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catchment area

(Encyclopedia)catchment area or drainage basin, area drained by a stream or other body of water. The limits of a given catchment area are the heights of land—often called drainage divides, or watersheds—separat...

dew

(Encyclopedia)dew, thin film of water that has condensed on the surface of objects near the ground. Dew forms when radiational cooling of these objects during the nighttime hours also cools the shallow layer of ove...

artesian well

(Encyclopedia)artesian well, deep drilled well through which water is forced upward under pressure. The water in an artesian well flows from an aquifer, which is a layer of very porous rock or sediment, usually san...

viscosity

(Encyclopedia)viscosity, resistance of a fluid to flow. This resistance acts against the motion of any solid object through the fluid and also against motion of the fluid itself past stationary obstacles. Viscosity...

epithelium

(Encyclopedia)epithelium ĕpˌəthēˈlēəm [key], sheet of tissue that covers or lines the external and internal body surfaces. The epithelium is closely packed, has little intercellular material, and is lacking ...

leatherback

(Encyclopedia)leatherback, marine turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, found in tropical, subtropical, and temperate waters around the world. The largest of all turtles, it may reach a length of 71⁄2 ft (230 cm) and wei...

cross-laminated timber

(Encyclopedia)cross-laminated timber (CLT), manufactured wood panels that consist of layers of boards glued together under pressure with the grain of the boards in one layer running perpendicular to the grain in ad...

Çatalhöyük

(Encyclopedia)Çatalhöyük –hü– [key], Neolithic settlement on the Konya Plain in S Turkey that flourished c.6500–c.5800 b.c. The site, first excavated (1961–65) by British archaeologist James Mellaart, o...

eye

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Cross section of human eye eye, organ of vision and light perception. In humans the eye is of the camera type, with an iris diaphragm and variable focusing, or accommodation. Other types of ey...

mulch

(Encyclopedia)mulch, any material, usually organic, that is spread on the ground to protect the soil and the roots of plants from the effects of soil crusting, erosion, or freezing; it is also used to retard the gr...