RIVERS AND THEIR BEHAVIOR

Importance of Rivers

 WATER IS THE MOST IMPORTANT NATURAL RESOURCE

 THE PROSPERITY OF A NATION DEPENDS UPON THE

EXPLOITATION OF THIS RESOURCE
 WATER IS THE WEALTH OF A NATION

 RIVERS FULFIL OUR DOMESTIC, MUNICIPAL, IRRIGATION AND

OTHER DEMANDS
 IN THE EARLY STAGE THERE WERE NO CONTROL OVER THIS

RESOURCE
 IN THE PASSGE OF TIME, MEN HAS DEVISED AND IS DEVISING

MEANS TO CONTROL THE RIVERS

 SO WE NEED TO STUDY THE RIVERS, THEIR BEHAVIORNAND

DEVELOP MEANS AND WAYS TO CONTROL IT

 Importance of rivers

• Provide water and nutrients for agriculture

• Provide habitat to diverse flora and fauna
• Provide routes for commerce
• Provide recreation
• Provide electricity

www.aquatic.uoguelph.ca/rivers/chintro.htm
 CLASSIFICATION OF RIVERS

ON THE BASIS OF TOPOGRAPHY

 Rivers in Hills
 Incised or Rocky River Stage
 Boulder River Stage
 Rivers in Alluvial Plains
 Aggrading Rivers
 Degrading Rivers
 Stable Rivers
 Braided Rivers
 Deltaic Rivers
 Tidal Rivers
On the Basis of Flood Hydrograph
 Flashy Rivers
 Virgin Rivers
CLASSIFICATION OF RIVERS

Rivers in Hills
• Generally take off from the mountains
• Flow through hilly regions before traversing the plains
Rocky Stage or Incised River Stage
• Flow channel formed by the process of erosion/degradation
• Sediment transported is different from bed material
• River reaches are highly steep with swift flow
• Bed and bank are less susceptible to erosion
Boulder River Stage
• River bed consists of boulders, gravels, shingles and alluvial sand
deposit
• Later stage river flows through deep well defined beds and wider
flood plains in a zig zag manner
• During flood boulders, gravels and shingles are transported down
stream
• As the flood subside, these material gets deposited
 Longitudinal Stream Profile
Can be divided into 3 main parts

Drainage (Tributary) System Transport System Distributary System

CLASSIFICATION OF RIVERS

Rivers in Alluvial Flood Plain

• Flows in zig-zag fashion called meandering
Aggrading Rivers
• Is a silting river
• Increases its bed slope
• Silting may be due to heavy sediment load, construction across the river,
sudden intrusion of sediment

Final bed of river

Silting

Original inadeqaute bed slope

CLASSIFICATION OF RIVERS

Degrading Rivers
• River bed constantly getting scour to reduce and dissipate available
excess land slope
Stable Type
• Regime channel
• No change in its alignment, slope
Braided Rivers
• River flows in two or more channels around alluvial islands
• Develops after local deposition of coarser material
Braided Pattern = high slope + high stream
power + coarse bed materials
CLASSIFICATION OF RIVERS

Deltaic Rivers
• Before joining the sea, gets divided into branches forming the shape
of delta
• As the river approaches the sea, velocity get reduced, channel gets
silted and water level rises

Main River
Br
s an
he ch
nc es
a
Br Delta formation

Sea
CLASSIFICATION OF RIVERS

Tidal Rivers
• Tail reaches of the rivers adjoining the ocean are affected by the
tides in the ocean
• Ocean water enters during the tide and goes out during ebb tide
• Undergoes periodical rise and fall in water level.
• Distance upto which tidal water is expected depends upon
shape configuration of the river, tidal range etc
Flashy Rivers
• Flood rise and fall in a river is sudden
• Flood hydrographs are very steep
Virgin Rivers
• In arid regions, river water may completely dry before it joins
another river or the ocean
• After flowing for a certain distance, water may goes off due to
high percolation or evaporation
CLASSIFICATION OF RIVERS

Rivers are classified as

1. Alluvial
2. Braided rivers
3. Meandering rivers

http://facstaff.gpc.edu/~pgore/geology/historical_lab/
sedenvirons.htm
 Alluvial Rivers

An alluvial river is river in which the bed and banks

are made up of mobile sediment and/or soil. Alluvial
rivers are self-formed, meaning that their channels
are shaped by the magnitude and frequency of the
floods that they experience, and the ability of these
floods to erode, deposit, and transport sediment. As
such, alluvial rivers can assume a number of forms
based on the properties of their banks; the flows they
experience; the local riparian ecology, and the
amount, size, and type of sediment that they carry.
These forms can be meandering, braiding, wandering
and (occasionally) straight
 Alluvial Fans
• cone or apron shaped deposit
of sediment crossed and built
up by streams
• They typically form at the base
of topographic features where
there is a marked break in slope
• Common in arid (Death Valley)

and semi arid regions

• Tend to be coarse grained at
the mouth
• At the edges can be relatively
fine grained
 Main Alluvial Channel
French
Pyrenees,
decreased
velocities as
channel
mouth
widens lead
to deposition
Alluvial Fans

• Stream flow episodic(periodic), occurs

during flood
• debris flow common in arid/semiarid
regions
• mudflow-mostly sand and finer
sediments
• landslides, slumps, etc
 Alluvial Fans
Fan consists of:
1. upper fan or
proximal fan-steep,
coarse sediments,
entrenched channels,
debris flows
2. mid fan-less
gradient, sediments
fine, branching
shallow channels
3. distal fan- low
gradients, fine
sediments, poorly
defined channels
ALLUVIAL FAN
 BEHAVOUR OF RIVERS
• Main factor responsible for moulding the river behavior
is silt and sediment that flows in the river
• Sediment carries by the rivers poses numerous
problems such as:
- Increasing of flood levels
- Silting of reservoirs
- Silting of irrigation and navigation channels
- meandering of rivers
- splitting up of a river into a no of interlaced
channel
• Meandering causes the rivers to leave their original
courses, forces them to flow along new courses
• Behaviour of rivers in special situations such as bend,
meanders and cutoffs are discussed below:
 BEHAVOUR OF RIVERS
 Straight Reaches
- River cross section is in the shape of trough
- High velocity flow in the middle of the section
- Water surface level lower in the middle and higher at
the edges
- Due to the transverse gradient from sides towards
the centre, transverse rotary current get developed
 BEHAVOUR OF RIVERS
 Bends:
 Meandering Rivers

• Constantly erode material - Cut bank

• Constantly deposit material - Point bar
• Change their channel course gradually
• Create floodplains wider than the channel
• Very Fertile soil
• Subjected to seasonal flooding
 Meandering Rivers
Meander
 Formation of successive bends of reverse order may lead to the
formation of a complete S curve called meander
• When consecutive curves of reverse order connected with short
straight reaches called crossings are developed in a river reach, the
river is said to be meandering river
Causes of Meandering
• Extra turbulence generated by the excess of river sediment is the
main cause
• When the silt charge is in excess of the quantity require for stability,
the river starts building up its slope by depositing silt on its bed
• Thus the river reach become aggrading or accretion type
 Development of Meanders

Variables govern
meandering process

• Valley Slope

• Silt grade and silt

charge

• Discharge

• Bed and side material

and their susceptibility
to erosion
Point bar
deposits
 Point Bar Deposits

Point bar deposits grows laterally

through time
 Cut bank erosion

Point bar
deposits

}
Meander loop
Formation of an Oxbow
Meandering stream
flowing from
top of screen
to bottom
Maximum
deposition Maximum
erosion
 Meander scars

Oxbow Lake

Oxbow
cuttoff
 MEANDER PARAMETER

Meandering Length, ML

Axis

Normal River Width, W

Meandering
Width, MB
Meander Length,ML
• It is the axial length of one meander, i.e the tangential distance
between the corresponding points of a meander

Meandering Width, MB
• It is the distance between the outer edges of clockwise and
anticlockwise loops of the meander

Meander Ratio

MB/ML

Tortuosity
• It is the ratio of the length along the channel to the direct axial length
of the river reach

Crossings or cross overs

• The short straight reaches of the river, connecting two consecutive
clockwise and anticlockwise loops are called crossings or cross overs
Dominant Discharge
• The discharge which determines the meander length and
meander width or belt, may be called the dominant
discharge
• Dominant discharge is different from maximum discharge
• At maximum discharge, main flow swings away from the
bank and erosion at the bank reduced
• Meander pattern is developed due to the combined effect
of discharge cycle during flood season, not by the
maximum discharge
• Dominant discharge is 1/2 to 2/3 of maximum discharge

Meander Length

ML =65.8(Q dominant)1/2
Cut off
• in an excessively meandering river, a particular bend may be
abandoned by the formation of a straighter channel and a shorter
channel
• This chord or shorter length is called cut off
• Meander increases the river length and cut off reduces the river
length
www.gly.uga.edu/railsback/1121Lxr28.html
Chutes and Lateral Accretion Surfaces
 Crevasse splay deposits

Lobate in shape
Deposit sand and silt
Sed from traction and
suspension
Get coarse bedload and
fines forming
graded beds
Lobes spread onto floodplain
with fingers of sand
extending beyond the
main lobe
Deep crevasses may tap into
lower levels of main
channel
allows coarser sediment
to escape on http://faculty.gg.uwyo.edu/heller
floodplain
Bryants Creek, MO
 Flood Plain Deposits

Composed of:
Predominately fine
Grain material
Which Escape
Through flooding
 BRAIDED RIVER

Braided Rivers exhibit numerous

channels that split off and
rejoin each other to give a
braided appearance. They
typically carry fairly coarse-
grained sediment down a
fairly steep gradient.
Additionally, the water
discharge tends to be highly
variable. Consequently,
braided rivers usually exist
near mountainous regions,
especially those with
glaciers.
 BRAIDED RIVER
Famous Braided Rivers
 The Platte River, Nebraska
 The Brahmaputra and Jamuna Rivers in Bangladesh
 Yellow River in China

The Platte River in Nebraska is a slow and shallow river that has multiple
channels in some areas, creating many islands. Traveling by boat is difficult
in many parts of the river. In the region where the Brahmaputra and Jamuna
Rivers meet in Bangladesh, there is a braided river system draining into
Bengal Bay of the Indian Ocean.
The Brahmaputra and Jamuna rivers are known to change their path as they flow
over the land, which can sometimes cause flooding and loss of life and property.
The Brahmaputra River is unusual for having a tidal bore, a wave that travels
upstream for many miles during the rising tide.
The Yellow River (Huang He) in China is considered to be the cradle of
Chinese civilization. It has also been responsible for much loss of life during
its history as it changes course, sometimes causing catastrophic flooding.
Course changes and the channels of its braided river system are caused by
sediment that comes down from the mountains, raising the level of the river.
The sediment is created from erosion that occurs in the mountains, some of
which is man-made.
BRAIDED RIVER-BRAHMAPUTRA
CONCLUSION