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Precipitation entering a source area that is not lost to infiltration or evapotranspiration flows through the source area and enters the channel at the channel’s head. Source areas and the hillslope areas associated with channels are differentiated by source areas draining through the channel head, while the associated hillslope areas drain ...
Stream gradient may change along the stream course. An average gradient can be defined, known as the relief ratio, which gives the average drop in elevation per unit length of river. [4] The calculation is the difference in elevation between the river's source and the river terminus (confluence or mouth) divided by the total length of the river ...
If the arrival of the water at the soil surface is less than the infiltration capacity, it is sometimes analyzed using hydrology transport models, mathematical models that consider infiltration, runoff, and channel flow to predict river flow rates and stream water quality.
Valley – Low area between hills, often with a river running through it; Vale – Low area between hills, often with a river running through it; Wadi – River valley, especially a dry riverbed that contains water only during times of heavy rain; Waterfall – A point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop
Other terms for a drainage basin are catchment area, catchment basin, drainage area, river basin, water basin, [3] [4] and impluvium. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] In North America, they are commonly called a watershed , though in other English-speaking places, " watershed " is used only in its original sense, that of the drainage divide line.
In science and engineering, hydraulic conductivity (K, in SI units of meters per second), is a property of porous materials, soils and rocks, that describes the ease with which a fluid (usually water) can move through the pore space, or fracture network. [1]
It also determines how much work the channel can do, for example, in moving sediment. All else equal, a river with a larger hydraulic radius will have a higher flow velocity, and also a larger cross sectional area through which that faster water can travel. This means the greater the hydraulic radius, the larger volume of water the channel can ...
A tortuous river (meander of Nowitna River, Alaska) Tortuosity is widely used as a critical parameter to predict transport properties of porous media, such as rocks and soils. But unlike other standard microstructural properties, the concept of tortuosity is vague with multiple definitions and various evaluation methods introduced in different ...