Earth’s Changing Surface
Vocabulary
EQ: What vocabulary do I need to understand how the
Earth’s Surface changes?
sediment
• Sediment – tiny grains of broken
down rock
runoff
• Rainwater that
can’t be absorbed
by the ground and
runs over the top
of it
downstream
Water that is
moving toward
where the
stream empties
into a bigger
body of water
• verb -- To
put or drop
in a place
• noun – the
thing that
is put
somewhere
deposit
landform
• Natural feature of the Earth’s surface,
like a hill or mountain
erosion
• The way sediment is moved from one
place to another
deposition
• The way eroded material is dropped
in a new
place
floodplain
• The flat area around a river that gets
flooded when there’s too much rain
groundwater
• Water that’s beneath the surface of the
ground
shoreline
• The
place
where
land
and a
body of
water
meet
beach
• Part of a shoreline that’s made up of
sediment that’s been dropped in a
new place
sandbar
• A low ridge of sand deposited near a
shoreline
Barrier island
• A long ridge of
sand or
narrow island
that lies
parallel to the
shore
delta
• A fan shaped area of sediment
dropped by a river or stream in water
Alluvial fan
• A fan shaped area of sediment
dropped by a river or stream on dry
land
gradient
• The steepness of a slope – change
in elevation over a distance
load
• The rocks and sediment carried by a
stream
discharge
• The amount of water that flows
through a stream at one time
channel
• The path a stream follows
meanders
• Curves and bends in a stream
channel
Oxbow lake
• A curve in a stream that has been cut
off and makes a crescent-shaped lake
current
• Water that moves like a stream in a
larger body of water
Sea cave
• Large holes cut into rock at the
shoreline by waves
Sea cliff
• A place where waves have eroded
and cut away the bottom of a large
chunk of rock