1. 6.1 Running Water Oceans – 97 % Glaciers/ice – 2 %
Freshwater - < 1 %
Water cycle = the continuous circulation of earth’s water supply
It is powered by the sun

2. Evaporation = liquid to gas
Condensation = gas to liquid (forms clouds)
Precipitation = water (s,l ) returns to earth
Infiltration = water that soaks into ground
Runoff = water that flows across the ground
Transpiration = water that plants release into the atmosphere (gas to liquid)

3. Earth’s water cycle is balanced
Balanced = earth’s annual precipitation = the amount that evaporates
Local imbalances do exist like droughts and floods

4. Stream Flow
Velocity is the distance that water travels in a period of time. (some slow some fast)
Highest velocities in the center of channel
Velocity fastest on the outside bank/bend when a steam bends/curves
The ability of a stream to erode & transport materials depends largely on its velocity

5. 5 Stream Velocity Factors
Gradient = slope (how steep or flat)
Shape = crooked vs straight
Size = wide vs narrow & deep vs shallow
Roughness = smooth vs rough
Discharge = the volume of water flowing past a certain point per unit of time (m3/s)

6. Stream Profile Changes
Profile - a cross-sectional stream view
Gradient and roughness decrease as you go downstream
Discharge, velocity, depth, and width increases as you move downstream
The ability of a stream to erode increases as the discharge increases.

7. Stream Terms Tributary – anything that empties into another stream
Base level – the lowest point to which a stream can erode its channel
Meander – bends/curves in a river/stream
Oxbow lake – a meander that gets cut off from the main stream and form a small lake.

8. 6.2 Stream Erosion
Streams erode their channels by 3 main processes…abrasion, grinding, and by dissolving particles.
Streams carry their materials (loads) in 3 ways
Dissolved load – dissolved particles
Suspended load - carried by fast water
Bed load – along the bottom…saltation

9. The ability of stream to carry a load is dependent upon 2 factors:
Competence - the largest particles the stream is transporting
Capacity – the maximum load it can carry
Steams generally erode “V” shaped valleys & channels in three ways
Abrasion
Grinding
Dissolving soluble materials

10. Stream Deposition
As the stream slows down material/alluvium begins to settle out
Larger materials settle out first
Delta – a triangular accumulation of sediment formed where a stream enters a lake/ocean
Levee – accumulation of sediment along the river banks
Rivers carve

11. 3 Stages of Stream Development
1 Young – fast, straight, narrow, rapids
2 Mature – slower, meanders, wider
3 Old – slowest, meanders/oxbows, widest

12. Flooding Flood plain – flat areas along rivers that occasionally flood
Flood contribution factors:
Paving
Excess precipitation
Methods of control
Dams and levees
Limiting development

13. Drainage basin - the land area that contributes water to a stream
Divide – imaginary line that separates one drainage basin of one stream from another
Drainage patterns
Dendritic
Radial
Braided
Trellis/rectangular

14. 6.3 Groundwater
Zone of saturation – area below ground where all the pore spaces are completely filled with water
Zone of aeration – all the pore spaces are not completely filled with water
Water table – the line that divides the two

15. Groundwater
Porosity – the percentage of the total volume of rock (or sediment) that consists of pore spaces
Permeability – how well water moves through the rock/sediment
Well rounded and well sorted grains = high porosity
Aquifer – rock layers or sediment that allow groundwater to flow freely (sandstone)
Aquitard – does not allow groundwater freely to flow freely (shale)

16. Hot springs – water is heated from magma just below the surface
Springs – form whenever the water table intersects the surface of the ground
Hot springs – water is heated from magma just below the surface
Geysers – intermittent hot spring/fountain that periodically erupts (Old Faithful)
Wells – a hole bored into the zone of saturation
A pump is needed
Cone of depression
Artesian wells – groundwater rises on its own under pressure and no pump is needed

17. Caverns A naturally formed underground chamber
Usually forms in limestone from carbonic acid dissolving the rock
Travertine – Calcium carbonate deposits
Stalactites, stalagmites, soda straws, curtains/ribbons, flowstone, etc
Karst topography – limestone areas with many caves and sinkholes (collapsed caves)