PrintHydrological Process
Definition
A proper stream generally consists of concentrated, channelized flow, even if it only carries water for a few days of the year. In contrast, an upland system may have surface water flow, but the flow is more akin to sheet flow and typically not concentrated into channels.
Figure 17. Examples of Sheet Flow and Channelized Flow
Photo credits: Top panel: Kelly Caylor, licensed under Creative Commons; Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). Bottom panel: Source: Brian Laub