Canal vs. Berm — What's the Difference?

Canals are waterway channels, or artificial waterways, for water conveyance, or for servicing water transport vehicles. They carry free surface flow under atmospheric pressure, and can be thought of as artificial rivers.

A berm is a level space, shelf, or raised barrier (usually made of compacted soil) separating areas in a vertical way, especially part-way up a long slope. It can serve as a terrace road, track, path, a fortification line, a border/separation barrier for navigation, good drainage, industry, or other purposes.

An artificial waterway constructed to allow the passage of boats or ships inland or to convey water for irrigation

A flat strip of land, raised bank, or terrace bordering a river or canal.

A tubular duct in a plant or animal, serving to convey or contain food, liquid, or air

A narrow ledge or shelf, as along the top or bottom of a slope.

Any of a number of linear markings formerly reported as seen by telescope on the planet Mars.

Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, & West Virginia The shoulder of a road.

An artificial waterway or artificially improved river used for travel, shipping, or irrigation.

A raised bank or path, especially the bank of a canal opposite the towpath.

(Anatomy) A tube, duct, or passageway.

A nearly horizontal or landward-sloping portion of a beach, formed by the deposition of sediment by storm waves.

(Astronomy) One of the faint, hazy markings resembling straight lines on early telescopic images of the surface of Mars.

A mound or bank of earth, used especially as a barrier or to provide insulation.

To dig an artificial waterway through

The flat space between the edge of a ditch and the base of a fortification.

To provide with an artificial waterway or waterways.

To provide with a berm or berms.

An artificial waterway or artificially improved river used for travel, shipping, or irrigation.

A narrow ledge or shelf, as along the top or bottom of a slope.

(anatomy) A tubular channel within the body.

A raised bank or path, especially the bank of a canal opposite the towpath.

(astronomy) One of the faint, hazy markings resembling straight lines on early telescopic images of the surface of Mars; see Martian canals

A terrace formed by wave action along a beach.

To dig an artificial waterway in or to (a place), especially for drainage

A mound or bank of earth, used especially as a barrier or to provide insulation.

To travel along a canal by boat

A ledge between the parapet and the moat in a fortification.

An artificial channel filled with water and designed for navigation, or for irrigating land, etc.

A strip of land between a street and sidewalk.

A tube or duct; as, the alimentary canal; the semicircular canals of the ear.

(Western Pennsylvania English) Edge of a road.

A long and relatively narrow arm of the sea, approximately uniform in width; - used chiefly in proper names; as, Portland Canal; Lynn Canal.

To provide something with a berm

(astronomy) an indistinct surface feature of Mars once thought to be a system of channels; they are now believed to be an optical illusion

A narrow shelf or path between the bottom of a parapet and the ditch.

A bodily passage or tube lined with epithelial cells and conveying a secretion or other substance;

A ledge at the bottom of a bank or cutting, to catch earth that may roll down the slope, or to strengthen the bank.

Long and narrow strip of water made for boats or for irrigation

A narrow ledge or shelf typically at the top or bottom of a slope

Provide (a city) with a canal

Narrow edge of land (usually unpaved) along the side of a road