Water terms starting with C

286 terms

"Controlled low strength material (CLSM) Also known as flowable fill or cement-slurry backfill, a mixture of pozzolan, Portland cement, water, coarse aggregate, and occasionally soil, typically…
Cairn A mound of stones erected as a memorial or marker.
Caisson A box or chamber used in construction work under water. A structure or chamber which is usually sunk or lowered by digging from the inside.
Calcite Light-colored mineral composed of calcium carbonate that often fills veins in igneous rocks and forms the sedimentary rock limestone.
Caldera (crater) Large circular depression formed by explosion or collapse of a volcano.
Calibration the set of operations which establish, under specified conditions, the relationship between values indicated by a measuring instrument or measuring…
Camber The amount a tire is tilted in or out from vertical. Described in degrees, either positive or negative.
Canal A channel, usually open, that conveys water by gravity to farms, municipalities, etc.
Canal headworks The beginning of a canal.
Canal prism The shape of the canal as seen in cross section.
Candidate species See threatened, endangered and sensitive species.
Capability The maximum load that a generating unit, power plant, or other electrical apparatus can carry under specified conditions for a given period of time…
Capable fault An active fault that is judged capable of producing macro-earthquakes and exhibits one or more of the following characteristics: (1) Movement at or near…
Capacity Your ability to make your mortgage payments on time. This depends on your income and income stability (job history and security), your assets and savings…
Capillarity (1) The degree to which a material or object containing minute openings or passages, when immersed in a liquid, will draw the surface of the liquid above…
Capillary action (capillarity) The rise or movement of water in the interstices of a soil or rock due to capillary forces.
Capillary attraction (capillary force) The tendency of water to move into fine spaces, as between soil particles, regardless of gravity.
Capillary forces The molecular forces which cause the movement of water through very small spaces.
Capillary Fringe The soil area just above the water table where water can rise up slightly through the cohesive force of capillary action.
Capillary fringe zone The zone above the free water elevation in which water is held by capillary action.
Capillary head The potential, expressed in head of water, that causes the water to flow by capillary action.
Capillary migration (capillary flow) The movement of water by capillary action.
Capillary movement Movement of underground water in response to capillary attraction. See capillary action.
Capillary Potential The work required to move a unit mass of water from the reference plane to any point in the soil column.
Capillary rise The height above a free water elevation to which water will rise by capillary action.
Capillary water Underground water held above the water table by capillary attraction. Water subject to the influence of capillary action.
Capillary Zone The soil area just above the water table where water can rise up slightly through the cohesive force of capillary action.
Capital Costs The amount of money needed to purchase equipment, buildings, tools, and other manufactured goods that can be used in production.
Capital investment A general term used to identify any money amount which is to be considered as an investment as opposed to an annual expense.
Carnivore Any flesh-eating or predatory organism.
Carry over The quantity of water which continues past an inlet.
Cartography Art and science of graphically representing the features of the Earth's surface; synonymous with map making.
Casing A pipe lining for a drilled hole. The material that is installed in wells to prevent the collapse of the walls of the bore hole, to prevent pollutants…
Catastrophe A sudden and great disaster causing misfortune, destruction, or irreplaceable loss extensive enough to cripple activities in an area.
Catch At a recreational fishery, refers to the number of fish captured, whether they are kept or released.
Catchment Area An area having a common outlet for its surface runoff (also see Drainage Area or Basin, Watershed).
Catchment basin A topographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet; a watershed.
Cathode The negative pole or electrode of an electrolytic cell, vacuum tube, etc., where electrons enter (current leaves) the system; the opposite of an anode.
Cathodic Protection A method of preventing oxidation of the exposed metal in structures by imposing between the structure and the ground a small electrical voltage.
Cation A positively charged ion.
Caulk The material used to seal joints.
Caution Stage Same as alert stage.
Cavitation A process that occurs during the formation of the blastocyst and establishes the polarity of embryonic cells.
Cavitation damage Damage caused when partial vacuums formed in a liquid by a swiftly moving solid body (e.g. a propeller) pit and wear away solid surfaces (e.g.
Cellular gravity dam. See hollow gravity dam.
Celsius (C), (°C) Unit of temperature. Degrees Celsius equals (5/9)x(degrees Fahrenheit-32).
Central flyway An important international migration route for many birds.
Centralized Automated Data Acquisition System (CADAS) A system of two minicomputers in NWSH that interrogates LARCs and DARDCs by telephone every 6 hours and transmits the data to AFOS via HADS.
Centrifugal pump A pump that moves water by centrifugal force developed by rapid rotation of an impeller.
Certification signature Certification signatures are those of the persons who co-facilitated the risk analysis.
Certified water right A State-issued document that serves as legal evidence that an approved application has been physically developed and the water put to beneficial use.
Cfs-Day The volume of water discharged in twenty four hours, with a flow of one cubic foot per second is widely used; 1 cfs-day is 24 x 60 x 60 = 86,000 cubic…
Chamfer To bevel or slope an edge or corner.
Channel The bed of a stream or river. This can also refer to a submerged stream or river channel in a reservoir.
Channel (watercourse) An open conduit either naturally or artificially created which periodically, or continuously contains moving water, or forms a connecting link between two…
Channel Inflow Water, which at any instant, is flowing into the channel system form surface flow, subsurface flow, base flow, and rainfall that has directly fallen onto…
Channel Lead An elongated opening in the ice cover caused by a water current.
Channel margin deposits Narrow sand deposits which line channel banks.
Channel Routing The process of determining progressively timing and shape of the flood wave at successive points along a river.
Channelization The modification of a natural river channel; may include deepening, widening, or straightening.
Check dam A small dam designed to retard the flow of water and sediment in a channel, used especially to control soil erosion.
Check structure A structure used to regulate the upstream water surface and control the downstream flow in a canal.
Check valve Any device which will allow fluid or air to pass through it in only one direction.
Checked signature Checked signatures verify that all probability estimates, inputs and outputs and their distributions, were entered correctly into event trees, and that…
Chimney Drain A vertical or inclined layer of pervious material in an embankment to facilitate and control drainage of the embankment fill.
Chipping Loosening of shallow rock by light blasting or air hammers.
Chironomid Group of two-winged flying insects who live their larval stage underwater and emerge to fly about as adults.
Chisel plowing Cropland preparation by a special implement (chisel) that avoids complete inversion of the soil (as occurs with conventional moldboard plowing).
Chlorination The application of chlorine to water, generally for the purpose of disinfection, but frequently for accomplishing other biological or chemical results…
Chute A racetrack straightaway.
Cipolletti weir (trapezoidal weir) A contracted weir of trapezoidal shape in which the sides of the notch are given a slope of 1 horizontal to 4 vertical.
Circle of influence The circular outer edge of a depression produced in the water table by the pumping of water from a well. See cone of influence.
Circuit A device, or system of devices, that allows electrical current to flow through it and allows voltage to occur across positive and negative terminals.
Circuit breaker After the stock market crash of 1987, stock and commodities exchanges established a system of trigger-point rules known as circuit breakers.
Circuit mile For single circuit electric power transmission lines, circuit miles are equal to geographic miles or pole miles.
Cirque Bowl-like depression carved into a mountaintop by ice at the head of a glacier.
Cistern A small tank (usually covered) or a storage facility used to store water for a home or farm. Often used to store rain water.
Civil Defense Agency State and/or local agency responsible for emergency operations, planning, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery for all hazards.
Cladophora Filamentous green alga.
Clam shell gate High pressure regulating gate consisting of two curved leaves which open and close over the end of a conduit.
Class (pipe and fittings) The working pressure rating of a specific pipe for use in water distribution systems which includes allowances for surges.
Clay A very fine-grained rock or mineral fragment of any composition that has a diameter of less than 0.002 mm.
Clay size That portion of the soil finer than 0.002 mm (0.005 mm in some cases).
Clean Water Act See Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948.
Clearance Clearance is the first half of the process that completes your order to buy or sell a security.
Clearing The registration and settlement of a trade that includes provisions for margin requirement and performance guarantee.
Climate The prevailing or average weather conditions of a geographic region.
Climatic year Continuous 12-month period during which a complete climactic cycle occurs.
Closed Basin A basin draining to some depression or a pond within its area, from which water is lost only by evaporation or percolation.
Closed Basin Lake Flooding Flooding that occurs on lakes with either no outlet or a relatively small one. Seasonal increases in rainfall cause the lake level to rise faster than it…
Coarse gravel protection Gravel generally placed in a layer upon a finished surface to protect the finished surface from deterioration or erosion.
Coastal Flooding Flooding that occurs from storms where water is driven onto land from an adjacent body of water.
Coastal Planning Areas Distinct geographic locations subject to site-specific, ongoing management and/or regulatory planning within legally defined, fixed boundaries that…
Coastal Waters In the Great Lakes region, the waters within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States consisting of the Great Lakes, their connecting waters…
Coastal Zone Management Act National law encouraging states to develop coastal management programs. The act establishes a method for the federal government to approve states´ plans…
Coaster gate A rectangular gate similar in construction and appearance to the tractor gate except sealing is accomplished in much the same way as a ring seal gate.
Coating The protective material applied to the outer surface of a material, frequently metalwork.
Cobble (cobblestone) A rock fragment, usually rounded or semirounded, with an average dimension between 3 to 12 inches; will pass a 12-inch screen, but not a 3-inch screen.
Coefficient of compressibility The slope of a one-dimensional compression curve relating void ratio to effective stress.
Coefficient of consolidation A coefficient that relates the change in excess pore pressure with time to the excess pore pressure diffusion in the soil mass in terms of soil mass and…