Rivers Flashcards
What are the 4 types of erosion?
Hydraulic action, attrition, solution and abrasion
What is hydraulic action?
When the river forces air into cracks and gradually wears the bed away
What is abrasion?
Where rocks get carried along the bed by the river and erode the bed
What is attrition?
When rocks bump together eroding each other becoming smaller and smoother
What is solution? (Erosion)
When particles of rock dissolve into the river
What are the 4 types of river transport?
Traction, saltation, suspension and solution
What is traction?
When large boulders and rocks roll along the river bed
What is saltation?
When small pebbles and stones bounce along the river bed
What is suspension?
When light material gets carried along by the river
What is solution? (Transportation)
When dissolved minerals are transported
What are the three main parts of a river?
The upper, middle and lower course
What are the land forms found in the upper course?
V-shaped valleys, interlocking spurs, waterfalls, rapids
What land forms are found in the middle course?
Meanders, oxbow lakes
What land forms are found in the lower course?
Wide flood plains, meanders, oxbow lakes, leveés and deltas
How is an oxbow lake formed?
The meanders become tighter and the river erodes the outside of the beds and deposits on the inside. The river takes the shortest course through the meander and and the meander gets cut off front the river and forms an oxbow lake
