L2 - Plain and Simple

Question 1

What is a flood plain and how does it form?

Answer 1

• Forms due to erosion and deposition
• Erosion removes interlocking spurs
• Creates wide, flat ares of land either side of the river
• Material is deposited during a flood as the river energy dissipates and this causes the level to rise.

Question 2

What is a factor which leads to deposition?

Answer 2

At the river mouth deposition increases as the water is shallow.

Question 3

What are levees and how do they form?

Answer 3

Large embankments of sediment along the sides (banks) of a river
- During floods, water and sediment come out as the river overflows its banks, energy dissipation results in deposition forming high levees with all the sediment.

Question 4

What is a delta and how do they form?

Answer 4

Deltas are formed when a river deposits its sediment faster than it can be removed by the sea causing sediment build up and lots of branches of rivers making fan shaped deltas.
The smaller branches (channels) are called distributaries