Alex Reboll

Geography: Assess the relative importance of physical and human causes of river flooding.
Rivers cause flooding when the discharge exceeds their bankful level and the river fills with water beyond its capacity. The surplus water overflows the banks and runs into adjoining low-lying lands. River floods are responsible for the loss of human life and the damage of property. Each year, the number of deaths from flooding of rivers is more than any other natural disaster. Flooding may be caused by a number of natural causes or physical factors, or also can be caused by human activities. Firs of all, the physical factors of a river flooding can be caused by, excessive levels of precipitation occurring over a prolonged period of time, that might cause the saturation of the soil, and this makes the water table reach to the ground surface, and then there is an increased overland flow or runoff. And this heavy rainfall and these large amounts of precipitations can be caused either by a violent storm or hurricanes, which are created in climatic hazards or deep low-pressure weather systems. Next, a intensive precipitation over a short period of time that can cause a flooding particularly when the ground surface is baked hard after a long period without rainfall. And when that occurs the infiltration capacity is not able to work as efficiently as its needed, because the ground cannot soak up the rainfall quickly enough, so more water reaches the river than would normally be the case. Also flooding can be caused by the melting of snow, particularly when the subsoil is frozen, because the infiltration capacity decreases greatly. Another factor we have to take into account is the nature of the drainage basin, its shape and its density. First, there are some drainage basins that are more likely to flood than others, and this has a lot to do whit the location of those, because in areas of the world vegetated by dense forest, interception and uptake by plants reduce the risk of flooding during times of heavy rain. Second, the flooding risk can be determinate by the shape of the drainage basin, if it is a rounded basin, then rainfall water will reach the river more quickly, and if it is a long, narrow basin water takes longer to reach the river. So the risk of flooding will increase substantially if the drainage basin is rounded. And the last factor that determines the flooding risk of a drainage basin is the drainage density, and it depends upon both climate and physical characteristics of the drainage basin. Soil permeability (infiltration difficulty) and underlying rock type affect the runoff in a watershed, impermeable ground or exposed bedrock will lead to an increase in surface water runoff and therefore to more frequent streams. Rugged regions or those with high relief will also have a higher drainage density than other drainage basins if the other characteristics of the basin are the same. So as we can see, the higher the density the greater the risk of flooding. The causes of flooding can be produced by human activities and the impact they lead. First of all, human activity is increasingly becoming a factor contributing to disasters that occur worldwide, and for us, a river flooding can be recognized as such.

To begin with, an impact that has big consequences on river flooding is urbanisation. Land use influence the peak discharge of floods by modifying how rainfall and snowmelt are stored on and run off the land surface into streams. In undeveloped areas such as forests and grasslands, rainfall and snowmelt collect and are stored on vegetation, in the soil column, or in surface depressions. When this storage capacity is filled, runoff flows slowly through soil as subsurface flow. In contrast, urban areas, where roads and buildings cover much of the land surface, have less capacity to store rainfall and snowmelt. Construction of roads and buildings often involves removing vegetation, soil, and depressions from the land surface. The permeable soil is replaced by impermeable surfaces such as roads, roofs, parking lots, and sidewalks that store little water, reduce infiltration of water into the ground, and accelerate runoff to ditches and streams. Even in suburban areas, where lawns and other permeable landscaping may be common, rainfall and snowmelt can saturate thin soils and produce overland flow, which runs off quickly. Dense networks of ditches and culverts in cities reduce the distance that runoff must travel overland or through subsurface flow paths to reach streams and rivers. Once water enters a drainage network, it flows faster than either overland or subsurface flow. So we can see that urbanisation increases the risk of flooding because of the rapid runoff of the water to he river and its discharge. Second, the building of levees and the straightening of channels makes more water to move downstream more quickly and it increases the risk of flooding as the river goes on. Next, the first effect of a dam is to alter the pattern of disturbances that the plants and animals of a river have evolved for, and the dams also change the physical environment by altering the variation and cycles of flow that occur daily, seasonally, and inter-annually. But, dams can also be useful for the manage of the risk of river flooding, and by that helping to reduce the impacts of flooding by reducing the communitys vulnerability and exposure to flooding. So as we can see, dams have advantages and disadvantages, but the firs thing to care about is that they alter seriously the ecosystem of the rivers. Finally, another impact that affects the river flooding is deforestation. Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a non-forest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use. One trees have been removed there is a greater risk of soil erosion and sediment finds its way into rivers, obstructing them and adding to the flood risk. Trees intercept water and take it up through their roots, so in deforested areas more water reaches the channel as runoff and the flooding risk increases substantially. So as we can see deforestation carries a big disadvantage because without the trees the process of interception, in which the rainfall is caught by the leaves, never is going to happen and the water discharge of the river increases as the risk of flooding increases as well.

In conclusion, there are a lot of causes of river flooding and either if they are physical factors or human factors, we have to stop them because they increase the risk of flooding. But we have to focus on reducing the human factors, because they are those that we produce, and we know how to reduce their impact on the river flood, and it is also easier than to try to reduce the physical factors, because they are not our fault, so it is better to reduce our impacts that the impacts that produces the ecosystem itself.