River Landscapes (P1- SEC C) Flashcards
Upper course characteristics
Steep, V-shaped Valley
Narrow/shallow channel
High bed load
FEATURES :
V draped valleys
Interlocking spurs
Waterfalls
Gorges
Middle course characteristics and features ?
- open , gentle sloping valley with floodplain
- wider /deeper channel
- more suspended sediment
FEATURES :
- meanders
- river cliffs
- slip off slopes
Lower course characteristics and features ?
- open gentle sloping valley with floodplain.
- flat and wide floodplain
- wide open valley
- very wide /deep channel
FEATURES :
Oxbow lakes
Flood plains
Levees
Watershed ?
The boundary dividing one drainage basin from another
Confluence ?
Where 2 river join
Hydraulic action ?
Thé force of water hunting river bed/banks
Abrasion ?
Load carried by river repeatedly hits the bed / banks dislodging particles into the flow of the river
Attrition?
When stones carried by the river know against each other making stones smaller and rounded
Solution ?
River flows over limestone /chalk , the rock slowly dissolved
transportation processes (4)
Traction - large particles rolled over sea bed
Saltation: ‘bouncing of particles too heavy to be suspende
suspension : small sediment held in the river
solution : dissolved load
EROSION LANDFROMS : INTERLOCKING SPURS
- how is it formed and what are they?
outcrops of land along the river course in a valley
- forms near source of river /not powerful enough to cut through ‘spurs of land’ so flows around the
EROSION LANDFROMS : V-SHAPED VALLEY
- how is it formed and what are they?
- as small stream flows downhill steeply, the bedlam erodes downwards
- this vertical erosion deepens the valley, making the sides deeper/exposed
- overtime, weathering/gravity wear away steep valley sides, forcing material into the stream, which it uses to cut valley deeper
EROSION LANDFROMS : WATERFALL S
- how is it formed and what are they?
- SOFTER ROCK erodes quicker undercutting hard rock , creating PLUNGE POOL
- overhang collapses / falls into plunge pool increasing abrasion/ making plunge pool deeper
- waterfall retreats
EROSION LANDFROMS : GORGES
- how is it formed and what are they?
- NARROW, steep-sided valley usually found immediately downstream of a waterfall
- formed by gradual retreat of a waterfall
EROSION LANDFROMS : RAPIDS
what are they?
- FAST FLOWING, turbulent sections of a river where the river bed has a relativley steep gradient