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Geology & Earth Sciences vocabulary · Water Cycle & Hydrology

Evaporation

Meaning in geology & earth sciences, with examples

/ɪˌvæpəˈreɪʃən/nounCore term

In geology & earth sciences, evaporation means: The process in which liquid water turns into water vapour and rises into the air, mainly from oceans, lakes, rivers and wet soil, driven by the Sun's heat.

In Turkish: buharlaşma

How it is used

A key stage of the water cycle. Hydrologists measure evaporation with evaporation pans and combine it with plant transpiration as evapotranspiration. When seawater evaporates in shallow basins, it leaves salt deposits called evaporites.

Example sentences

  1. In summer, evaporation from the lake is greater than the water flowing in.

  2. These thick salt layers formed by evaporation of an ancient sea.

Common collocations

  • rate of evaporation
  • evaporation and transpiration
  • high evaporation
  • evaporation pan
  • water cycleThe continuous movement of water between the oceans, the atmosphere and the land through evaporation, condensation, precipitation and runoff.
  • precipitationWater that falls from clouds to the ground as rain, snow, sleet or hail. It is usually measured in millimetres per day, month or year.
  • humidityThe amount of water vapour in the air, usually given as relative humidity: the percentage of the maximum amount the air can hold at that temperature.
  • climateThe typical weather of a region over a long period, usually averaged over 30 years, including temperature, rainfall and wind.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Water Cycle & Hydrology

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