3/14/2022

Physiography of
Flowing Water

DR MUHAMMAD ARSHAD

Outline

 Characterization of streams

 Stream flow and geology

 Movement of materials by;

 rivers and
 streams

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Characterization of Streams
Classification of streams is based on
 Watershed features such as;
 Discharge
 Number of upstream branches, and

 area

 Water velocity and changes in discharge

 Vegetation
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Characterization of Streams
 Drainage area: the land area that is
drained by all the tributary streams above
a chosen point in the channel.
 Watershed and catchment
 Discharge: value of water passing
through a channel per unit time –
approximately related to the area of the
watershed.
More precipitation  more permanent
streams and rivers, and vice versa. 4

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The Nile is the longest river at 6758 km,

but it only ranks 36th in discharge. 5

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Characterization of Streams
 Stream order:
 Strahler classification system: the smallest streams
are assigned first order.
 Problems with this system:
i) it is often difficult smallest permanent stream
ii) Maps cannot always be relied on for accurate
hydrological information because blue line and
dashed blue line features are not determined
consistently.
iii) Stream order doesn't always correlate with
discharge, water chemistry, or other important
abiotic factors.
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The Strahler method of stream

ordering on a dendritic stream
system.

(A) Order increases only when

two streams of equal order
meet.

(B) Other types of drainage

patterns include rectangular,
which may be found in Karst
systems, and

(C) Parallel, which occur mainly

in deeply eroded areas

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Patterns of Stream channels

 Another way of classification.

 Various patterns develop in response to

geological factors and can give rise to very
different segment lengths of each order.

 Patterns range from highly reticulated to

almost linear in shape.

General trends
 A greater number of low-order streams
occur in a watershed.

 Although streams of higher order have a

greater length per stream.

 The relative abundance of small streams

suggests that processes that occur at the
interference of land or groundwater with
small streams dominate interaction
between aquatic and terrestrial systems. 10

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Relationships between
stream order, average
lengths of each order (A),
number of streams of
each order (B), and total
length of streams of each
order (C) for several
watersheds

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Discharge and water velocity

 Discharge: a volume of water passing
through a channel per unit time.
 Water velocity: the speed of water in any
small region of the channel (current).
 Flow: a general term for movement that
can mean discharge, water velocity or
both.
 Hydrograph: A plot of discharge against
time
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Hydrographs from three river systems plotted

on log scales. 13

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Discharge of the
lower Missouri
River.

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Stream flow & Geology

 Sheet flow: flow across the surface of the
land

 Base flow: constant level of discharge is

streams

 Floods: rapid increase in flow of

discharge – chances are very low, once in
10 years!
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A hypothetical hydrograph
of a storm event with
precipitation and runoff in a
natural area (A) and
hypothetical comparison of
watershed responses
before and after
urbanization (B).

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Flood frequencies plotted as recurrence intervals as a

function of discharge for all recurrence intervals more than 1
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year for a watershed before and after urbanization
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 Riffles: some shallow areas where the

influence of the bottom can be seen at the
surface of flowing water, the turbulent,
shallow areas are termed as riffles.
 Pools: deep areas with relative low water
velocity
 Runs: areas with rapidly moving water but
a smooth surface.
 Reach: pools tend to accumulate fine
sediments, and runs have coarser
substrata. A section of river with several
runs, pools and riffles is called a reach. 20

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Conceptual diagrams of stream geomorphology

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Cross-sectional diagram of a stream

showing the riffle pool sequence

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 Thalweg: A cross-section of the straight

portion of a stream showing the water
velocity maximum in the centre.

 Meander : wandering of streams in “s”

shaped patterns

 Braided: broad sheet patterns

 Floodplains
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Relationship between drainage area and

meander length 24

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