vernal pool

Scientific

A seasonal body of standing water that typically forms in the spring from melting snow and other runoff, dries out completely in the hotter months of summer, and often refills in the autumn. Vernal pools range from broad, heavily vegetated lowland bodies to smaller, isolated upland bodies with little permanent vegetation. They are free of fish and provide important breeding habitat for many terrestrial or semiaquatic species such as frogs, salamanders, and turtles.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

They hop out of the leaf litter and toward a vernal pool, usually the one where they first hatched, to find a mate.

From New York Times

Kinder Morgan subsidiary Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. damaged a vernal pool and other protected wetland resources areas, degraded water quality in a cold water fishery, and discharged 15,000 gallons of contaminated pipeline test water directly onto the ground during construction of the pipeline through Sandisfield and Otis State Forest, according to a statement Monday from Attorney General Maura Healey.

From Washington Times

On each side of the road was a vernal pool.

From New York Times

“I like to think of the annual vernal pool cycle as a breathing cycle,” Mr. LeClair said.

From New York Times

A vernal pool, or seasonal wetland, installed in a natural depression on the southeastern corner of the lot, absorbs water runoff from the home’s steep driveway, roof and the neighbor’s hardscape.

From Los Angeles Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023