Glossary of Geographic Terms taken from http

Glossary of Geographic Terms
taken from http://www.fhsu.edu/kga/lp/5/appena.html

Accretions: increase of land by natural build-up, for example, sand bars or flood plain.
Acre Foot: the volume of water required to cover one acre of land to a depth of one foot. The is amount is equivalent to 325,851 gallons.
Acre Inch: the volume of water required to cover one acre of land to a depth of one inch. The is amount is equivalent to 27,154 gallons.
Aggregation: the collecting of units or parts into a mass or whole.
Allocation: allot or assign as in allocating water by a water district.
Alluvial Aquifer: the alluvial deposits consist of poorly sorted sand, gravel, and cobbles and thin beds of silty clay. The alluvial sediments yield large amounts of water.

Alluvial Well: Nebraska Department of Natural Resource definition is, any well with a geological structure that shows it to be part of the stream. All alluvial wells are quick response wells but not all quick response wells are alluvial.

Alluvium: a deposit of sand or mud laid down by flowing water in river beds.
Aquiclude: layers of rock with impermeable zones.
Aquifer: an underground body of porous sand, gravel, or fractured rock filled with water, capable of supplying useful qualities of water.
Aquitard: layers of rock with low permeability.
Artesian well: a well in which the water level rises above the level of the aquifer and may flow at the surface. In a flowing well, water exits at the surface.
Avulsion: flood cuts of land, this does not change property lines.
Asian: relating to, or characteristic of the continent of Asia or its people.

Basin: low place in surface of land; often occupied by a body of water at the lowest point.; also, as used at this site, The Republican River Watershed within Nebraska. This includes both the surface water and groundwater.
Bedrock: the solid rock that underlies any unconsolidated sediment or soil. Limestone and sandstone are common types of bedrock in Kansas. Most Kansas bedrock is in formations of Cretaceous age or older.
Bilingual: knowing or using two languages.

Center Pivot Irrigation: irrigation using pipes and sprinkler heads.
Chemigation: injections of agricultural chemicals or fertilizer into irrigation water for distribution to farmlands through irrigation systems.
Condensation: the physical change of state in which a gas or vapor is transformed into a liquid, as in the formation of water droplets when water vapor cools.
Conservation Tillage: tillage practices which involve the least disturbance of the soil and provide plant residues on the surface reducing soil erosion through run-off.
Cone of depression: a cone-shaped depression in the water table around a well or a group of wells. "The cone is created by withdrawing ground water more quickly that it can be replaced.
Conservation: wise use of our natural resources.
Contamination: containing biological or mineral substances which creates unusable water.
CFS: cubic feet per second.

Depletion: loss of fluid from soil particles or an aquifer.
Depth to water: the depth of the water table below the earth's surface.
Ditch Irrigation: providing water for irrigation by transporting it to the fields through canals.
Drawdown: the decline in ground-water level caused by the withdrawal of water from an aquifer.
Dryland Farming: a method of farming practiced in subhumid regions that incorporates various techniques of water-saving practices such as minimum tillage and summer following. Dryland farming relies solely on growing season precipitation or water from precipitation stored in the soil profile during noncrop production periods.

Ecosystem: the interacting system of a biological community and its non-living environment.
Ethanol: an alcohol additive used to raise gasoline octane rating, eliminate engine knock, and sometimes reduce exhaust emission.
Evaporation: the process of a substance changing from a liquid to a gas by exposure to the air and/or heat.
Evapotranspiration: water that moves into the atmosphere from evaporation (from the surface of either land or water) and the transpiration of plants.
Exotic River: originates in water surplus zone and flows through a water deficit region, for example, Arkansas River or Colorado River.
Feedlot: a place where many cows are fed at one time.
Flood: a large flow of water covering the land.
Flood Irrigation: the act of running water over the top of the land, flooding the field.
Flow: movement of fluids.
Freshwater: water containing only small quantifies (generally less than 1,000 milligrams per liter) of dissolved minerals.
Grass Barriers: grass strips designed to stop silt from running directly into a body of water.
Ground water: water beneath the surface in the saturated zone.
Ground water Depletion: a lowered amount of water in granddaughter storage. (granddaughter use > granddaughter recharge resulting in a net loss of water in granddaughter storage)
Ground water Recharge: the addition of water to an aquifer.
Habitat: An area of land in which plants and animals live, grow, and reproduce.
Hydrologic cycle: the complete cycle that water can pass through, beginning as atmospheric water vapor, turning into precipitation and falling to the earth's surface, moving into aquifers or surface water, and then returning to the atmosphere via evapotranspiration.
Hydroponics: the growing of plants in water with essential chemicals, instead of in soil.
IGUCA: Intensive Ground Use Water Area.
Immigration: to come into a foreign country and take up permanent residence there.
Impermeable: rock layer is made of materials that permit water to pass only with difficulty or not at all; pores may not be connected or too small for water to be forced through them.
Infiltration: movement of water from the land surface into soil and rock.
Irrigation: any method of artificially adding water to crops.
Junior Water Rights: The water rights with the higher numbers (those applied for after the senior water rights) than the senior water right.
Landscape: a picture representing a view of natural inland scenery.

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Migration: to move from one place, locality, or region to another.
Migratory: to pass periodically from one region or climate to another for feeding or breeding.
Milo: a cereal type grain, which resembles corn in its growing form.
Molisoil: most common soil in Kansas.
Natural resources: things provided by nature for man's use.
NIMBY: Not In My Back Yard.
NRD: Natural Resource District, within Nebraska, these districts are given authority to govern the use of water.
Ogallala Aquifer: also known as the High Plains Aquifer which covers parts of Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas.

Penetration: when water disperses through rocks, soil, and sand particles.
Permeability: the capacity of porous rock for allowing movement of a fluid through it; depends on size and shapes of pores in a rock as well as the size, shape, and extent of connections between pore spaces.
Pivot: also know as a center pivot. this refers to both the sprinkler and to the field that the sprinkler covers.
Point of Diversion: where water is split off from the main body of water to divert it to other uses.
Porosity: volume of open space (pores) in a rock; determines the capacity of rock to absorb and store granddaughter.
Precipitation: water from the atmosphere that falls to the ground in the form of rain, sleet, snow, or hail.
Primary economic activity: mining a natural resouce
Quarter: one quarter of a section of land. generally 160 acres.

Quick Response Well: Nebraska Department of Natural Resource definition is, any well with one mile of the center of the nearest stream. This differs from an alluvial well in that the quick response well is defined by distance where an alluvial well is defined by geological substrate.

Rain: water vapor of the atmosphere falling in drops.
Recharge: the addition of water to granddaughter storage ether through natural processes or by artificial methods.
Reliction: gradual recession of water, leaving land permanently uncovered.
Retired Wells: irrigation wells that have been turned off and are no longer used.
Riparian Rights: prior to 1945, those who owned land adjacent to water bodies were entitled to the use of water.
River Alluvium Wells: wells drilled in the sponge of river edges.
Run-off: water that drains or flows of the surface of the land.

Safe Yield: the amount of water that can be removed from a source (aquifer, river, etc.) on a sustained basis without unacceptable depletion of the resource.
Saturated zone: area below the land surface where all the pores or fractures are filled with water.
Secondary economic activity: using or manufacturing with the primary resource.
Section: 640 acres.
Senior Water Rights: the water right with the lowest number (the oldest water right) in a group of water rights.
Silt: the buildup of sediments at points along the course of a river where the flow velocity decreases (e.g., upstream of a dam).
Slope: angle or slant of a surface or below ground.
Source Point: point where water originates.
Special Master: person appointed by the Supreme court to work Out water deals between the states of Kansas and Colorado.
Spring: the point at which ground water is naturally discharged at the earth's surface.
Surface water: water in rivers, ponds, and lakes.

Terrace: a Soil conservation practice in which ridges or steps are built on slopes to slow down runoff and increase soil moisture.
Tertiary Economic Activity: service industries such as governments, schools, restaurants, shops, medical services, etc.
Tilapia: tropical fish of mild taste, similar to orange roughie.
Tributary: flowing into a larger stream or a lake.

Unsaturated zone: area immediately below the land surface where pores or fractures contain both air and water.
Urban: situated in or dwelling in a city.

Vested Rights: established by law as permanent water rights.

Watershed: the region from which a river receives its supply of water.
Watershed District: a particular watershed region or locality, a watershed area
Water Appropriation Act: protects both the people's right to use Kansas water and the state's supplies of ground and surface water for the future.
Water Policy Decision (1945): all water in Kansas belongs to all of the people.
Water Pollution: a state of unhealthiness, impurity dirtiness of water caused by the deposition of harmful substances into the water.
Water Quality: the relative goodness of water.
Water Rights: right to draw upon a water supply.
Water Table: the top of the water surface in the saturated zone, the depth at which all of the pores are filled with water.
Water Transfer Act (1986): you must now apply now to move water into you area from another area.
Weather Modification: to attempt to change the current weather through man-made interventions.
Well: shafts dug into the ground to seek water or other minerals.
Wetland: land containing much soil moisture; swampy or boggy land.

Xeroscaping: dry-land landscaping.

Zone of Aeration: area in soil where all space between soil particles is filled with air.