The Eden Basin Flashcards
Where is the Eden Basin?
The North-west of england between the mountains of the Lake District and Pennines
What does the river drain?
The north-east Lake District fells and the North-West pennines
Where is the source?
Pennine Hills in south Cumbria
Where does it flow?
North-west through Appleby-in-Westmorland and Carlisle
Where is its mouth?
The solway Firth at the Scottish border
Why is Carlisle vulnerable?
Its at the confluence of the Eden, Petteril and Caldew rivers and its low lying
Why is rainfall higher than the average?
Because of the relied of the area - the mountains terrain encourages orographic rainfall. This means lots of water enters the river channels
What increases the lag time?
Because its long and narrow
What do the steep slopes cause?
Reduces lag time and increases peak discharge
What Is impermeable?
Water doesn’t. soak into them.
What is the highest ground to the west of the basin made of and describe it?
Impermeable igneous rock. Infiltration is slow and surface runoff is high, reducing lag time
What are 2 examples of permeable rock?
Limestone and Sandstone
What is it like when it is made of limestone and sandstone?
When precipitation falls, infiltration. is quick and there’s little surface run off, increasing lag time.The amount of water in ground stores increases
What has land use change affected in the drainage basin?
Water. cycle and increased flood risk
What 3 types of land change affect. the drainage basin?
Farming, Construction and Deforestation
What happened to farming between 2000-2009?
Intense farming caused soils to become compact, here there was a 30% increase in the number of cattle, meaning. more land is likely to be trampled
What does compaction cause?
Reduces infiltration, so surface runoff is higher. Meaning water levels in rivers rise quickly due to heavy rainfall increasing flood risk
What has grazing in upland areas caused?
Reduced the amount of vegetation. can intercept rainfall, resulting in more water reaching rivers
What has happened in Carlisle in recent years?
New housing has been built. The Eden Gate development in the North of the city have plans to develop 10,000 new homes
What are surfaces like in built up areas?
Impermeable, reducing the size of infiltration flows and greatly increases the size and speed of surface run off flows
What risks have developments been built on floodplains caused?
Creating flood risk to property and requires flood defences. It causes flooding downstream as water naturally infiltrate in the floodplains flows downstream instead
What has deforestation caused in the Basin?
Much of the original forest has been removed and given ways to large areas of open grassland and heathland. Trees increase infiltration and decrease runoff so fewer trees means more runoff, flashier flood hydrography and a greater risk of flooding
What is climate change predicted to do in. the UK?
Change rainfall patterns - The Western UK could have 35% more winter rainfall by 2080. Increased winter rainfall in the Eden Basin would increase runoff and flood risk
What happened in December 2015?
Storm Desmond caused devastating flooding in Cumbre.
What happened in some areas of Cumbria?
Record rainfall. In a village there. was 262.6mm of rainfall in a 48. hour period. (50mm than average)
Where was affected by Storm Desmond?
Appleby-in-Westmorland and Carlisle were badly affected. 2000 properties were flooded leaving many homeless
What can you investigate when doing fieldwork
Investigate how rock type and land use affects flows in a drainage basin - you do this by. measuring soil saturation in different parts of the basin. You measure the response of a river to. precipitation using primary or secondary data
