluences to form slower-moving, wider, deeper rivers which eventually discharge the water into lakes or the sea.
The DRAINAGE BASIN includes all the area drained by a river and its tributaries. The border or edge of the drainage basin is called the watershed. This boundary is usually on the tops of hills and mountains.