Glossary of Terms
Abutment: the support system between the metal or cement structure of a bridge and the river’s bank.
Backwater: slow or stagnant water of the river held back by a rock or the force of the mainstream current along the
edges.
Barranca: a particularly steep bank made from water erosion along the edge of the river.
Beaver dam: the protecting dam of a beaver’s burrow made from trees the beaver has cut down, often located on
the banks of the river.
Best Management Practices: In this case, used to describe development techniques that help to naturalize and
enhance the environmental functions of a completed development.
Boil: turbulence in a river resulting from deep holes, channel changes, or underwater obstructions.
Brake: a thicket located in a low, flat marshy region that is composed of tall hollow reeds.
Burrow: a hole made in the ground or a hill by rabbits, moles, foxes, or other small animals and used as their
dwelling.
Channel: a confined flow of water defined by its natural or man-made banks.
Copse: a small stand of trees filled with short growth, such as a thicket of brushwood.
Cowbelly: a soft sediment layer found on the floor of slow moving creeks characterized by silt as fine as “a cow’s
belly.”
Cutbank: the outside bank in the bend of a stream that experiences erosion, found on the opposite side of a point
bar.
Delta: a flat, low-lying area located at the mouth of a river and created over many years by sediments deposited
when the current of the river mixes with stiller water.
Den: the abode of a wild animal, differs from a burrow in that it typically houses a larger animal such as a bear or
coyote.
Dolphin: a man-made marine structure that extends above the water level in a waterway and is not connected to
shore, in Chicago used to protect bridges.
Drain: a ditch dug for draining off excess water or a channel of water smaller than a creek.
Ecotone: the transition area between two or more distinct habitats.
Eddy: a swirling of water in a direction contrary to the main flow of the river.
Embouchure: the mouth of the river
Fan terrace: a fan shaped or conical embankment of loose material adjacent to a river that is not susceptible to
flooding.
Field: an area of cleared or open ground.
Fil du courant: the optimal navigation course on a river for a boat.
Flash flood: an event where too much rain falls on the ground for the river to safely channel it, often caused by a
series of slow moving thunderstorms.
Flatwater: the section of a river flowing smoothly over its own bed, only broken by obstacle or turbulence.
Floating island: a mass of decayed vegetation that is held together by interlacing roots
Floodway: a man made channel built adjacent to a river known to flood in order to provide a secondary course for
the water.
Ford: a shallow place in a river where one can cross by wading.
Freshet: a type of flood that is brought on suddenly by heavy rainfall or snowmelt.
Glade: a small open light clearing in a forest.
Gooseneck: a series of extremely tight bends in a river.
Grade: a change in the level of the landscape.
Green Infrastructure: Stormwater management techniques used to maintain or enhance the natural hydrology and
habitat of a development site.
Groundwater: water lying under the surface of the ground contained in spaces between rocks.
Grove: a small wood free of underbrush or a planted stand of nut or fruit trees.
Gully: a channel worn in the earth by a torrent of water carving out a deep ditch.
Habitat: The ecologic community where plants, animals, and resources interact to sustain life.
Headwaters: the water sources that meet to form a river.
High bank: a term used to distinguish a river’s higher bank from the parallel low bank closer to the river.
Hook: the acute hook-like bend in a river or stream.
Inlet: an arm stretching inland off a larger body of water.
Invasive plant species: Plant species that are not indigenous to an area and dominate native species by
monopolizing resources such as sun, water, soil, and nutrients.
Intermittent stream: a stream that flows only seasonally when the water table is high.
Islet: a small island.
Isthmus: a narrow strip of land linking two larger land masses and bordered on two sides by water.
Jetty: a structure, such as a pier, built out onto water, often built parallel to the bank of a river to control the shape
of the channel and prevent erosion.
Knoll: a small low hill distinctive for its round shape.
Lagoon: a shallow body of water located adjacent to a river, yet separated by a thin strip of land.
Laminar flow: the smooth and even flow of a river unimpeded by obstructions.
Landing: any convenient and safe place to come ashore from a river.
Levee: an embankment along a river that resists the overflow of a stream, can be natural or man made to control
flooding.
Lick: found alongside rivers and streams, salt licks are places where naturally occurring salt deposits attract animals.
Meander: the winding curves of a river that flows through soft materials.
Meander scar: a shallow loop of former channel caused by a river that has eroded to form a straighter path, if filled
with water this is known as an oxbow lake.
Middle ground: sedimentary deposits forming a mound in the middle of a tidal channel where water flows on
either side, often only visible at low tide.
Mudflat: a large flat expanse of mud periodically exposed by the channel of the river, often bad smelling, which
attracts many birds that eat the insects trapped there.
Narrows: a constriction in a river that exhibits increased turbulence and swiftness of water.
Native plant species: Plant species that are indigenous to an area. These species have evolved in conjunction with
the local environment and are well suited to provide habitat and water filtration and storage functions.
Natural levee: a loam or sand levee formed alongside a river by continual flooding that confines the normal current
in its channel.
Nickpoint: a broken gradient of river bed that causes an abrupt or gradual drop which may form a waterfall.
Overbank deposit: the silt, sand, and gravel left by floodwaters on the land adjacent to a river.
Oxbow lake: see Meander scar.
Pan: a shallow depression in the ground filled with standing water.
Peninsula: a landmass that is almost entirely surrounded by water.
Perennial stream: a stream that flows year round in a well defined channel, also a permanent spring.
Permeable surface: Any ground treatment that allows for surface water to soak into the ground through the
pavement. Alternatively, traditional methods of ground treatment such as non-porous concrete does not allow for
permeability.
Pitch: a strip of land bounded by water that rises upward or downwards from the viewer’s point of view.
Point: a projection of dry land into the surrounding river.
Point bar: a crescent shaped low lying bank of sand and gravel lying opposite a cutbank in a winding stream.
Pool and Riffle: submarine depressions and bars in the ground caused by turbulence in the water.
Portage: a path along which canoes or other small boats are carried between navigable bodies of water.
Race: a current of water flowing quickly through a narrow or restricted channel.
Riffle: small rapid formed by water flowing over sediment.
Riparian: The land surrounding a body of water up to 50 feet from the waters edge.
River capture: the capture of the flowing waters of a river or stream by another after the erosion of a land divide.
River hole: a transient spot in the swift flow of the river where the current spirals downwards so strongly it can trap
a boat or a person.
Runoff: Water that flows across a surface without penetrating into the ground or other subsurface.
*Scroll: tracks in the ground of a point bar left by the movement of the river.
Shallows: the rim of quiet water that decreases swiftly in depth along the edges of a river.
Shingle: a rough, dreary and gravelly shore of loose water-worn pebbles.
Shoals: shallow areas in the bed of a river that disturb the flow.
Slackwater: a stillness or stagnancy in a usually regular flow of water.
Stillwater: part of a river where no flow or motion of the current is discernible and the water is still.
Stormwater: Water that is released on a site from rain events.
Sustainability: Undergoing changes that do not stress the environment in a way that will undermine the ability of
the land to provide for future uses for development, environment, and resource use.
Tailwater: the water downstream from a dam or other obstruction to the flow of the river.
Terrace: a nearly level area of sand, clay, gravel, and silt left behind when a river excavates its bed.
Turbulent flow: the erratic and chaotic flow of a river caused by rocks, holes, or other obstructions changing the
path of the water, opposite of laminar flow.
Watershed: The land area that drains to a specific body of water.
Wharf: a substantial structure of wood or stone built along the river’s edge so ships can pull up alongside.