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Fresh water
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| habitat | An environment that provides the things a specific organism needs to live, grow, and reproduce. |
| ground water | Water that fills the cracks and spaces in underground soil and rock layers. |
| water cycle | The continual movement of water among earths atmosphere, oceans, and land surface through evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. |
| evaporation | The process by which molecules at the surface of a liquid absorb enough energy to change to a gas. |
| transpiration | The process by which water is lost though a planet's leaves. |
| precipitation | Any form of water that falls from clouds and reaches Earth's surface as rain, snow, sleet, or hail. |
| tributary | A stream or river that flows into a larger river. |
| watershed | The land area that supplies water to a river system. |
| divide | A ridge of land that separates one watershed from another. |
| reservoir | A lake that stores water for human use. |
| eutrophication | The buildup over time of nutrients in freshwater lakes and ponds that leads to an increase in the growth of algae. |
| permeable | Characteristics of a material that contains connected air spaces, or pores, that water can seep through easily. |
| impermeable | A characteristics of materials, such as clay and granite, through which water does not easily pass. |
| unsaturated zone | A layer of rocks and soil above the water table in which the pores contain air as well as water. |
| saturated zone | The area of permeable rock or soil in which the cracks and pores are totally filled with water. |
| water table | The top of the saturated zone, or depth, to the ground water under earths surface. |
| aquifer | An underground layer of rock or sediment that holds water. |
| artesian well | A well in which water rises because of pressure within the aquifer. |
| wetland | A land area that is covered with a shallow layer of water during some or all of the year. |