Watershed Vocabulary
Lakes, ponds, streams and rivers are examples of this.
What is surface water?
Hazardous materials coming into contact with surface water
What is surface water pollution?
This happens when water gets too many nutrients causing too many plants to grow.
What is Eutrophication?
This is a forested wetland
What is a swamp?
Ridges and hills that separate watersheds are called
What is a Divide?
Pollution that comes from many different sources across a watershed and is not easily traced back to a single origin.
What is NonPoint Source Pollution?
Naturally occurring substance such as a mineral, forest, water and land that are used by humans.
What is a natural resource?
The largest use of ground water
What is irrigation?
This is a wet and spongy ground that is made up of decomposing vegetation that also forms when glaciers created depressions.
What is a Bog?
The variety of plant and animal species within a watershed.
What is Biodiversity?
Another term for watershed, referring to the land area that contributes water to a particular stream or river system.
What is Drainage?
A basin-like formation defined by high points and divides that descend into lower elevation.
What is a Watershed?
When pollutants come from a single location such as dumping chemicals into a river.
What is point source pollution?
This wetland is dominated by grasses, rushes, or reeds.
What is a Marsh?
The process by which soil and rock are worn away by the action of water, wind, or other geological agents.
What is Erosion?
The movement of water, either from precipitation or irrigation, over the land surface and into bodies of water within the watershed.
What is Runoff?
Water that is stored underground in soil and rock formations. It can also contribute to the flow of rivers and streams within a watershed.
What is Groundwater?
The rise or fall in temperature in a natural water source.
What is thermal pollution?
This is a large area of nutrient-rich shallow water in which dead plants do not fully decay and it results in plants growing in a saturated peat.
What is a Fen?
Particles of soil, sand, and other materials that are carried by water and deposited in rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water within the watershed.
What is Sediment?
What is the area of ground water affected by pollution?
What is a Plume?
Areas in oceans, lakes, or rivers where there isn't enough oxygen in the water for fish and other aquatic life to survive.
What is a Dead Zone or Hypoxic Zone?
Release of liquid hydrocarbons (oil) into the water
What is oil pollution?
More than 50% of people get their water from this
What is ground water?