Welcome Class 8 geography: Lesson 7

• SLO: to understand the formation of

Take necessary notes while listening to different landforms by the rivers
the lecture
Mute your microphone and leave your • Topic 1 B: Drainage System
queries in the chat box
Log into Google classroom and keep • Page no. 124-26 (old version)
that window open
River system

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A river is split
into 3 stages

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 Hydraulic action - the force of the river against the banks can
cause air to be trapped in cracks and crevices. The pressure
weakens the banks and gradually wears it away.

The four main

Abrasion - rocks carried along by the river wear down the
forms of river riverbed and banks.

erosion Attrition - rocks being carried by the river smash together and
break into smaller, smoother and rounder particles.

Solution - soluble particles are dissolved into the river

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The Upper Course

• The upper course of a river

starts at the source, this is
where the river begins.

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V- shaped valley
• A valley formed by flowing water, called
fluvial valley or river valley, is usually V-
shaped. The exact shape will depend on
the characteristics of the stream flowing
through it. Rivers with steep gradients, as
in mountain ranges, produce steep walls
and a bottom.
• It is usually a low area between hills or
mountains typically with a river running
through it.

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Spurs…..

A spur is a lateral ridge or

tongue of land
descending from a hill,
mountain or main crest of
a ridge.

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Waterfall:

• A waterfall is a river or other

body of water's steep fall
over a rocky ledge into a
plunge pool below.
Waterfalls are also called
cascades. The process of
erosion, the wearing away
of earth, plays an important
part in the formation of
waterfalls.

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Gorges….

A gorge is a narrow valley

with steep, rocky walls
located between hills or
mountains.

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 Meanders

Middle course
river features Oxbow lakes

include:

Floodplains & levee

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 • On either side of the middle course of the river are
floodplains, these areas are flat and often become flooded
when heavy rainfall causes the river to overflow. Sometimes
another river (a tributary) will join a river; the joining point is
called a confluence.

The Middle
Course

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 Meander

• A meander is one of a series

of regular sinuous curves,
bends, loops, turns, or
windings in the channel of a
river, stream, or other
watercourse. It is produced by
a stream or river swinging
from side to side as it flows
across its floodplain or shifts
its channel within a valley.

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Oxbow Lake

• An oxbow lake is a U-
shaped lake that forms
when a wide meander of a
river is cut off, creating a
free-standing body of
water.

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Cross-section of a meander

• As a river goes around a bend, most of the

water is pushed towards the outside. This
causes increased speed and therefore
increased erosion (through hydraulic
action and abrasion).
• The lateral erosion on the outside bend causes
undercutting of the bank to form a river cliff.
• Water on the inner bend is slower, causing the
water to slow down and deposit the eroded
material, creating a gentle slope of sand and
shingle.
• The build-up of deposited sediment is known
as a slip-off slope (or sometimes river beach)

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MCW: 15 • Go to google classroom and find MCW 2
titled as “River system.”
• Finish the task in 15 minutes and get back
minutes to zoom meeting window.

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Why do rivers curve?

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End of lesson 7

Thank you

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