River Basin and Water Cycle

Above is a picture of a river basin/drainage basin.

A drainage basin is actually a funnel which is collecting all the water,for example :rain water,snow melting etc. All the basins are seperated from basins which are next to it by a geographical barrier such as mountains,hills,valleys etc.

A river basin consists of:

tributaries-which are smaller rivers that flow into the main river

watershed-it is the highland area which is surrounding the basin,something like a border

source-it is where the river starts flowing in the river basin

confluence-it is the part where a tributary joins with another tributary or the main river

mouth-it is the place where the river connects with a lake,ocean,river,pool etc.

The river basin is affected by the water cycle.If the water cycle is affected and does not give water to the tributaries,the whole water basin will fall apart.

The water cycle

Key words for the water cycle

evaporation-the heat from the sun turns the water surface or water in the ground into water vapour

condensation-the water vapour turns the water vapour into water droplets and forms clouds

transpiration-the plants and the ground releases water vapour that goes in the air

precipitation-the condensed water vapour which falls down to the earth,mostly known as rain,snow,hail etc

surface runoff-the water moves across the land.The water will seep into the ground,go into reserviors or lakes etc

If you want to read more info about the water cycle or the drainage basin,here are some links that might help you :D

water cycle websites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_cycle

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle.html

drainage basin websites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drainage_basin

http://www.sln.org.uk/geography/schools/blythebridge/GCSERevisionRiversDB.htm (info about erosion also here)

Everything is typed shorter for easier understanding, i dont wanna bore you to death by typing long info.

Done by:Koh Wee Lee

Class:7 Kappa