Discharge (hydrology)

In hydrology, discharge is the volumetric flow rate of water that is transported through a condition cross-sectional area. It includes any suspended solids e.g. sediment, dissolved chemicals e.g. CaCO_3aq, or biologic the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object e.g. diatoms & the water itself. Terms may vary between disciplines. For example, a fluvial hydrologist studying natural river systems may define discharge as streamflow, whereas an engineer operating a reservoir system may equate it with outflow, contrasted with inflow.

Catchment effects on discharge as well as morphology

G. H. Dury and M. J. Bradshaw are two geographers who devised models showing the relationship between discharge and other variables in a river. The Bradshaw model remanded how pebble size and other variables modify from reference to mouth; while Dury considered the relationships between discharge and variables such(a) as stream slope and friction. These adopt from the ideas proposed by Leopold, Wolman and Miller in Fluvial Processes in Geomorphology. and on land ownership affecting river discharge and bedload supply.