Stream Vocab

Mouth

Where a stream empties into another body of water

Headwaters

Where stream begins (it's source area)

Oxbow lake

A pinched off meander that forms as a river straightens it's channel

Floodplain

A wide, level area cut out by meandering stream and is covered during flooding events

Drainage basin/ water shed

An area of earth's surface that collects water and flows to one particular point

Meander

Curves in a streams path

Laminar flow

Flat flow

Solution

Material is dissolved while being carried downstream

Levee

Natural or artificial bank confining a stream of river channel

Cut Bank

Outside bend of a meander

Turbulent flow

Rough flow (white water rafting)

Suspension

Sediment is heavier than water, but because the water is stirred up and moving they stay suspended (sand, silt, clay)

Runoff

The flow of water in streams, rivers, and other channels, and is a major element of the water cycle.

Base level

The level of the body of water in which a stream flows.

Alluvial fan

Where a stream enters a flat valley it deposits it's load in a triangle shape

Delta

Where a stream enters another body of water at it's base level and deposition of the river's load takes place forming a fan shaped deposit of sediments

Tributaries

A river or stream flowing into a larger river

Point Bar

Inside bend of a meander

Bed load

Sediments are carried downstream by rolling and sliding along the stream bed or bottom of the stream (sand, gravel, boulders)

Discharge

Volume of water passing a certain point in a given time