| A | B |
|---|
| erosion | The process by which water, ice, wind, or gravity moves weathered rock and soil. |
| sediment | Earth materials deposited by erosion. |
| deposition | Process in which sediment is laid down in new locations. |
| mass movement | Any one of several processes by which gravity moves sediment downhill. |
| runoff | Water that flows over the ground surface rather than soaking into the ground. |
| rill | A tiny groove in soil made by flowing water. |
| gully | A large channel in soil formed by erosion. |
| stream | A channel through which water is continually flowing downhill. |
| river | A large stream. |
| tributary | A stream that flows into a larger stream. |
| drainage basin | The land area from which a river and its tributaries collect their water. |
| divide | The ridge of land that separates one drainage basin from another. |
| flood plain | Wide valley through which a river flows. |
| meander | A looplike bend in the course of a river. |
| oxbow lake | A meander cut off from a river. |
| alluvial fan | A wide, sloping deposit of sediment formed where a stream leaves a mountain range. |
| delta | A landform made of sediment that is deposited where a river flows into an ocean or lake. |
| groundwater | Water that fills the cracks and spaces in underground soil and rock layers. |
| stalaCtite | A calcite deposit that hangs from the roof of a cave.HINT: Remember C for CEILING. |
| stalaGmite | A cone-shaped calcite deposit that builds up from the floor of a cave. HINT: Remember G for GROUND. |
| karst topography | A type of landscape in rainy regions where there is limestone near the surface, characterized by caverns, sinkholes, and valleys. |
| energy | The ability to do work or cause change. |
| potential energy | Energy that is stored and available to be used later. |
| kinetic energy | The energy an object has due to its motion. |
| abrasion | The grinding away of rock by other rock particles carried in water, ice, or wind. |
| load | The amount of sediment that a river or stream carries. |
| friction | The force that opposes the motion of one surface as it moves across another surface. |
| turbulance | A type of movement of water in which, rather than moving downstream, the water moves every which way. |
| fossil | The preserved remains or traces of living things. |
| paleontologist | A scientist who studies fossils to learn about organisms that lived long ago. |
| sedimentary rock | The type of rock that is made of hardened sediment. |
| petrified fossil | A fossil in which minerals replace all or part of an organism. |
| mold | A fossil formed when an organism buried in sediment dissolves, leaving a hollow area. |
| cast | A fossil that is a copy of an organism's shape, formed when minerals seep into a mold. |
| carbon film | A type of fossil consisting of an extremely thin coating of carbon on rock. |
| trace fossil | A type of fossil that provides evidence of the activities of ancient organisms. |
| evolution | The process by which all the different kinds of living things have changed over time. |
| extinct | Describes a type of organism that no longer exists anywhere on Earth. |
| scientific theory | A well-tested concept that explains a wide range of observations. |
| geomorphologist | A scientist who studies the changing of the Earth's surface. |
