Drainage Basin System — Revision Notes | KS3 Geography

Brain dump

Before you look at anything else, write down everything you can remember about this lesson: key words, facts, examples. Spelling doesn't matter. Then see which of the 24 key terms you remembered.

2:00

Everything you remember

Key terms

Drainage basin: The area of land drained by a river and its tributaries
Input: Water coming into the drainage basin system
Precipitation: Rain, snow, sleet and hail
Output: Water leaving the drainage basin system
Evaporation: Water turning into vapour and leaving the basin, for example off wet leaves
Transpiration: Water given off by plants through their leaves
Evapotranspiration: Evaporation and transpiration added together
Open system: A system where water crosses the boundary in both directions
Stores: Places where water is held for a while
Flows: The ways water moves through the basin
Interception: Plants catching falling rain before it reaches the ground
Throughfall: Water dripping down through the leaves to the ground
Stemflow: Water trickling down the branches and trunk
Infiltration: Water soaking from the surface into the soil
Surface runoff: Water flowing across the surface of the ground
Surface storage: Water sitting in puddles and ponds
Soil moisture: Water held in the soil
Throughflow: Water moving sideways through the soil, downhill towards the river
Percolation: Water sinking from the soil into the rock below
Groundwater: Water held in the tiny spaces inside rocks under the ground
Groundwater flow: Water moving very slowly through rock towards the river
River channel: The river itself, which is also a store of water
Channel flow: Water moving along the river towards its mouth
Saturated: Soil where every gap is full of water, so no more rain can soak in

What this lesson covers

How well do you know each one? Be honest: red means go back over it.

Identify the inputs and outputs of a drainage basin
Explain why a drainage basin is called an open system
Describe how interception, throughfall and stemflow slow rain down
Compare the fast and slow routes water takes to reach a river
Explain what can send rain down the fast route over the surface
Suggest how land use can make river flooding more or less likely

Test yourself

Cover the answer, say it out loud, then check the full quiz on the lesson page.

What is it called when rainwater soaks into the soil?
Which of these is NOT a store in a drainage basin?
After weeks with no rain, what mostly keeps a river flowing?

Topic quiz

20 questions on this topic only — not mixed with anything else, one at a time.

Question 1 of 20

Spelling challenge

Read the definition, then type the correct spelling of the term. Uses the same terms as above.