Floods Glossary

sealing

The ability of the soil to absorb precipitation can be reduced or even impeded altogether as a result of anthropogenic factors (infiltration of surfaces prevented by houses, transportation routes, landscaping measures, etc.) or natural factors (frost, total saturation following long periods of precipitation). This effect is called sealing. While anthropogenic sealing can play a major role in the generation of flash floods, natural sealing is almost always the dominant factors in large-scale river flooding.