Rivers Flashcards
What are all the parts of. DRAINAGE BASIN
Source, Confluence, tributary, watershed, mouth, drainage basin, river basin.
What is a drainage basin
The arae of land drained by a river. Any water tgat fills in the area of land is sent to the river where its drained. Its outlined by a boundary of high grounf.
What is a valley
An area with high ground on either side
What is a floodplain?
The land either side of the river which may flood
What is the Miuth of a river?
Where the river ends and meets the sea
What is the confluence
The meeting point of two rivera
What is a tributary?
A tributary is where smaller rivers meet a main rivers
What is a river basin?
The area inside the watershed where all rain will collect into a river.
What is watershed?
Imaginary outline of a river basin. Area of higher ground.
What is the source of a river..
Where the river starts.
Describe what the banks of a river are?
The edges of a river.
What is lateral erosion(makes river wider)
Erosion sideways
What is vertical erosion(makes rover deeper)
Erosion downwards
What is the river bed?
The bottom of a river.
What is Hydraulic action?
The force of a river agains the banks which causes air to be trapped in cracks. The pressure weakens the banks and gradually wears the banks away.
What is abrasion?
Rocks carried along by the river run and scrape along the river bed and banks, eroding it.
What is attrition?
Rocks being carried by the river smash into each other and together, into smaller and smoother and rounder pwrticles.
Why are rocks smoother, is evudence of rocms being in a river longer
This is because this is evidence of attrition. Rocks carried by the river have been smoothened due to being scraped by other rocks over tim, breaking and having rounder particles. Sharp rocks havent experienced attrition yet.
What are the 4 ways that a river TRANSPORTS sediment downstream.?
Solution, suspension, saltation and traction.
What is solution?
Dissolved material in a river which is carried downstream.
What is suspension?
Visible sediment with the water floating along
What is saltation?
Pebbles that are bouncing along the beds of the river?
What is traction?
The force of the river which pushes and rolls big rocks like boulders.
When and where will a river have the most transportation of sediment?
Rivers need energy to transport material . When energy levels are high, large rocks and boulders are transported(traction)? Energy levels are highes from the middle course to the upper course, since the river is fsr from the sea where it loses the most energy.
What is deposition
The river losing energy and drops sediment being carried. This mainly happens in the lower course where it is abiut to meet the sea
Explain why sediment is deposited
Sediment is deposited when the river loses energy. As the river moves furthur downstream, the size of the rocks is decreasing as each rocks are deposited until eventually the smallest of rocks are deposited at the sea,
(Not on rivers) why are cold environements mainlt found at high altitiudew or high latitudew or the middle of continents.
Due to the angle of 23.5, sunlight that reaches the equator and is passed thriuh the atmosphere, energy is lost, mewning less thermal energy will be passed along to areas of high latitiude/altitude (as there is not much land)
