2.

The Lower Course

o The lower course of a river is characterized by;

o Wide river channel due to lateral erosion
o Gentle sides
o Large river discharge
o Low water velocity
o Low gradient of the river channel

Lower course main landforms are:

a) Meanders and ox-bow lakes

b) Floodplains and Levées

c) Deltas

a) Meanders and Ox-bow Lakes

Meanders

o It is a curve or a bend on a river channel.

Image
 Formation
o Formed in the lower and middle course of a river.
o They form when rivers flow until they meet obstacles e.g. deposited large river
load.
o The river is forced to moves around the obstacle.
o This forms curves or bends on the river channel called meanders.

o A meander has 3 parts;

o inner bend
o outer bend
o neck of the meander/meander neck
 Student activity
Sketching and labelling meanders

Ox-bow lakes
It is a u-shaped water body that cuts off from river meanders from the main
channel.
Image

Formation
o Formed in the lower and middle course of a river.
o After meanders form, they can cut off from the main river due to both
erosion and deposition of materials.
o Erosion occurs on the inner bend of the meander making the meander neck
narrower and narrower until it cuts off from the main river.
o Deposition occurs from the outer bend of the meander.
o The detached u-shaped part of the river forms an ox bow lake.
o The river then flows on a straight channel.

NB

The ox bow lake can dry up in case of prolonged lack of rainfall.

 Student activity
Sketching and describing formation of meanders and ox bow lakes

b) Flood plains and Levées

Flood plains

It is a wide, flat land next to the river channel.

Image
 Formation
They form in the lower course of the river during floods.
The river overflows its banks and spreads the river load on the surrounding flat
land.
The overflowing water loses its energy causing deposition of materials on the
surrounding flat land.
Continuous accumulation of these materials leads to formation of flood plains.
Each time the river floods, another layer of materials is added.

Levees
It is a natural embankment formed along river banks. i.e. it is a raised river bank.
Image
 Formation
Formed in the lower course of a river.
Forms from deposition of very heavy materials/ huge rocks along the river banks.
As flood water overflows the banks to the flood plain, the heaviest materials are
deposited along the riverbanks
The heavy materials pile upwards to form levees.
They raise the level of the riverbanks.

NB
Flood plains are formed from continuous deposition of fine lighter materials on
the surrounding flat land
Levees are formed from continuous deposition of huge heavy materials along the
river banks

OR
 Student activity
Sketching and describing formation of flood plains and levees

c] Deltas

It is accumulated/deposited materials that rise over water and the distributaries at the
mouth of the river.

Distributary is when the main channel splits into smaller channels at the mouth of a river
due to deposition of materials.

They form as rivers empty their water and sediments into a water body eg ocean or
lake.

Image
 Formation

They form in the lower course of the river specifically at the mouth.

They form due to deposition of huge materials along the river channel.

The load builds up along the river channel blocking free flow of water.

This causes the main channel to split into several small channels called distributaries.

The load deposited along the channel and the distributaries form a delta.
Examples of deltas in the world are;

 Nile delta

 Mississippi delta

NB

As deposition of very heavy materials continues, the delta may grow into the ocean.

Rivers that end at the sea as one channel are called estuaries.

Student activity
Sketching and describing formation of deltas
Student activity

(c) Explain how and why a delta has formed in a named area which you have studied.
You should use a labeled diagram or diagrams in your answer. [7]