River Characteristics, Changes & Landforms

What is a drainage basin?

Mouth Where the river flows into the sea, or sometimes a lake. Watershed The boundary dividing one drainage basin from another- a ridge of high land. Confluence The point at which two rivers join. Tributary A river which joins a larger river.

Catchment The area from which water drains into a particular drainage basin.
Source The upland area where the river begins.

Features of a drainage basin on a map.

Confluence c

b Source d Watershed a Tributary

The Long Profile of a River

Changes in the river as it goes downstream from source to mouth.

Long Profile
Height above sea level in meters. Gradient/slope decreasing 0 50 100 150 200 250 A Upper Course Velocity/flow increasing Cumecs/discharge increasing

B Middle Course
35 30 25

Energy increases C Lower Course 20 15 10 5 0

Distance from sea in Kms.

Valley & Channel Cross-Sections

A B
C Lower Course Upper Course Middle Course

What are the main features of a river?

Upper Course Long Profile Steeply sloping towards the lower sections of the river Steep sided v-shaped valley. Thin river channel, deep in places Middle Course Shallow slopes towards the mouth of the river v-shaped valley remains with a wider valley floor and the river begins to meander across it. The river channel begins to widen and become deeper. Lower Course Almost at sea level, very gently sloping towards its mouth Wide, shallow valley, with large flood plains and meanders. The river channel is wide, deep and smooth sided.

Cross Profile

Erosion & Deposition

Primarily vertical erosion, through attrition, abrasion and hydraulic action. Large boulders deposited and eroded in situ. Traction and saltation Interlocking spurs; waterfalls; V-shaped valley; gorges Relatively slow moving. Despite areas of fast flowing water, the large amount of material on the river channel bed means that friction will slow the water down.

Primarily cuts laterally as it has Continues to cut vertically. But almost reached base level. The it also begins to cut laterally as erosive energy of the river is it gets closer to base level. almost totally concentrated on Deposition occurs in the slower cutting sideways. Much moving insides of meanders. deposition occurs. Saltation, suspension and solution Meanders; slip-off slopes; oxbow lakes The water has increased in speed as the channel widens and becomes smoother. Some boulders cause friction to slow it down a little. Mainly suspension and solution. Deltas; flood plains; levees; meanders; ox-bow lakes

Transportation

Features

Velocity

The fastest section of the river, as the channel is widest, with very smooth sides, and the greatest volume of water.

The Upper Course of a river

Learning Objectives: To know and understand the formation of landforms in a rivers upper course. To understand the processes that operate in a rivers upper course

What processes occur in a river?

There are 3 processes taking place in every river. These are: Erosion (The wearing away of the land) Transportation (The movement of eroded material) Deposition (The laying down of eroded material)
There are also two other processes that shape the river valley. These are weathering and mass movement.

Shaping the river valley.

There are also two other processes that shape the river valley. These are weathering and mass movement. Weathering = the breakdown of rock material. Mass movement = the movement downslope of broken down rock material due to gravity.

Weathering & Mass Movement.

The 3 main types of weathering are show below in the wrong order. Sort the statements out into the right order and copy these onto your sheet. Underneath copy out a definition of mass movement.

Match up the key word with the definition.

Abrasion (Corrasion) Corrosion Hydraulic Action Attrition -

Erosion Processes

is when the river is loaded with material in suspension and scours away at the river banks. (Sandpaper effect) is the shear force of the river impacting on the sides of the river banks. is substances carried in solution such as acids. They dissolve rocks away over long periods of time. is when bed load collides into each other with the current flow and breaks down into smaller particles.

Match up the key word with the definition.

Abrasion (Corrasion) is when the river is loaded with
material in suspension and scours away at the river banks. (Sandpaper effect) impacting on the sides of the river banks.

Erosion Processes

Hydraulic Action is the shear force of the river

Corrosion is substances carried in solution such as acids.

They dissolve rocks away over long periods of time.

Attrition is when bed load collides into each other with

the current flow and breaks down into smaller particles.

Key words - Transportation.

Traction where large rocks and boulders are rolled along the river bed. Happens most in times of flood, when the current is strongest. Saltation where smaller stones are bounced along the river bed in a leap frogging motion Suspension where very small grains of sand or silt are carried along with the water Solution where some material is dissolved (like sugar in a cup of tea) and is carried downstream. Occurs often in limestone landscapes where the water if very acidic.

Methods of transportation.

Shows the rate of flow needed

Traction

Saltation

Suspension

Solution

Upper valley characteristics

Upper valley characteristics

Can you add an annotation to each arrow to explain the characteristic?

Upper valley characteristics

Vshape valley, vertical erosion dominant Interlocking spurs
Slumping and landslides very active hill slopes

Narrow, shallow channel, low velocity and discharge Large bed load derived from upstream and from valley sides

No flood plain and V-shaped valley

Narrow Channel

Lots of tributaries

High land so source of river

Direction of flow shown by lower land

Steep river gradient contours close together

Contour lines close together steep valley sides

Interlocking spurs
A typical upper course V-Shaped valley with interlocking spurs, steep valley sides and active slope processes. The diagram below shows the formation of interlocking spurs.

Can you draw an annotated sketch of this valley to show how it is formed?

River load in upper course

Why are they rounded?

Boulders are large and semi-rounded, due to attrition within the load and abrasion with the stream bed and banks

Rapids in the Upper Tees Valley

Formation of Rapids

High Force waterfall, R. Tees

WHAT IS A WATERFALL?

A waterfall is formed where water flows over a cliff or very steep drop in the river's bed.

High Force Waterfall R. Tees

Formation of a Waterfall.
A waterfall is a steep drop in the course of a river. They form when a band of hard resistant rock (cap rock) lies over softer, less resistant rock. The softer rock is quickly eroded by hydraulic action and abrasion, causing the harder rock to be undercut. The hard rock overhangs until it can no longer carry its own weight. The overhang collapses and then breaks up in the water below. The great power of the water at the base of the waterfall causes a plunge pool to form.

The bed of the river below the waterfall contains boulders eroded by splash back from behind the waterfall.
Over time the process above is frequently repeated and eventually a steep-sided gorge forms as the waterfall retreats up stream.

Waterfall formation
Look at the diagram, How is a waterfall formed?

Can you put the labels below into the correct place on he diagram?

High Force waterfall, R. Tees

Waterfall s create a gorge upstream as they recede, This is a steep sided valley with no floodplain .

Upper Course of a River

High land
Reservoir

Steep valley sides

Evidence of tributaries

Land use: Few settlements, Recreation, Farming, Forestry

Narrow channel and no floodplain

Waterfalls

The Middle and Lower Course of a River

Learning Objectives

To understand the main processes that operate in the middle and lower course of a river. To understand how meanders and oxbow lakes are formed.

This is a picture of a river in its middle course. Can you recognise and explain the differences between the upper and middle course of a river?

Processes operating in the middle course of a river

Erosion is still an important process.

The river is now flowing over flatter land and so the dominant direction of erosion is lateral (from side to side).
The river has a greater discharge and so has more energy to transport material. Material that is transported by a river is called its load. Deposition is also an important process and occurs when the velocity of the river decreases or if the discharge falls due to a dry spell of weather.

What landforms are found in the middle course?

Meanders Oxbow Lakes DEPOSITION and EROSION create these landforms

A meander= a bend in a river

Can you match up the characteristics below?
Deep water
Slip off slope River cliff

A gently sloping area of land on the inside of a meander

Formed on the outside bend of the meander due to erosion. Because of the gentle slope, there is a lot of frictional drag and so therefore the river flows at this speed Maximum depth of the channel. (Note the asymmetrical crossprofile) There is little frictional drag from the bed and bank at this point and so the river can flow at this speed.

Fastest flow Slowest flow

Meanders
3

Direction of meander migration

Floodplain

Slip-Off Slope

Erosion on the outer bend where there is faster flow. It creates a river cliff

Deposits on the inner meander bend where there is low energy

Can you match up the labels to the correct place on the diagram?

Cross section through a meander

Ox Bow Lake Formation

Can you look at the diagram & explain the formation of oxbow lakes?

Ox Bow lake on Mississippi

More gentle sloping valley sides

Small floodplain begins to develop on either side of the river,

Evidence of meanders

Land use changes more urban areas.

The Lower Course of a River

Learning Objectives: To be able to describe and explain the formation of a flood plain, levees, delta and estuary.

Floodplains, Deltas and Levees.

The pictures below show a floodplain, a delta and levees. Using your prior knowledge of river processes come up with a theory to explain how they are formed. The key words underneath each picture will help. Floodplain
Main Channel

Floodplain deposition Slow flow alluvium (silt) flood flat

deposition slow sea/lake load channel

Sea/lake

Main Channel deposit flood large load smaller load

Levee

blocked

Defintions
Flood plains A flood plain is the wide, flat area of land on either side of the river in its middle and lower course. Levees Levees are natural embankments of silt along the banks of a river, which are often several metres higher than the flood plain.

Floodplain & Levee formation

1. Floodplains and leves are formed by deposition in times of river flood. 2. The rivers load is composed of different sized particles. 3. When a river floods, the river water overflows the banks of the river and immediately slows down due to friction. 4. This drops the larger particles first, building up a raised river bank called a LEVE. 5. The sands, silts and clays are similarly sorted with the sands being deposited next, then the silts and finally the lightest clays. This builds up the floodplain.

Levee formation

How a floodplain is formed

This is a cross section of a floodplain.

Can you draw a simple sketch of the diagram and the labels below and then annotate it to explain how it is formed? leves clays and silts sands

Delta Formation
Deltas form at the mouths of many of the worlds larger rivers, e.g the Nile (Egypt), the Ganges (Bangladesh), the Mississippi (USA).

A delta is a flat area of sand and silt built into the sea. It is formed by deposition. 1. When a river enters a sea or lake carrying large volumes of fine material, the velocity slows and causes the load to be deposited in layers. 2. Over time, the deposited material blocks channels and forms small islands separated by river channels called distributaries.

Estuaries
There are no large deltas around the coasts of the UK, instead the tidal mouth of a UK river is typically characterised with an estuary. Estuaries are wide river valleys flooded daily by the tide. At low tide, large expanses of mud and sandflats are exposed which are mostly composed of material deposited by the river, e.g Thames, Humber, Severn.

Thames Estuary