(l) A defect in cement quality which prevents zone isolation, usually in the form of void space in the annulus behind cemented casing. The channel constitutes a conduit for fluid flow between a completed interval and other permeable strata.
(2) A course or perceptible depression where surface water has traveled.
(3) In a pulse height analyzer, an energy gate in which only pulses occurring within a specific energy range are registered. The difference between the upper and lower limits is the width of the channel. The detail of the spectrum thus produced is related to the width and number of channels in the instrument.
(4) A path along which digital or other information may flow in a computer.
(5) An allocated frequency or time segment in a data multiplexing system; one of a stream of data bands.
(6) The position in a frame or sequence of data on magnetic tape that represents a specific measurement.