GPHY 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Water Cycle, Regolith, Drainage Basin

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Geography
• Course: GPHY 102
• Professor: Ryan K Danby

Document Summary

The stud(cid:455) of the earth"s (cid:449)ater s(cid:455)ste(cid:373) a(cid:374)d it"s c(cid:455)cli(cid:374)g (movement through the hydrological cycle) Slo(cid:449) do(cid:449)(cid:374)(cid:449)ard flo(cid:449) of (cid:449)ater through earth"s (cid:373)aterials referred to as percolation. Subsurface water that fully saturates the pore spaces in bedrock, regolith or soil. Overland flow: unchanneled movement of water across surface (as opposed to infiltrating) Stream flow: channeled movement of water across surface (channel defined by lateral banks: a stream is any channeled flow of water, ranging from tiny creek to enormous river. Volume of water passing a point per unit time (typically measured in m3/s, where m3=1000 l) Changes at daily (diurnal) and seasonal timescales: often shows predictable patterns. Discharge of most streams increases downstream as an increasing number of streams contribute to its volume. Drainage network refers to the collection of streams draining a given area. Drainage basin, catchment or watershed refers to the entire area of land being drained. Drainage divide refers to the division between two watersheds.