Watersheds Vocabulary

An area of land that drains water, sediment and dissolved materials to a common receiving body or outlet.

• water table

• biodiversity

• tributary

• watershed

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-1

NGSS.MS-ESS2-4

The high ground where precipitation first collects and flows downhill in tiny trickles too small to create a permanent channel; where spring water flows from

an aquifer and starts streams.

• wetlands

• headwaters

• biodiversity

• water table

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-4

A low-lying area where the soil is saturated with water at least seasonally, and supports plants adapted to saturated soils.

• headwaters

• aquifer

• wetlands

• tributary

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-1

NGSS.MS-LS2-3

NGSS.MS-LS2-4

A generally flat, low-lying area adjacent to a stream or river that is subjected to inundation during high flows.

• floodplain

• aquifer

• water table

• groundwater

A stream that flows into a larger stream or other body of water.

• biodiversity

• aquifer

• tributary

• ripartian zone

The surface of the subsurface materials that are saturated with groundwater in a given vicinity.

• water table

• aquifer

• watershed

• groundwater

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-4

Water occurring under the surface of the land, in saturated soil or aquifers,

other than underflow of a surface water river or stream.

• water table

• biodiversity

• groundwater

• permeable

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS3-1

An underground reservoir of water that rests in a layer of sand, gravel, or rock that holds the water in pores or crevices.

• headwaters

• biodiversity

• water table

• aquifer

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS3-1

The number and variety of living things in an environment.

• aquifer

• biodiversity

• water table

• permeable

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-2

NGSS.MS-LS2-5

Water pollution that comes from a combination of many sources rather than a single outlet.

• aquifer

• biodiversity

• point source pollution

• non-point source pollution