This page gathers the 64 dictionary entries belonging to the domain “Hydrology”, as labelled by Wiktionary. Each word leads to its full entry: definitions, etymology, pronunciation, examples.
- aeration zone noun A portion of the lithosphere in which the functional interstices of permeable rock or earth are not filled by water under hydrostatic…
- afflux noun The rise in water level (above normal) on the upstream side of a bridge or obstruction caused when the effective flow area at the…
- anabranching adj Splitting around mid-channel islands that are roughly three times the width of the channel at full discharge.
- armor noun The naturally occurring surface of pebbles, rocks or boulders that line the bed of a waterway or beach and provide protection against…
- artesian adj Of a water supply, rising to the surface under its own hydrostatic pressure.
- avulsion noun Movement of soil during a flood, or during a change in the course of a river, especially when a resulting change of land ownership is…
- bank noun An edge of river, lake, or other watercourse.
- bar noun A ridge or succession of ridges of sand or other substance; especially
- bedload noun The (large particles of) sediment carried along the bottom of a river or stream, rather than in the current.
- brackish adj Of water, salty or slightly salty, as a mixture of fresh and sea water, such as that found in estuaries.
- catchment area noun An area from which water drains into a particular lake, river, etc.; the catchment area of a large river includes its tributaries.
- celerity noun The speed with which a perturbation to the flow propagates through the flow domain.
- crack noun An expanding circle of white water surrounding the site of a large explosion at shallow depth, marking the progress of the shock wave…
- cryptorheic adj Draining through invisible, subterranean outflows.
- debouche verb To discharge into a larger body of water such as a lake or sea.
- detention basin noun A depression in the ground installed on a river or stream, which temporarily fills with rainwater that would otherwise cause flooding or…
- detention time noun The amount of time that water is retained in a basin or vessel, or the elapsed time of the water entering a settling basin until it flows…
- discharge noun The volume of water transported by a river in a certain amount of time, usually in units of m³/s (cubic meters per second).
- distributary noun A stream of water (either natural or artificial) that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel.
- divide noun The topographical boundary dividing two adjacent catchment basins, such as a ridge or a crest.
- downgradient adj a location that receives groundwater from another location; similar to downstream.
- dynamic pressure noun The pressure exerted upon a body in contact with a fluid due to the relative motion between the two.
- endorheic adj Of a basin or lake: having no outflow to an external body of water such as a river or ocean, and only losing water through evaporation or…
- establishment of the port noun A datum on which the tides are computed at the given port, obtained by observation. It is the interval between the Moon's passage over the…
- euxinic adj Having restricted hydrologic circulation, leading to stagnant or anaerobic conditions.
- foil noun Clipping of hydrofoil.
- gelbstoff noun The optically measurable component of dissolved organic matter in water, which primarily occurs naturally from tannin released from…
- ice dam noun An obstruction to the flow of a river caused by the flow of a glacier across its course.
- ice jam noun A collection of ice that forms in a river and blocks the flow of water, causing the water level to rise.
- infiltration noun process by which water on the ground surface enters the soil.
- infiltration basin noun A depression in the ground which temporarily fills with rainwater that would otherwise cause flooding or erosion, which empties its…
- jump noun An abrupt increase in the height of the surface of a flowing liquid at the location where the flow transitions from supercritical to…
- juvenile water noun Water that originates from within the Earth's interior, typically formed or released during magmatic (volcanic) processes, and has not…
- lake retention time noun A calculated quantity expressing the mean time that water, or some dissolved substance, spends in a particular lake.
- lens noun A convex layer of fresh groundwater that floats above the denser saltwater, usually found on small coral or limestone islands and atolls.
- Mediterranean outflow noun The current of dense, warm, and salty water that flows from the Mediterranean Sea into the Atlantic Ocean through the Strait of Gibraltar.
- mudpot noun A type of acidic hot spring, or fumarole, with a limited amount of water.
- phreatic zone noun the part of an aquifer, below the water table, in which relatively all pores and fractures are saturated with water
- piezometric adj Of or relating to a measurement of water pressure inside an aquifer
- polynya noun A naturally formed transient area of open water surrounded by sea ice, especially in polar or subpolar seas.
- ponding noun The excessive accumulation of water in low-lying areas, remaining 48 hours after the end of rainfall under conditions ordinarily conducive…
- problemshed noun A region particularly relevant to certain ecological and socio-economic problems, especially when viewed as a unit of management and…
- regime noun A set of characteristics.
- retention basin noun A depression in the ground containing a permanent pool of water that is replenished by rainwater which would otherwise cause flooding or…
- riverbed noun The path where a river runs, or where a river once ran; the bottom earthen part of a river, not including the riverbanks.
- scroll bar noun A sandbar on the inside of a riverbend.
- sedimented adj Of a watercourse, having much sediment.
- seiche noun A short-term standing wave oscillation of the water level in a lake, or other confined body of water such as a fjord, characteristic of its…
- setup noun The tendency of persistent wind to produce higher water levels at the downwind shore of a body of water and lower at the upwind shore.
- slick noun A rapidly-expanding ring of dark water, resembling an oil slick, around the site of a large underwater explosion at shallow depth, marking…
- sofar channel noun The depth in the oceans, usually around 750 m below the surface, where the speed of sound is the lowest, causing it to transmit sound waves…
- squirt noun The whole system of flow in the vicinity of a source.
- still water noun Surface water with no current, especially when stagnant.
- throughflow noun The movement of water horizontally beneath the land surface, usually when the soil is completely saturated.
- time of concentration noun The amount of time required for water to flow from the most remote point in a watershed to the watershed outlet, as a measure of the…
- tributary noun A natural water stream that flows into a larger river or other body of water.
- upgradient adj a location that is the source groundwater for another location; similar to upstream.
- water balance noun The equilibrium between the input and output of water in a specific area or system over a given time period.
- water column noun A notional column of water from the surface to the bottom in a natural setting, notable for the differences in physical and chemical…
- water twist noun An eddy or whirlpool in a stream.
- water year noun The timespan between October 1 and September 30 of the next year, differing from the calendar year because part of the precipitation that…
- watershed noun The topographical boundary dividing two adjacent catchment basins, such as a ridge or a crest.
- wetted area noun The total surface area of an aircraft.
- yield noun The volume of water escaping from a spring.