11/10/07

Questions on Rivers

9.
a.
i) The wetted perimeter is the total length of the bed and bank sides in
contact with the water in the channel.
ii) The cross sectional area is obtained by measuring the width and the
mean depth of the channel, then multiplying these two.
iii) The velocity of a river can be calculated using a theorem known as
0.67 0.5
V=R S
‘Manning’s N’. It states n where:
V= mean velocity of flow
R= Hydraulic radius
S= Channel slope
n= Boundary roughness

b. The load of a river is the material that a river carries. It normally

consists of small clay particles, sand, rock, pebbles etc It can carry it
in different ways, such as, solution, suspension, saltation and traction.

c. There are lots of factors that can affect the size of the particles that
are eroded, transported and deposited by a river. These include the
load itself, which can damage itself and the river banks, the water
itself, which can cause corrosion, and even the speed of the river. In
rivers with a high velocity there is obviously going to be more erosion
as the river will have more energy, move more quickly and bring the
load to the areas that need to be eroded more quickly. Rivers with high
velocity will also carry a higher and heavier load which also increases
erosion and deposition on the meanders.

10.
a.
i) The river has lots of large rocks and boulders deposited all over. This
shows that the river has recently slowed down and therefore deposited
some of its larger load. It could also show that the river bed is uneven,
water flowing where it can and this could cause a form of minor rapids.
I think that the rapid theory is more likely as you can see the “white
water” on the river.
ii) They could have been transported down the river by traction
because they are so large. The boulders may also be caused by
attrition with other boulders being transported in the river.
iii) The river can erode a river bed in many ways. It can erode it
through hydraulic action, abrasion and attrition. Hydraulic action is
where water forces itself into cracks in the river bed and causes
immense pressure to push outwards on the rock and eventually erode
it. Abrasion is a kind of sand paper effect with smaller particles on the
river bed. Attrition is where parts of the load hit other parts of the load
or river bed and erode like a hammer.

b.