Surface Water Movement

Lesson 1

Focus Question

1. How does wind, water, and ice shape the landscape?

2. How does rain water get into this underground cave?

3. What happens to surface water that does not soak into the ground?

New Vocabulary

1. Stream load
2. Suspended load
3. Bedload
4. Dissolved load
5. ppm
6. Carrying capacity

7. Discharge
8. Flood
9. Floodplain
10. Natural Levees
11. Crest
12. Storm Surge

Stream Load

• Stream load- material that a stream carries
• 3 types – Suspended load, bedload and dissolved load

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Stream Load

Materials in suspension -

• Suspended load - method of transport for all particles small enough to be held up by the turbulence of a stream’s moving water.
• Silt, clay, and sand
• More rapid = larger

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Stream Load

Bedload

• Bed load- materials the stream can roll or push along the bed of the stream
• consists of sand, pebbles, and cobbles
• Erodes riverbed
• faster = larger

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Stream Load

Materials in solution

• Dissolved load – minerals dissolved in stream
• water dissolves small amounts of the minerals from rocks it moves over
• Measured in ppm= parts per million
• 10 parts solute for every million parts of soln.

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Stream Carrying Capacity

• Carrying capacity- ability of a stream to transport material
• depends on both the velocity and the amount of water moving in the stream.

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Stream Carrying Capacity

• Discharge -measure of the volume of water that flows past a location w/in a time.
• Discharge =

(width) X (depth) X (velocity)

Stream Carrying Capacity

• ↑ Discharge = ↑ Carrying capacity
• Heavy precip. = ↑velocity & ↑Volume
• ↑precip= ↑ erosion & ↑widening & deepening

Floods

• Flood- water spills over the sides of a stream’s banks onto the adjacent land.

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Floods

• Floodplain- broad, flat area that extends out from a stream’s banks

Floods

• Floodplain- broad, flat area that extends out from a stream’s banks

Floods

• floodwater deposits sediment.
• Natural levees- sediment accumulates along the edges of a river

Floods

Stages of Floods

1. Water enters stream

2. Water reaches crest

- Crest- highest point in stream

Floods

Stages of Floods

3. Flood stage- water level above stream bank

- Small flooding upstream

- intensive flooding downstream

Storm Surge – Ocean water floods inlands during hurricanes

Flood Monitoring and Warning Systems

• Affects 100 million people worldwide 🡪 14 billion/yr in damage
• areas prone to severe flooding= warning systems from NWS & U.S.G.S.
• Satellites & 9200 gaging stations help provide warnings

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Flood Monitoring and Warning Systems

• Flood warnings & emergency plans = safe evacuation before flood.

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