Water Boundary

Question 1

1. Land title moves with the land’s changes with ________ movement.
2. Land title is divorced from land physical changes with ________ movement.

Answer 1

1. Slow (Ex. accression, erosion, reliction if slow and imperceptible)
2. Fast (Ex. avulsion)

Question 2

____________ is the slow, imperceptible addition of soil onto the uplands.

Answer 2

Accretion

NOTES:
• Synonyms: Alluvion (process of land formation), Alluvium (the land itself)
• Antonym: Erosion
• Title to land surrounding the river moves with the water boundaries.
• Riparian owners are entitled to the additional lands because they also share the risk that they will lose lands through erosion.

Question 3

____________ is the slow process of sediment being removed from the river band and pushed downstream.

Answer 3

Erosion

Antonym: Accretion

Question 4

____________ is the gradual recession of water in a sea, lake, or stream, leaving permanently dry land.

Answer 4

Reliction

NOTES:
• Boundaries DO change if the reliction is “slow and imperceptible”.

Question 5

____________ occurs when a “sudden and perceptible” change occurs to a river boundary.

Answer 5

Avulsion

NOTES:
• Usually occurs when an “ox bow” breaks.
• Alluvium and Alluvial is the soil, clay, material that is moved by Avulsion and running water.

Question 6

1. Land abutting non-tidal and navigable river water are ____________ .
2. Land abutting navigable sea or lake waters are ____________ .

Answer 6

1. Littoral

2. Riparian

Question 7

Non-Navigable Waters (ownership properties)

Answer 7

1. Ownership is to the center of the bed, NOT the ordinary high water mark.
2. When opposite banks belong to more than one person the water and the bed are common to both.
3. Federal land patents abutting non-navigable rivers also transfer with the land.

Question 8

The “left” and “right” banks of a stream are determined by facing the ____________ direction.

Answer 8

Downstream (i.e. direction of floatable travel)

Question 9

A ____________ _______ is a line run by the government for the purpose of defining the sinuosities of the bank of a body of water and as a means of ascertaining the quantity of land in adjoining fractional areas subject to sale by the government.

Answer 9

Meander Line