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River landforms/ Features

Waterfalls Valleys and Gorges Meanders Floodplains Levees Deltas

Moving from Upper course to Lower course of the river.

Waterfalls
When the gradient of a river is very steep, water plunges down from great heights to form a waterfall.

Eg. Niagara Falls; Canada-USA


2 ways of forming.

Formation of Waterfalls
Less erosion
More erosion

Waterfall

Plunge pool

1st way
When a river flows across a zone of rocks with different resistance Less resistant rocks erode much faster Causing sudden change in height of river bed, causing the water to plunge.

2nd way
Through faulting Rocks uplifted, resulting in displacement of rocks- one higher than the other. When river flows over them, height changes and waterfall is formed. Eg. Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe River.

Valleys and Gorges


Caused by Vertical erosion. Simply put: Just the downward erosion of a river course- causes the Deepening of river.

Valleys
Long, narrow areas of land between highlands or mountains. Usually have V shape Deep and narrow in upper part of river course but become broader and wider in lower course.

What is a gorge?
Deep, narrow valley Formed when a river erodes vertically through resistant rocks. Formed due to the retreat of the waterfall upstream. Walls of the valley remain steep- forming a Steep walls gorge.

Gorge

Hard rock

3 gorges dam- Yangtze River

Depositional landforms
Meanders Floodplains Levees Deltas

Meanders
Found in middle to lower course of river. Land over which river flows is flatter and river moves in wide sweeping bends.

Why are there winds?

River cliff created on outer bank

Slip-off slope created on inner bank

Concave slope

Convex slope

Outer bank is undercut by erosion

Explaining their existence


Meanders are features found usually between the middle and lower course of a river where the river channel is broad and gradient is gentle. Erosion occurs along the outer (concave bank) of the river, while sediments are deposited along the inner (convex bank)due to difference in speed of flow.

There is higher speed along the outer bank because of less friction, thus erosion occurs- forming a river cliff (steep sided bank) Deposition along the inner bank occurs because there is greater friction between the inner bank and water- reduces speed, therefore deposition occurs. forms a slipoff slope.

Oxbow lakes
Oxbow lakes form when the meanders become more pronounced. Due to constant erosion along the concave banks of 2 consecutive meanders, the 2 meanders will move close to each other.eventually being separated by a narrow neck of land meander neck

As deposition and erosion carries on at the convex and concave banks respectively, the meander neck is eventually cut through, forming a cut-off. This allows the river to flow straight through the channel. Sediments will continue being deposited along the mouth of the cut off, eventually sealing off the cut-off. Thus, forming an oxbow lake.

Floodplains + Levees
Flat land along the river banks that is flooded when the river overflows. As the floodwater from the river spreads out over a larger area, the water loses speed. When the water recedes, material is deposited along the river banks and beds.

Coarse sediments are deposited closer to the rivers edge (heavier) while finer alluvium are deposited further away. Over time, floodplains and levees (raised banks) are formed.

Levees
Width of floodplain Width of channel Fine sediments Levee made up of coarse sediments

Alluvium Raised river bed

Deltas
Found at the mouth of the river where the river enters the sea/lake. Depositional feature formed when sediments carried by the river is deposited faster than it is washed away by the waves. Distributaries (smaller channels) extend outwards into the sea.

High resolution true color satellite image of Nile River Delta, Egypt (Image taken by the MODIS instrument on NASA's Terra satellite on August 23, 2003.)

Mississippi river delta, louisiana

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