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( Stream)
A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream-banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as brook, beck, burn, creek, crick, kill, lick, rill, river syke, bayou, rivulet, or run. Streams are important as conduits in the water cycle, instruments in groundwater recharge, and they serve as corridors for fish and wildlife migration. The biological habitat in the immediate vicinity of a stream is called a riparian zone. Given the status of the ongoing Holocene extinction event, streams play an important corridor role in connecting fragmented habitats and thus in conserving biodiversity. Stream is an umbrella term used in the scientific community for all flowing natural waters, regardless of size. The study of streams and waterways in general is known as surface hydrology and is a core element of environmental geography. In the United Kingdom, there are several regional names for a stream In North America Streams typically derive most of their water from precipitation in the form of rain and snow. Most of this water re-enters the atmosphere by evaporation from soil and water bodies, or by the evapotranspiration of plants. Some of the water proceeds to sink into the earth by infiltration and becomes groundwater, much of which eventually enters streams. Some precipitated water is temporarily locked up in snow fields and glaciers, to be released later by evaporation or melting. The rest of the water flows off the land as runoff, the proportion of which varies according to many factors, such as wind, humidity, vegetation, rock types, and relief. This runoff starts as a thin film called sheet wash, combined with a network of tiny rills, together constituting sheet runoff; when this water is concentrated in a channel, a stream has its birth.
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Stream Articles
New income streams for personal trainers by John Doyle
Anyone who has ever been to a gym will often have stared in envy and wonder at the Adonis like men (and ladies) with the ‘PERSONAL TRAINER’ Tee-shirt straining to contain the toned and muscular frame beneath. The dedica...
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