2: RIVER TERM EXERCISES

SOURCE The area of highland which forms the edge of a drainage basin.
WATERSHED The place where a river starts, usually in high ground. Can be in the form of a spring, lake or glacier.
TRIBUTARY The space between the banks of a river where it flows.
DRAINAGE BASIN / CATCHMENT AREA The point where a small stream flows into the main channel, or where 2 small streams join.
MOUTH The area of a river near the mouth which is affected by the tides.
CHANNEL An area of land drained by a river and its tributaries.
CONFLUENCE The end of a river's course, where it flows into the sea or a lake.
ESTUARY A small stream which flows into a larger one, adding water to it and making it bigger.

Match the term on the left with the correct definition from the right.

The water in the oceans is evaporated again, so the cycle begins once more.

As it cools, the water vapour condenses to form clouds.
The hot air containing this water vapour rises and cools. These clouds are then moved towards the land by prevailing winds.
The rain that falls to the ground either soaks into the soil and rocks and goes underground, or flows over the surface. This water is later lost back to the atmosphere from leaf surfaces as transpiration.
Underground water slowly moves towards the oceans, or reappears on the surface as a spring. The sun's energy heats any water surface e.g the surface of the oceans, and causes the water to evaporate.
Water on the surface runs downhill as surface runoff and eventually flows as rivers. The clouds rise over the land and this causes rain.
The rivers run down-slope to the oceans. As the rain falls towards the earth's surface, some of it is caught (intercepted) by vegetation.

Need to cut out the terms, and then rearrange them into a circle

Arrange them into the sequence that they would occur - starting with the oceans as no. 1, and ending up back there with no. 12.

RETURN TO RIVERS PAGE