Water Cycle and Types of Water VocabularyVocabulary

ConceptDefinition Visual Representation/Explanation

Water Cycle The continual movement of water among Earth’s

atmosphere, oceans, and land surface through

evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.

Precipitation Any form of water that falls from clouds and reaches

Earth’s surface.

Condensation The process by which molecules of water vapor

become liquid water.

Transpiration Evaporation of water from plant leaves.

Evaporation The process by which water molecules in liquid water

escape into the air as water vapor.

Runoff Water that flows over the ground surface rather than

soaking into the ground.

Groundwater Water that fills the cracks and spaces in underground

soil and rock layers.

Tributary A stream or smaller river that feeds into a main river.

Watershed The land area that supplies water for river systems.

Divide A ridge of land that separates one watershed

from another.

Habitat The place where an organism lives and where it

obtains all the things it needs to survive.

Reservoir A lake that stores water for human use.

Wetland A land area that is covered with a shallow layer of

water during some or all of the year.

Conservation The practice of using less of a resource so that it will not

be used up.

Permeable Characteristics of a material that is full of tiny,

connected air spaces that water can seep through.

Impermeable A characteristic of materials, such as clay and

granite, through which water does not easily pass.

Saturated Zone

A layer of permeable rock or soil in which the cracks and pores are totally filled

with liquid.

Unsaturated Zone

A layer of rocks and soil above the water table in

which the pores contain air as well as water.

Water Table The top of the saturated zone, or depth to the

groundwater under the Earth’s surface.

Spring A place where groundwater flows to the surface.

Aquifer An underground layer of rock or sediment that holds

water.

Artesian Well A well in which water rises because of the pressure

within the aquifer.

Geyser A fountain of water and stream that builds up

pressure underground and erupts at regular intervals.