EARTHSC 1G03 Lecture Notes - Drainage Basin, Laminar Flow, Stream Gradient
21 Mar 2013
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Document Summary
The hydrologic cycle is the interchange of water among sea, air and land. Water flows through streams on the surface to reach lakes and run off into the sea. Body of running water moving downhill b/c gravity. Head water: upper part of a stream (i. e. near mountain source) Stream channel: long narrow depression eroded by the stream into rock or sediment: stream bed: bottom of channel, stream banks: to the side. Long profile cross section along channel showing all gradients from source to mouth. Base level- limiting level below which stream can erode. This is the change from an erosive environment to a depositional environment: faults can change base level, dams can change base level to upstream; sediments need to be dredged eventually. Drainage basin: the particular area that water falls in and drains into the ocean via a stream and its tributaries.
