Water On The Land

Question 0

Give 3 features of the Middle course of a river.

Answer 0

Gently sloping valley sides
Wider
Deeper channel

Question 1

Give 3 features of the upper course of a river.

Answer 1

Steep sides
V-shaped valley
Shallow channel
Narrow channel

Question 2

Give 3 features of the lower course of a river.

Answer 2

Very wide
Almost flat valley
Deep channel

Question 3

What effect does lateral erosion have on a river valley?

Answer 3

Widens the valley

Question 4

What effect does vertical erosion have on the river valley?

Answer 4

It deepens the valley, making it v-shaped

Question 5

Define the term ‘river course’.

Answer 5

The path of a river as it flows downhill

Question 6

Describe the process of hydraulic action. Give a specific example of where you might see hydraulic take place.

Answer 6

The force of the water breaks rock away from the river channel. You would see hydraulic action happening at the bottom of a waterfall.

Question 7

Describe the process of abrasion.

Answer 7

Eroded rocks picked up by the river scrape and rub against the channel, wearing it away.

Question 8

Describe the process of attrition.

Answer 8

Eroded rocks picked up by the river smash into each other and break into smaller fragments. Their edges also get rounded off as they rub together.

Question 9

Describe the erosional process of solution.

Answer 9

River water dissolves some types of rock, e.g. Chalk and limestone

Question 10

Describe the transportation process of traction.

Answer 10

Large rock boulders are pushed along the river bed by the force of the water

Question 11

Describe the transportation process of saltation.

Answer 11

Pebble sized rocks are bounced along the river bed by the force of the water

Question 12

Describe the transportation process of suspension.

Answer 12

Small rocks like silt and clay are carried along by the water

Question 13

Describe the transportation process of solution.

Answer 13

Soluble materials dissolve in the water and are carried along

Question 14

What is deposition? When would this happen?

Answer 14

When a river drops the load it’s transporting. This would happen when a river slows down.

Question 15

What is a meander?

Answer 15

A large bend in a river’s course.

Question 16

Describe how a meander is formed.

Answer 16

The current is faster on the outside of the bend because the river channel is deeper there (there’s less friction to slow the water down). So more erosion takes place on the outside of the bend.

Question 17

Describe how an oxbow lake is formed.

Answer 17

Erosion causes the inside bend on a meander to get closer until there’s only a small but of land left between the bends (called the neck). The river breaks through this land and flows along the shortest course. Deposition eventually cuts off the meander forming an oxbow lake.

Question 18

What are flood plains?

Answer 18

Flat areas of land that flood

Question 19

What are levees?

Answer 19

Natural embankments along the edges of a river channel

Question 20

Define the term ‘thalweg’.

Answer 20

The route the fastest flowing water takes around a meander

Question 21

Define the term ‘alluvium’.

Answer 21

Any material deposited by a river

Question 22

Name two landforms of erosion.

Answer 22

Gorge
Waterfall
V-shaped valley

Question 23

Name the case study for rich world flooding.

Answer 23

Boscastle

Question 24

Name the case study for poor world flooding.

Answer 24

Bangladesh

Question 25

What river was blamed for causing the flooding the Bangladesh?

Answer 25

The River Ganges

Question 26

State some specific causes of the Boscastle floods.

Answer 26

3 rivers coming together
12.5cm of rain in 7 hours
Little knowledge that the flood was coming
No flood protection was in place