EARTHSC 2GG3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Drainage Basin, Water Cycle, Flow Velocity
4 Oct 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Streams and rivers are part of the water or hydrologic cycle and hydrology is the study of this cycle. In the hydrologic cycle, water evaporates form earth s surface, primarily the oceans, into the atmosphere, and it returns to the oceans by flowing underground and across the land surface. Water falls to the land as water and snow and infiltrates into the ground, evaporate from the land surface, or drain off the land following a course determined by the local topography. Surface drainage (runoff) finds its way to small streams, which may merge as tributaries to form a larger stream or river. Streams and rivers differ only in size (streams are small rivers). The region drained by a single stream or river variously called a drainage basin, watershed, river basin, or catchment. Thus, each stream has its own drainage basic or watershed that collects rain and other precipitation.
