On the last residential, I questioned what the word “riparian” meant.
Did it have to do with streams and rivers?
Or maybe is the bank of a lake considered riparian?
Or even the sea shore?
Where can we apply this word?
“Riparian” comes from the latin ripa which mean stream bank. Interestingly, French still has a verb Riper, which means to slip, to slip away, to go away, to take off. Now THAT’s cool.
Ooo ooo… there is also a potential connection to the Greek ereipein, meaning to tear down. (thought: weathering/erosion?)
Looking at these linguistic connections, we see that they have a common theme of movement. River, go away, tear down. So this makes me associate the word more with moving water.
But Merriam-Webster gives us “relating to or living or located on the bank of a natural watercourse (as a river) or sometimes of a lake or a tidewater” (even a tidewater??)
And wiki tells us that a wetland is a type of riparian area. An area is termed a wetland if the water is standing for longer than a season, causing saturation of the riparian bank in what is termed “hydric soil.”
That’s my thought for the night. Conclusive? Maybe not. Fascinating? Of course. Ok, I’m gonna riper.
1 comment:
hmm well I'm supposed to teach kids that a wetland only needs to have surface water 9 days out of the year to be a wetland. it also has to have super saturated soil!!!!! - say that 10 times fast-i get to demonstrate this with a sponge and i always pour water down my arm instead. anyways that's my wetland definition for ya.
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