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Arroyo (creek)
An arroyo ( (from Spanish ''arroyo'' (, "brook"))) or wash is a dry watercourse that temporarily or seasonally fills and flows after sufficient rain. Flash floods are common in arroyos following thunderstorms. It is akin to the Catalan rambla, which stems from the Arabic ''rámla'', "dry river". Similar landforms are referred to as '' wadi'' (in North Africa and Western Asia), ''chapp'' in the Gobi, ''laagate'' in the Kalahari, ''donga'' in South Africa, ''nullah'' in India, ''fiumare'' in Italy, and '' dry valley'' in England. The desert dry wash biome is restricted to the arroyos of the southwestern United States. Arroyos provide a water source to desert animals. Types and processes Arroyos can be natural fluvial landforms or constructed flood control channels. The term usually applies to a sloped or mountainous terrain in xeric and desert climates. In addition: in many rural communities arroyos are also the principal transportation routes; and in many urban communi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flood Control Channel
Flood control channels are large and empty basins where surface water can flow through but is not retained (except during flooding), or dry channels that run below the street levels of some larger cities, so that if a flash flood occurs the excess water can drain out along these channels into a river or other bodies of water. Flood channels are sometimes built on the former courses of natural waterways as a way to reduce flooding. Channelization of this sort was commonly done in the 1960s, but is now often being undone, with "rechannelization" through meandering, vegetated, porous paths. This is because channellizing the flow in a concrete chute often made flooding worse. Water levels during a flood tend to rise, then fall, exponentially. The peak flood level occurs as a very steep, short spike; a quick spurt of water. Anything that slows the surface runoff (marshes, meanders, vegetation, porous materials, turbulent flow, the river spreading over a floodplain) will slow some of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Watercourse
A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to by a variety of local or regional names. Long, large streams are usually called rivers, while smaller, less voluminous and more intermittent river, intermittent streams are known, amongst others, as brook, creek, rivulet, rill, run, tributary, feeder, freshet, narrow river, and streamlet. The flow of a stream is controlled by three inputs – surface runoff (from precipitation or meltwater), daylighting (streams), daylighted subterranean river, subterranean water, and surfaced groundwater (Spring (hydrology), spring water). The surface and subterranean water are highly variable between periods of rainfall. Groundwater, on the other hand, has a relatively constant input and is controlled more by long-term patterns of pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also borders the state of Texas to the east and southeast, Oklahoma to the northeast, and shares Mexico-United States border, an international border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua (state), Chihuahua and Sonora to the south. New Mexico's largest city is Albuquerque, and its List of capitals in the United States, state capital is Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe, the oldest state capital in the U.S., founded in 1610 as the government seat of Santa Fe de Nuevo México, Nuevo México in New Spain. It also has the highest elevation of any state capital, at . New Mexico is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, fifth-largest of the fifty states by area, but with just over 2.1 million residents, ranks List of U.S. states and terri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doña Ana County, New Mexico
Doña Ana County () is a county located in the southern part of the New Mexico, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 219,561, which makes it the second-most populated county in New Mexico. Its county seat is Las Cruces, the second-most populous municipality in New Mexico after Albuquerque, with 111,385 as of the 2020 U.S. Census. The county is named for Doña Ana Robledo, who died there in 1680 while fleeing the Pueblo Revolt. Doña Ana County is one of only two counties in the United States to have a diacritical mark in its name, the other being Coös County, New Hampshire. Notably, both Doña Ana County and Coös County lie on short international borders, the former with Mexico and the latter with Canada. Doña Ana County consists of the Las Cruces, NM Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the El Paso–Las Cruces, TX–NM Combined Statistical Area. It borders Luna, Sierra, and Otero counties in New Mexico, and El Paso County ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Farming
Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to live in the cities. While humans started gathering grains at least 105,000 years ago, nascent farmers only began planting them around 11,500 years ago. Sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle were domesticated around 10,000 years ago. Plants were independently cultivated in at least 11 regions of the world. In the 20th century, industrial agriculture based on large-scale monocultures came to dominate agricultural output. , small farms produce about one-third of the world's food, but large farms are prevalent. The largest 1% of farms in the world are greater than and operate more than 70% of the world's farmland. Nearly 40% of agricultural land is found on farms larger than . However, five of every six far ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Topsoil
Topsoil is the upper layer of soil. It has the highest concentration of organic matter and microorganisms and is where most of the Earth's biological soil activity occurs. Description Topsoil is composed of mineral particles and organic matter and usually extends to a depth of 5-10 inches (13–25 cm). Together these make a substrate capable of holding water and air which encourages biological activity. There are generally a high concentration of roots in topsoil since this is where plants obtain most of their vital nutrients. It also plays host to significant bacterial, fungal and entomological activity without which soil quality would degrade and become less suitable for plants. Bacteria and fungi can be essential in facilitating nutrient exchange with plants and in breaking down organic matter into a form that roots can absorb. Insects also play important roles in breaking down material and aerating and rotating the soil. Many species directly contribute to the he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alkali
In chemistry, an alkali (; from the Arabic word , ) is a basic salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a soluble base has a pH greater than 7.0. The adjective alkaline, and less often, alkalescent, is commonly used in English as a synonym for basic, especially for bases soluble in water. This broad use of the term is likely to have come about because alkalis were the first bases known to obey the Arrhenius definition of a base, and they are still among the most common bases. Etymology The word ''alkali'' is derived from Arabic ''al qalīy'' (or ''alkali''), meaning (see calcination), referring to the original source of alkaline substances. A water-extract of burned plant ashes, called potash and composed mostly of potassium carbonate, was mildly basic. After heating this substance with calcium hydroxide (''slaked lime''), a far more strongly basic substance known as ''caustic potash ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saline Seep
A saline seep is seep of saline water, with an area of alkali salt crystals that form when the salty water reaches the surface and evaporates. Various types of water movement form saline seeps, including capillary action from a water table under the surface, and a water table being brought to the surface in a flow. Habitat Biota adapted to saline conditions, often endemic, thrive in the specialized habitat. Agriculture Saline seeps are considered detrimental for agriculture, as they may reduce yields and restrict growth. See also *Salinity *Soil salinity * Soil salination *Brackish water *Spring (hydrosphere) A spring is a natural exit point at which groundwater emerges from an aquifer and flows across the ground surface as surface water. It is a component of the hydrosphere, as well as a part of the water cycle. Springs have long been important fo ... References {{agri-stub Springs (hydrology) Salt flats Hydrogeology Soil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valley
A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over a very long period. Some valleys are formed through erosion by glacial ice. These glaciers may remain present in valleys in high mountains or polar areas. At lower latitudes and altitudes, these glacially formed valleys may have been created or enlarged during ice ages but now are ice-free and occupied by streams or rivers. In desert areas, valleys may be entirely dry or carry a watercourse only rarely. In areas of limestone bedrock, dry valleys may also result from drainage now taking place underground rather than at the surface. Rift valleys arise principally from earth movements, rather than erosion. Many different types of valleys are described by geographers, using terms that may be global in use or else applied only locally ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Groundwater
Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an ''aquifer'' when it can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in rock become completely saturated with water is called the ''water table''. Groundwater is Groundwater recharge, recharged from the surface; it may discharge from the surface naturally at spring (hydrosphere), springs and Seep (hydrology), seeps, and can form oasis, oases or wetlands. Groundwater is also often withdrawn for agricultural, municipal, and industrial use by constructing and operating extraction water well, wells. The study of the distribution and movement of groundwater is ''hydrogeology'', also called groundwater hydrology. Typically, groundwater is thought o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Desert
A desert is a landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions create unique biomes and ecosystems. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the land surface of the Earth is arid or Semi-arid climate, semi-arid. This includes much of the Polar regions of Earth, polar regions, where little precipitation occurs, and which are sometimes called polar deserts or "cold deserts". Deserts can be classified by the amount of precipitation that falls, by the temperature that prevails, by the causes of desertification or by their geographical location. Deserts are formed by weathering processes as large variations in temperature between day and night strain the Rock (geology), rocks, which consequently break in pieces. Although rain seldom occurs in deserts, there are occasional downpours that can result in flash floods. Rain falling on hot rocks can cause them to shatter, and the resulting frag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
