| Webster's Online Dictionary |
| Expressions | Domain | Definition | |
| Ephemeral stream | Environment | A channel that carries water only during and immediately following rainstorms. Sometimes referred to as a dry wash. (references) | |
| Ephemeral stream | Forestry | Streams that contain running water only sporadically, such as during and following storm events. Ephemeral streams with a definable channel are considered “seasonally flowing” or intermittent when they show evidence of annual scour or deposition. Ephemeral streams without a definable channel are considered swales. (references) | |
| Ephemeral stream | Geological | A stream drainage that is usually dry and fills with water only during brief episodes of rainfall. Many desert streams ephemeral. (references) | |
| Ephemeral stream | Geology | A stream that flows briefly and only in direct response to local precipitation, and whose channel is always above the water table. (references) | |
| Ephemeral stream | Mining | 1: A stream or portion of a stream that flows only in direct response to precipitation. The stream channel is poorly defined and is above the water table at all times. (references) | |
| 2: A stream, or reach of a stream, that flows only in direct response to precipitation. It receives no protracted supply from melting snow or other source, and its channel is, at all times, above the water table. (references) | |||
| Ephemeral stream | Water | A stream or part of a stream that flows only in direct response to precipitation; it receives little or no water from springs, melting snow, or other sources; its channel is at all times above the water table. (references) | |
| Ephemeral Stream – Swale | Forestry | A shallow, trough-like depression in the landscape that may be hydraulically connected to stream channels downslope. Swales are sometimes referred to as those ephemeral channels having an undefinable channel and no evidence of scour or deposition. Upslope precipitation, as rainfall or snowmelt, is generally concentrated in swales and directed towards definable stream channels as subsurface flow. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | Top | ||
