Revise hydrographs

A hydrograph

is a graph that shows how a river discharge varies over time in a riversystem. It therefore shows a

trend

in the river. Often (as in the diagram below), rainfallis plotted on the same graph as a bar chart. The hydrograph has a particular structureand terminology to go with that structure which is explained below using the followingdiaram.A - DISCHARGE (in cumecs). This axis measures theamount of water passing through the river in cubicmetres per secondB - TIME LAG (or LAG TIME). The time betweenthe peak discharge and highest point in a river. Thisis the time it takes for precipitation to run-offfrom where it has fallen to the river channel. Manyfactors can affect this, such as permeability ofrocks and interception from vegetation.C - PEAK DISCHARGE. This is the very highestpoint to which the river discharge reaches.D - ZONE OF FLOOD RISK. The area above thedotted line within the loop of the graph is the timeat which the river is likely to flood.

E - ZONE OF NORMAL DISCHARGE. The dotted linereresents the normal dischare of the river when there is

When rainfall isheavy and lasts along time there willbe a lot of run-off.Water will reachthe river quickly,making the time lagshort and dischargehigh. Rain will not beable to sink into theground when it isfrozen which willalso mean that thetime lag will beImpermeable rockdoes not allowwater to passthrough it and soa catchment areamade ofimpermeable rockwill have a lot ofrun-off. Acatchment areamade frompermeable rockwill allowinfiltration tooccur, reducingrun-off andincreasing the lagtime. This willTrees in a rivercatchment areadelays water byintercepting it.This reduces run-off and thereforetime lag and riverdischarge. Whereland has been builton by humans, timelag is shorteneddue to thecovering of theground byimpermeablesurfaces (tarmacand concrete forexample). This willDams built acrossrivers will holdfloodwatersback, thereforeincreasing thetime lag andreducin eak