Water On The Land: River Landforms 2. Flashcards
Waterfalls and gorges are formed by what?
Erosion.
Give an example of a waterfall?
High Force Waterfall on the River Tees.
Waterfalls form from where?
A river flows over an area of hard rock followed by an area of softer rock.
Flood plains and levees are formed by what?
Deposition.
What is a flood plain?
The wide valley floor on either side of a river which occasionally gets flooded.
What happens when a river flood onto the flood plain?
The water slows down and deposits the eroded material that it’s transporting.
What happens every time a flood occurs?
It is building up the flood plain making it higher.
What do meanders do?
They migrate across the flood plain, making it wider.
What also builds up the flood plain?
The deposition that happens on the slip-off slopes of meanders.
What are levees?
Natural embankments along the edges of a river channel.
During a flood, eroded heavy material gets deposited where?
Heaviest material is deposited closest to the river channel as it gets dropped first when the river slows down.
Eventually, what happens when a lot of flooding had occurred?
The deposited material builds up creating levees along the edges of the channel.
Give an example of where levees are found?
Along the Yellow River in China.
When are levees created?
After repeated flooding.
