Difference between revisions of "English Glossary"
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Revision as of 17:36, 24 March 2015
| English | Explanation |
| Alluvial deposits | Sediments deposited by modern rivers and streams |
| Alluvial river | River with a bed consisting of sediments deposited by this river and still actively remolded by erosion and sedimentation |
| Alluvium | Sediment deposits |
| Anabranched river | River consisting of a network of channels separated by large islands that are usually vegetated |
| Anadromous | Adjective indicating fish that spawn in fresh water after spending most of their lives and becoming mature in the sea. See also |
| Aquifer | Water-bearing layer of porous subsurface material that can yield usable quantities of water |
| Backswamps | Wetlands in the lowest areas of the valley floor away from the main channel, storing fine-grained suspended-load sediments |
| Backwater effect | Influence from downstream conditions on water levels and flow velocities |
| Bank | Lateral channel boundary |
| Bankfull discharge | Discharge at which water levels reach the top of the river banks |
| Bar | Submerged or emerged bedform of sand, gravel, or other unconsolidated material, built in shallow water and much longer than the water depth |
| Base flow | Sustained low flow in a stream, mostly fed by groundwater discharge |
| Bathymetry | Spatial distribution of water depths below an agreed plane of reference water levels. As this plane has a slope in rivers, bathymetry should not be confused with |
| Bed level | Elevation of bottom of river or stream above a horizontal datum |
| Bedload | Sediment transported by rolling, sliding or jumping over the bed |
| Bed-material load | Transport of sediment that is also found in the river bed. It can be transported as both and |
| Bedrock | Consolidated subsurface material that underlies soils or other unconsolidated material |
| Bed shear stress | Tangential forces per unit bed area exerted by the flow on the river bed, as a measure of flow strength. See also and |
| Bed topography | Spatial distribution of bed elevations with respect to a horizontal datum, not to be confused with |
| Bench | Sediment deposition unit along a bank face. Also |
| Benthic | Living at or in the bottom of a fresh or salty body of water. Opposed to |
| Benthos | Plants and animals that live in, on or attached to the bottom of water bodies |
| Berm | Sediment deposition unit along a bank face. Also |
| Biogeographical region | Relatively large area that contains characteristic assemblages of natural communities and species that are the product of broad environmental influences and common evolutionary and immigration history. See |
| Bivalve | A mollusk with two shells, for instance a clam or a mussel |
| Boulders | Rock fragments larger than 200 mm in diameter |
| Braided river | River consisting of a network of smaller channels separated by small and often temporary non-vegetated islands called braid bars |
| Buffer strip | Vegetation along a stream left intact after logging or land clearing, preventing fine sediment from entering into the stream |
| Cascade | Stream bed covered with disorganized boulders in steep confined channels |
| Catadromous | Adjective indicating fish that spawn in the open sea after spending their lives and becoming mature in fresh water. See also |
| Catchment | Area of land drained by a river and its tributaries. Also or . Catchment is a spatial unit within the multi-scale of hydromorphological processes and forms |
| Chute channel | Channel across a bar or floodplain, shortcutting the flow in the main channel |
| Clay | Mineral soil particle smaller than 0.002 mm in diameter |
| Cobbles | Rock fragments between 63 mm and 200 mm in diameter |
| Crenal | Zone of stream source in longitudinal habitat zonation, also . See also and |
| Crevasse | Breach in natural levee |
| Crevasse splay | Local accumulation of sand or gravel, deposited by water escaping from the channel through a |
| Crossing | Relatively shallow zone between two consecutive bends in navigable rivers. Also |
| Cross-over | Relatively shallow zone between two consecutive bends in navigable rivers. Also |
| Crustacean | Invertebrate animal (without backbone) with a hard exoskeleton (external support or protection of the body) and at least five pairs of jointed legs on the thorax |
| Current | Movement of water in a water body |
| Datum | Reference elevation level, for instance mean sea level |
| Degradation | In hydromorphology: Lowering of bed elevation by erosion or removal of sediment. In ecology: Damaged condition of habitat |
| Discharge | Volume of water that flows through a section per unit of time |
| Drainage basin | Area of land drained by a river and its tributaries. Also or . is a spatial unit within the multi-scale of hydromorphological processes and forms |
| Dune | Bedform with a height in the order of tens of percent of the water depth. Two-dimensional dunes have long crests perpendicular to the flow. Three-dimensional dunes have short crests. |
| Ecoregion | See and . |
| Emergent plant | Plant rooted in shallow water with much of the stem and most of the leaves above the water |
| Eurytopic | Adjective for aquatic species that tolerate both stagnant and flowing water conditions. See also and |
| Floodplain | Land bordering a river or a stream, built up of sediments from overbank flows and subject to inundation at floods |
| Flow resistance | Forces opposing the discharge of water. A low flow resistance implies high flow velocities and small water depths. A high flow resistance implies low flow velocities and high water depths. |
| Flow velocity | Distance travelled by flowing water per unit time, as a measure of flow strength. See also and |
| Geomorphic unit | Area containing a landform created by erosion or deposition inside or outside the river channel. Also , or . Geomorphic unit is a spatial unit within the multi-scale of hydromorphological processes and forms |
| Glide | Zone of relatively shallow flow as an intermediate feature between shallower riffles and deeper pools, similar to the somewhat steeper |
| Gravel | Rock fragments between 2 and 63 mm in diameter |
| Habitat | Place where a particular species or life stage lives and grows. Essentially, it is the (mostly physical) environment that surrounds a species population or age group |
| Hydraulic roughness | Parameter governing |
| Hydraulic unit | Spatially distinct patch of relatively homogeneous surface-flow and substrate character. Hydraulic unit is a spatial unit within the multi-scale of hydromorphological processes and forms |
| Impoundment | Structure built to maintain a desired water level |
| Infauna | Benthic animals that burrow into the substrate |
| Invertebrates | Animals without a backbone |
| Island | Landform surrounded by areas of the channel bed and emerged at bankfull stage |
| Krenal | Zone of stream source in longitudinal habitat zonation, also . See also and |
| Landscape unit | Portion of a catchment with similar landscape morphological characteristics. Also physiographic unit. Landscape unit is a spatial unit within the multi-scale of hydromorphological processes and forms |
| Levee | See . Levee can also refer to a man-made dike along the Loire river in France or along North-American rivers that belonged to French Louisiana between 1682 and 1803, such as the Mississippi river |
| Limnetic | Related to the environment of lakes and ponds. Adjective for aquatic macroinvertebrates that prefer standing water |
| Limnophilic | Adjective for aquatic species that prefer stagnant water. See also and |
| Lotic | Related to fast-moving water, such as in most streams and rivers |
| Macroinvertebrates | Animals without backbones (“invertebrates”) that are large enough to be seen with the naked eye (“macro”, larger than 0.5 mm) |
| Macrophyte | All aquatic higher plants, mosses and characean algae, but excluding single-celled phytoplankton and diatoms |
| Macrozoobenthos | Aquatic macroinvertebrates living at or in the bottom |
| Meandering river | River with a single channel and a larger than 1.5 |
| Measure | See and |
| Mesohabitat | Spatially distinct patch of relatively homogeneous patches serving species or life stages as . See |
| Microhabitat | Spatially distinct patch of uniform substrate, plant cover or physical structure which is relevant for species, e.g. as spawning or feeding substrate |
| Mitigation measure | Activity to reduce the impact of a pressure |
| Mollusks | Unsegmented invertebrate animals (without a backbone) that possess an external or vestigial calcium carbonate shell |
| Morphological unit | See |
| Mud | Loose slushy fine sediment consisting of clay, silt, fine sand, and organic material. Often water-formed and deposited on the bottom of lakes, rivers and estuaries |
| Natural levee | Elevated feature along river channel, composed of sediments deposited by overbank flows leaving the main channel |
| Oxbow lake | Lake formed when a river meander is cut off from the main channel |
| Pebble | Gravel particle |
| Pelagic | Living and feeding in the water column. Opposed to |
| Physiographic unit | See |
| Phytoplankton | Microscopic plants that float or drift almost passively in water |
| Point bar | Bar along the inner bank of a river bend |
| Pool | Relatively deep, still section in a river or stream. Pools alternate with or in gravel-bed rivers and with or in navigable rivers |
| Potamal | Zone of lowland rivers in longitudinal habitat zonation. See also or and |
| Pothole | Deep circular hole scoured in bedrock as a result of abrasion by transported particles trapped in the hole |
| Pressure | In hydromorphology: Force per unit area exerted on a surface by the weight of the water above that surface. In the Water Framework Directive: Direct environmental effect of a driver such as agriculture, industry, hydropower generation or navigation |
| Rapids | Stream bed with boulders organized in irregular transverse lines (ribs), in steep confined channels |
| Reach | Section of river along which boundary conditions are sufficiently uniform for the river to maintain a near-constant internal set of process-form interactions. Reach is a spatial unit within the multi-scale of hydromorphological processes and forms |
| Region | Relatively large area underleying similar broad influences of climate, relief, tectonic processes, etc. Also or . Region is a spatial unit within the multi-scale of hydromorphological processes and forms. It typically contains characteristic assemblages of natural communities and species. |
| Restoration measure | Activity to improve the status of degraded waters, be it by improving water quality or by changing hydromorphological conditions |
| Rheophilic | Adjective for aquatic species that prefer flowing waters. See also and |
| Rhithral | Zone of streams in longitudinal habitat zonation, identical to the zone of trout and grayling. See also or and |
| Ridge | Old incorporated in the floodplain as the channel migrated away |
| Riffle | Zone of relatively shallow and rapid flow in gravel-bed rivers |
| Riparian | Related to zone adjacent to a stream or river with a high density, diversity, and productivity of plant and animal species compared to nearby uplands |
| Ripple | Small bedform of a few centimetres high, with a long crest perpendicular to the flow |
| River element | Part of river environment including individuals and patches of sediment, plants, wood, etc. Also . River element is a spatial unit within the multi-scale of hydromorphological processes and forms. |
| River sector | See |
| River segment | Section of river subject to similar valley-scale influences and energy conditions. Also river sector. River segment is a spatial unit within the multi-scale of hydromorphological processes and forms |
| Run | Zone of relatively shallow flow as an intermediate feature between shallower riffles and deeper pools, similar to the somewhat flatter |
| Sand | Mineral soil particle between 0.063 mm and 2.0 mm in diameter |
| Scour | Local removal of sediment from the stream bed by flowing water |
| Scroll bar | Elongated raised feature on top of a |
| Sediment | Solid matter eroded, transported or deposited in rivers |
| Sediment yield | Amount of sediment eroded per unit land area in a river catchment |
| Silt | Mineral soil particle between 0.002 mm and 0.063 mm in diameter |
| Sinuosity | Ratio between the distance measured along the channel and the distance measured in the direction of the overall planimetric course or meander belt axis |
| Specific stream power | per unit channel width, as a measure of flow strength |
| Step | Steep accumulation of boulders and cobbles across a channel, generally with a pool downstream that is scoured by flow plunging over the step |
| Stream power | Rate of energy dissipation per unit downstream length, as a measure of flow strength. See also and |
| Stressor | Pressure in the sense of a direct environmental effect of a driver |
| Subreach | See |
| Suspended load | Sediment transported in the water column, kept from settling by upward turbulent motions of the water. It can consist of both and |
| Swale | Depression between adjacent that are old |
| Terrace | Abandoned inactive floodplain perched above contemporary channel and floodplain |
| Thalweg | Line connecting the deepest points of consecutive cross-sections |
| Thread | Channel in river typologies. A single-thread river has only one channel in each cross-section. A multiple-thread has more than one channel in each cross-section |
| Wandering river | River with a single channel that locally splits into two channels, as a transitional form between meandering rivers and braided rivers |
| Washload | Sediments much finer than those in the river bed, transported without dependence on flow strength |
| Water body | Distinct and significant volume of water |
| Water depth | Height of water column. Elevation difference between water level and bed level |
| Water level | Elevation of water surface above a horizontal datum |
| Watershed | Area of land drained by a river and its tributaries. Also or . is a spatial unit within the multi-scale of hydromorphological processes and forms |
