River Landscapes Flashcards
What is the confluence?
Where tributary joins larger river
What is discharge?
quantity of water that passes a point on stream or rover bank within giving time period
What is Alluvium?
a sediment deposited by a river when it floods.
What is a floodplain?
flat area forming the valley floor either side of a river channel that’s sometimes flooded.
What is a gorge?
narrow steep sided valley often formed as waterfall retreats upstream.
What is a hydrograph?
graph which shows discharge of a river related to rainfall over a period of time.
What is lateral erosion?
erosion of river banks rather than bed which helps form the floodplain.
What is a levee?
Raised bank found either side of a river formed naturally by regular flooding or built up by people to protect area from flooding.
What is a plunge pool?
deep and turbulent area of water where river plunges over waterfall
What are pools and riffles?
alternating sequence in course of a river that carry coarse sediment where shallow fast flowing sections called riffles are slower sections called pools.
What is vertical erosion?
downward erosion of the river bed leading to waterfall formation
What is thalweg?
course of the fastest flow within a river
What is a tributary?
small stream that joins a larger river.
What is an estuary?
tidal mouth of river where it meets sea-wide banks of deposited mud exposed at low tide.
What is load?
material transported by river
what is mudflat?
areas of fine sediment deposits which over time develop in saltmarshes
What is velocity?
Rate of river flow
What is fluvial erosion?
when a river wears away the land and the ability to erode depends on its velocity
What is fluvial transport?
when river carries load which differs in size such as boulders from upper course and fine slit from lower course
what is the long cross profile of upper course?
Vertical Erosion by hydraulic action
Mostly transported via traction
Large boulders deposited
Very narrow and shallow-V shaped valley