Stream+Order7

I.) "Size of Stream" Stream order measures the relative size of streams. Stream sizes range from first order (the smallest) all the way up to twelfth-order (largest, and about the size of the Amazon River). Over 80% of the streams on Earth are headwater streams (first and second-order streams). While water molecules travel down headwater streams toward the mouth of a river the stream gradually increase their width and depth. The amount of water they give off also increases. The size or order of a stream relates directly to the organisms that inhabit that ecosystem. For example, first-order streams are home to large insect populations and few, if any fish. Plants and game fish often dominate third- and fourth-order streams. Larger streams contain diverse populations of algae,fish, and other aquatic organisms (such as beavers).

Size of a first-order stream:

Size of a twelfth-order stream:

How can I tell the stream order of a stream?

MATH OF STREAM ORDER First-order + First-order = Second Order First-order + Second-order = Second Order Second-order + Second-order = Third-Order

First-order and above streams are perennial (they have water all year long)

II.) "Basics of Stream Order" - The stream order hierarchy was officially ontroduced in 1952 by Arthur Newell Strahler. He Is A Professor at Columbia University in New York City, in his article “Hypsometric (Area Altitude) Analysis of Erosional Topology.” The article, clarified the order of streams as a way to define the size a stream with water in its bed non stop through out the entire year and a stream with water in its bed only part of the year.  III.) "Importance of stream order" Stream order also helps people like biogeographers and biologists in determining what types of life might be present in the waterway. Stream order has also been used in geographic information systems (GIS) in an effort to map river networks. This is the idea behind the River Continuum Concept, a model used to determine the number and types of organisms present in a stream of a given size. It is used by a GIS, a biogeographer, or a hydrologist, stream order is an effective way to classify the world’s waterways. It is a crucial step in understanding and managing the many differences between streams of different sizes. This method of classifying stream size is important to geographers, geologists, hydrologists and other scientists.

 IV.) "Parts of a Stream"

** Source: ** The spring from which the stream originates, or other point of origin of a stream ** Headwaters: ** The part of a stream or river proximate to its source. The word is most commonly used in the plural where there is no single point source. ** Confluence: ** The point at which the two streams merge. If the two tributaries are of approximately equal size, the confluence may be called a fork. ** Run: ** A somewhat smoothly flowing segment of the stream. ** Riffle: ** A segment where the flow is shallower and more turbulent. ** Channel: ** A depression created by constant erosion that carries the stream's flow. ** Floodplain: ** Lands adjacent to the stream that are subject to flooding when a stream overflows its banks. ** Stream bed: ** The bottom of a stream. ** Gauging station: ** A point of demarkation along the route of a stream or river, used for reference marking or water monitoring. ** Thalweg: ** The river's longitudinal section, or the line joining the deepest point in the channel at each stage from source to mouth. ** Wetted perimeter: ** The line on which the stream's surface meets the channel walls. ** Nickpoint: ** The point on a stream's profile where a sudden change in stream gradient occurs. ** Waterfall or cascade: ** The fall of water where the stream goes over a sudden drop called a nickpoint; some nickpoints are formed by erosion when water flows over an especially resistant stratum, followed by one less so. The stream expends kinetic energy in "trying" to eliminate the nickpoint. ** Mouth: ** The point at which the stream discharges, possibly via an estuary or delta, into a static body of water such as a lake or ocean.
 * Spring: ** The point at which a stream emerges from an underground course through unconsolidated sediments or through caves. A stream can, especially with caves, flow aboveground for part of its course, and underground for part of its course.
 * Pool:** A segment where the water is deeper and slower moving.