Hydrosphere Terms

Please review these hydrosphere terms:

1. Hydrosphere - the water contained on the Earth
1. Oceanic Waters - Water found in the ocean
1. Ocean - One of the four large bodies of salt water on the earth.
2. Sea - a large area of salt water, smaller than an ocean, that is partly or completely enclosed by land (Mediterranean Sea)
3. Wave - a moving ridge or swell on the surface of a body of water
4. Current - a stream of water moving in a definite direction through the ocean; some are warm, some are cold
5. Tides - the rise and fall of sea-level which usually occurs twice a day because of the attraction of the sun and moon. Spring Tide - high tides when the sun and moon pull together; Neap Tide - low tide when the sun and moon pull against each other.
6. Bay - part of a body of water which reaches into the land, generally with a wide opening; smaller than a gulf
7. Gulf - extension of an ocean or a sea into the land (Gulf of Mexico)
8. Strait - a narrow waterway connecting two large bodies of water
9. Sound - a body of water separating one or more islands from the mainland
10. Harbor - a bay or inlet of water deep enough for anchoring a ship which provides protection from winds, waves, and currents
11. Iceberg - a large floating mass of ice detached from a glacier
12. Coral Reef - a ridge of rock or sand at or near the surface of water
13. Ocean floor - the bottom of the ocean, consisting of mountain, valleys, plains and trenches.
14. Continental Shelf - a shallow underwater plain forming a border around a continent, usually ending with a steep slope to the deep ocean floor
15. Continental Slope - the deep drop off after the continental shelf
16. Trench - a long, steep-sided, narrow depression in the ocean floor
17. Basin - a circular depression of the earth's surface; on the ocean floor
18. Mountain - a natural elevation of the Earth’s surface; rising from the ocean floor
19. Guyot - a raised plateau under the ocean, named after Arnold Guyot
2. Continental Waters - waters found on the continent
1. River / Stream - a large stream of water flowing through land
2. Source - the place where a river begins, usually in highlands
3. Up Stream - the direction from which a river flows
4. Down Stream - the direction toward which a river flows
5. Mouth - the place where a river flows into a larger body of water
6. Tributary - a river or stream that flows into a larger river
7. Delta - land deposited at the mouth of a river
8. Lakes - an inland a body of water, smaller than a sea; fresh water lake (with both inlet and outlet)or salt water lake (water entering with no outlet)
9. Reservoir - a lake where water is stored for future use; sometimes formed by a dam
10. Channel - a deep, narrow body of water connecting two larger bodies of water; the deeper part of a waterway
11. Canal - a man-made ditch for transportation or irrigation
12. Glacier - a large body of slowly moving ice
13. Ice Sheet - a glacier forming on an extensive area of relatively level land and flowing outward from its center
14. Ground Water - the water found beneath the surface of the ground; the source of water in springs and wells
3. Water Vegetation
4. Water Animals
5. Water Cycle
6. Oceanographer - one who studies the ocean