S2 Rivers Flashcards
What is the source of a river?
Where it begins in the mountains
What is mouth of a river?
Where it meets the sea
What is evaporation?
Suns heats water and it rises into the air as water vapour
What is condensation?
Waterp vapour cools as it rises and forms clouds
What is precipitation?
When water falls from the sky as rain, sleet, snow
What are two process of river erosion?
Hydraulic action and abrasion
What is hydraulic action?
Water forcing its way into cracks in the river bed and breaking bits off
What is abrasion?
When the bed and bank are worn down by material carried by the river
What are two processes of river transportation?
Traction, saltation, suspension, solution
Name a describe one feature of the upper course.
Waterfall - where water flows over a vertical ledge into a plunge pool below.
Name a describe one feature of the middle course.
Meander - a bend in the river
Name a describe one featuree of the lower course.
oxbow lake - a u-shaped lake that forms when the neck of the meander is cut off.
How does a waterfall form?
Stage 1 - rivers flows over hard and soft rock. Soft rock erodes first through hydraulic aciton and abrasion.
Stage 2 - soft rock is eroded much faster, undercutting the hard rock, leaving an overhang. Plunge pool forms below.
Stage 3 - overhang collapses into the plunge pool. process repeats and waterfall moves upstream leaving a gorge.
What is a floodplain?
a wide, flat area of land either side of a river
Why does a floodplain make good farmland?
Every time a river floods it deposits material (alluvium) which produces very fertile soils.
Where would you find these in the water cycle?
Evaporation / Condensation / Precipitation
Where would you find these in the water cycle?
Interception / surface run-off / surface storage
Where would you find these in the water cycle?
Infiltration / throughflow
