Key Terminologies
Alluvial material: Material brought by river.
Alluvial terrace or Bar: Central high area of doab which has mature type of soil (fine loamy). It
is 10 to 15 meters high separated from old flood plain by a slope called scarp or bluff.
Alluvial Fans: They are found along foot of Kirthar Mountains in Sindh. During rainy season hill
torrents (sudden flow of water) bring lot of silt, sand, gravel and rock material. At foot hill torrent
slowdowns and deposit the material. Torrent split in many channels spread over 2 to 4 miles forms
a sharp of Chinese fan called alluvial fans.
Alluvial Cone: An alluvial fan with steep slope.
Basin: Natural or artificial depression in land like wash basin.
Braided Channel: A steam with a wide, shallow channel split in two or more channels due to
hurdle in the path. Split channels merge (join) again.
Boulder: Any large, detached, generally rounded mass of rock.
Catchment Area: The total area drained by a river and its tributaries.
Doab: The land between two adjacent rivers is known as doab or interfluves.
Drainage: The natural runoff (flow) of water from an area by streams and rivers.
Delta: It is the mouth of the river. River is divided into number of distributaries (channels) before
joining sea called Delta.
Glacier: A large mass of snow over huge area formed by consolidation of snow falling.
Gradient: Slope.
Gully: A narrow channel set up in earth by the action of water.
Gorge: A rocky walled, steep (sharp) sided deep narrow river valley.
Hamun: Shallow Salt Lake with inland drainage found in Baluchistan Plateau.
Levees: They are naturally built river bank by slow deposition of silt along sides.
Meander: Curves in the natural course (path) of a river known as meander.
Mangrove swamp: Trees grown in tidal mud in delta.
Oxbow Lake: The small horse shoe shaped lake which is formed by the separation of a meander
form its main stream is known as oxbow lake.
Plateau: It is large stretch of highland which is practically at the same height above sea level. It
descends on all sides to lower land.
Pass: A route over or through mountain.
Ravine: A small, narrow valley with steep sides, larger than a gulley.
Rugged: Uneven, rough and irregular surface.
Relief: It is the degree of unevenness or land form.
River Bed: The channel in which river flow.
River Basin: All area drained by river.
Runoff: All the water flowing from drained area. Flow of water.
Silt: Fine particles larger than clay.
Shale: A fine grained sediment rock formed largely by hardening of clay.
Swamp: Wet and spongy land saturated with water.
Terrain: An area of land in respect of its physical characteristics or conditions.
Tributary: A stream or river flowing into large river.
Tidal Flat: An area of sand or mud uncovered at low tide.
Undulating: Wavy form of land.
Image Resources for these terms