endorheic meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

endorheic

adj

UK /ˌɛndə(ʊ)ˈɹiːɪk/ · US /ˌɛndoʊˈɹiɪk/

Etymology PIE word *h₁én From English endo- (prefix meaning ‘internal, inside, within’) + Ancient Greek ῥέω (rhéō, “to flow, gush, stream”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *srew- (“to flow, stream”)) + English -ic (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining’ to forming adjectives).

Geography, Hydrology, Natural sciences 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 seepage into the ground.

[I]n some cases channels leading towards the sea may exist in an endorheic region, in which, however, there is so little rain that the entire load in the water-courses is lost through evaporation before it can reach the mouths of the channels. On the other hand all closed lakes of the kind now being considered must lie in endorheic regions.1937, Collected Papers: Osborn Zoological Society, Yale University, volume 19, New Haven, Conn.: Osborn Zoological Society, Yale University, →OCLC, page 94:
In the floor of the Rift Valley most of the streams are affected by the tectonic disturbances and are mostly fault-guided besides being endoreic.1971, Francis F. Ojany, “Drainage Evolution in Kenya”, in S[imeon] H. Ominde, editor, Studies in East African Geography and Development, Berkeley; Los Angeles, Calif.: University of California Press, →ISBN, page 138, column 2:

4 more examples

The calanoid species more frequent in the Pyrenees is Diaptomus cyaneus, species with a relict occurrence in Dalmatia, endorreic and litoral lagoons of the western Mediterranean countries and frequent in the Pyrenees and in the North African Atlas.1981, Maria-Rosa Miracle, “Biogeographica del Zooplàncton dels Llacs dels Pirineus [Biogeography of the Zooplankton from the Lakes of the Pyrenees]”, in Biogeografia de la Mediterrània Occidental [Biogeography of the Western Mediterranean] (Treballs de la Institució Catalana d’Història Natural [Works of the Catalan Institute of Natural History]; 9), Barcelona: Institució Catalana d’Història Natural, →ISBN, summary, page 147:
In extreme conditions of dryness, desert arises which does not properly exist in Brazil since, according to most geomorphologists, desertification only occurs under endorrhoeic conditions, that is, with the salinization of river basins.1984 J. Murça Pires "The Amazonian forest" p. 583 in "THE AMAZON Limnology and landscape ecology" Ed. H. SIOLI ISBN-13:978-94-009-6544-7
In other cases, the basin may be large but the water-supply so low that there is no outflow and water leaves only by evaporation. The catchment-derived water-supply, in evaporating, leaves salts and the basin becomes an endorheic (internally drained) salt lake.1998, Brian Moss, “Lakes, Pools and Other Standing Waters: Some Basic Features of Their Productivity”, in Ecology of Fresh Waters: Man and Medium, Past to Future, 3rd edition, Malden, Mass.; Oxford, Oxfordshire: Blackwell Publishing, →ISBN, page 198:
During the Pleistocene, the Ajusco closed the fluvial drainage to form the endoreic basin, which initiated sediment accumulation that eventually covered more than half of the valley [...].2002, Guadalupe de la Lanza Espino, José Luis García-Calderón, “Historical Summary of the Geology, Climate, Hydrology, Culture, and Natural Resource Utilization in the Basin of Mexico”, in Mark E. Fenn, L. I. de Bauer, Tomás Hernández-Tejeda, editors, Urban Air Pollution and Forests: Resources at Risk in the Mexico City Air Basin (Ecological Studies; 156), New York, N.Y.: Springer-Verlag, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 5:

Coordinate terms: cryptorheic