Waterway - Any narrow pathway of water that is constantly moving.
Seaway - A salt-water waterway.
Brook - A very small natural waterway, smaller than a stream.
Stream - A small natural waterway, larger than a brook, but smaller than a creek.
Creek - A medium natural waterway, larger than a stream. Often a tributary to a river.
River - A natural stream of water of considerable volume. Larger than all other waterways.
Canal - An artificial waterway, used for navigation, draining, or irrigating land.
Wash - a shallow creek or the dry bed of a waterway.
Branch - A waterway that flows into another, usually larger, waterway.
Tributary - A waterway (larger than a branch) that flows into another, usually larger, waterway.
Distributary - A waterway branch flowing away from the main stream of the waterway.
Anabranch - A diverging branch of a waterway which re-enters the main stream.
Sections of Waterways
Bed - The bottom of a waterway.
Head - The source of a waterway. Usually a marsh area with springs.
Mouth - The place where a waterway enters another waterway.
Fork - A place where a waterway branches into two or more new waterways.
Delta - An alluvial deposit, usually at the mouth of a waterway, often in the shape of the Greek letter "delta" because of multiple forks. They are formed where a water way drops any debris it was carrying on a body of quieter water.
Rapids - A section of a waterway where the current is fast and the surface is broken by obstructions, usually rocks.
Riffles - A shallow, turbulent portion of a waterway.
Rift - A very shallow section of a waterway.
Falls - A steep descent in a waterway, usually caused by large rocks, where the water drops rapidly.
Dike - A man made bank usually of earth constructed to control or confine water.
Bank - The sides of a river. Banks are called right or left as viewed facing in the direction of the flow.
Basin - A land area having a common outlet for its surface water runoff.
Estuary - Where the mouth of a fresh waterway empties into a body of salt water.
Lock - A man made chamber a waterway closed off using gates in order to raise or lower the water level so ships can move from one elevation to another along the waterway.
Bodies of Water
Pool - A small and often deep body of usually fresh water.
Lagoon - A shallow sound channel or pond near or communicating with a larger body of water.
Well - An issue of water from the earth. Often man made.
Spring - A source of water issuing from the ground. Usually creating a waterway, or body of water.
Pond - A body of water smaller than a lake, but much larger than a puddle. Usually spring fed.
Lake - A considerable inland body of standing water. Larger than a pond.
Sea - A great body of salt water of second rank more or less landlocked.
Ocean - The largest body of salt water. There are only 4 on Earth.
Ford - A shallow part of a body of water that can be crossed through by wading.
Bay - An inlet of the sea or other body of water usually smaller than a gulf.
Sound - A long, relatively wide body of water, larger than a channel, connecting larger bodies of water.
Channel - A narrow body of water between two portions of lands.
Cove - A small sheltered inlet or bay.
Gulf - A part of the ocean or sea extending into the land.
Harbor - A part of a body of water protected and deep enough to furnish anchorage especially one with port facilities.
Haven - A harbor or port.
Port - A place where ships may ride secure from storms. Usually a harbor town or city where ships may take on or discharge cargo.
Fjord - A narrow inlet of sea between cliffs or steep slopes.
Bight - A bend in a coast forming an open bay.
Reef - A series of rocks or ridge of sand or coral, at or near the surface of the water.
Island - A tract of land totally surrounded by water and smaller than a continent.
Key - A low island or reef.
Bank - A mound pile or ridge raised above the surrounding level.
Shore - The land bordering a usually large body of water.
Beach - A shore of an ocean sea or lake or the bank of a river covered by sand or gravel or larger rock fragments.
Coast - The land near a shore.
Sands - A tract of sand a sandbak or sandbar.
Shoal - A sandbank or sandbar that makes the water shallow.
Spit - A small point of land especially of sand or gravel running into a body of water.
Peninsula - A portion of land nearly surrounded by water and connected with a larger body of water usually by an isthmus.
Cape - A point or extension of land jutting out into water as a penninsula or as a projecting point.
Point - A projecting usually tapered piece of land or sharp prominence.
Horn - A body of land or water shaped like a horn.
Neck - A narrow stretch of land.
Strait - A comparitively narrow passageway connecting two large bodies of water.
Bayou - Any of various usually marshy or sluggish bodies of water.
Swamp - Wet spongy land saturated and sometimes partially or intermittently covered with water.
Bog - An area of soft, naturally waterlogged ground.
Marsh - A tract of soft land usually characterized by grasses and cattails.
Moor - A boggy area of wasteland usually peaty and dominated by grasses and sedges.
Veldt - A grassland usually with scattered shrubs or trees.
Plain - An extensive area of rolling or level treeless country.
Grasslands - Land on which the natural dominant plant forms are grasses and forbs.
Meadow - A tract of low-lying usually level grassland.
Field - An open area free of woods or buildings.
Flats - A level surface of land.
Butte - An isolated hill or mountain with steep or percipitous sides usually having a smaller summit area than a mesa.
Bluff - A high steep bank.
Cliff - A very steep vertical slope or overhanging face of rock or ice.
Crag - A steep rugged rock or cliff.
Hill - A usually rounded natural elevation of land lower than a mountain.
Hillside - The part of a hill between the summit and the foot.
Knob - A rounded usually isolated hill or mountain.
Mesa - An isolated relatively flat-topped natural elevation usually more extensive than a butte and less extensive than a plateau.
Mountain - A landmass that projects conspicuously above its surroundings and is higher than a hill.
Outcrop - The part of a rock formation that appears at the surface of the ground.
Peak - The top of a hill or mountain ending in a point.
Ridge - A range of hills or mountains.
Rock - A large mass of stone forming a cliff promontory or peak.
Bridge - A structure carrying a pathway or roadway over a depression or obstacle.
Glacier - A large body of ice moving slowly down a slope or valley or spreading outward on a land surface.
Canyon - A deep narrow valley with steep sides and often with a stream flowing through it.
Basin - A large or small depression in the surface of the land or in the ocean floor.
Crater - A bowl-shaped depression around the orifice of a volcano or produced by the impact of a meteorite or an explosion.
Dale - A small valley or vale.
Ditch - A long narrow excavation dug in the earth.
Hole - A cave pit or well in the ground.
Valley - An elongate depression of the earth's surface usually between ranges of hills or mauntains.
Fumarole - A hole in a volcanic region from which hot gases and vapors issue.
Gap - A mountain pass.
Glen - A secluded narrow valley.
Gorge - A narrow passge through land especially a narrow steep-walled canyon or part of a canyon.
Hollow - A small valley or basin.
Pass - A low place in a mountain range.
Rift Valley - An elongated valley formed by the depression of a block of the earth's crust between two faults or groups of faults of approximately parallel strike.
Cave - A natural underground chamber or series of chambers open to the surface.
Cavern - A cave of large or indefinite extent.
Forest - A dense grove of trees and underbrush covering a large tract.
Grove - A small wood without underbrush.
Wood - A dense grove of trees usually greater in extent than a grove and smaller than a forest.
Wilderness - A tract or region uncultivated and uninhabited by human beings.
Thicket - A dense growth of shrubbery or small trees.
Waste - A sparsely settled or barren region.
Desert - An arrid barren land.