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The effects of climate change on the water cycle have important negative effects on the availability of freshwater resources, as well as other water reservoirs such as oceans, ice sheets, the atmosphere and soil moisture. The water cycle is essential to life on Earth and plays a large role in the global climate system and ocean circulation.
These tupelo and cypress trees show the high-water mark of flooding. A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands [1] is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high discharge. [2]
Flood waters provide much needed water resources in arid and semi-arid regions where precipitation can be very unevenly distributed throughout the year and kills pests in the farming land. Freshwater floods particularly play an important role in maintaining ecosystems in river corridors and are a key factor in maintaining floodplain ...
The water cycle refers to the complex system by which water moves around the Earth. Water evaporates from the ground — including from lakes, rivers and plants — and rises into the atmosphere ...
Flood control channels are large and empty basins where surface water can flow through but is not retained (except during flooding), or dry channels that run below the street levels of some larger cities, so that if a flash flood occurs the excess water can drain out along these channels into a river or other bodies of water. Flood channels are ...
The flood pulse concept explains how the periodic inundation and drought (flood pulse) control the lateral exchange of water, nutrients and organisms between the main river channel (or lake) and the connected floodplain. [1] The annual flood pulse is the most important aspect and the most biologically productive feature of a river's ecosystem.
It can result in the formation of ripples and dunes, in fractal-shaped patterns of erosion, in complex patterns of natural river systems, and in the development of floodplains and the occurrence of flash floods. Sediment moved by water can be larger than sediment moved by air because water has both a higher density and viscosity.
It is important that while there are other contributing factors to such features in the landscape, rejuvenation is one of the major influences. As mentioned, when a river rejuvenates, it gains more energy and erodes vertically to meet its new base level. A river terrace is the remains of an old floodplain at a higher elevation than the present ...