RIVERS

9 IG – GEOGRAPHY
 RIVERS AND DRAINAGE BASINS
15.09.2020
 All rivers receive their water from precipitation – that is
rain, hail, snow.
 The relationship between precipitation and the amount
of water in a river – known as discharge and it is not
straight forward.
 Only a small amount of water that falls reaches the river,
which is just part of the water, or hydrological , cycle.
 Once clouds have released the precipitation , many
different routes and destinations are possible for water.
 RIVERS AND DRAINAGE BASINS
 Once clouds have released the precipitation , many different routes
and destinations are possible for water.
 Evaporate back into the atmosphere
 Be transpired by plants
 Be kept by plants or in the soil
 Stay for a time in lakes, glaciers or reservoirs
 Infiltrate (penetrate) into the ground to become groundwater.
 Run off the surface immediately into rivers.
 Through rivers, the water reaches the sea to be evaporated again and
the water cycle continues.
EXPLAIN EACH !!!!!
 DRAINAGE BASIN CHARATERISTICS
(16.09.2020 & 18.09.2020)
 The drainage basin includes all the area
drained by a river and its tributaries.
 The drainage basin is also known as the
river’s catchment (the action of
collecting water, especially the
collecting of rainfall) area.
 The border or edge of the drainage
basin is called the watershed.
 The boundary is usually on the tops of
hills and mountains, or high ground,
which surround the drainage basin.
 It is also called the divide because it
separates one drainage basin from
others.
 THE WORK OF RIVERS (21.09.2020)
 EROSION:
 HYDRAULIC ACTION: The force and impact of flowing water alone
can remove material from the bed and banks of a river.
 CORRASION (ABRASION): The effect of the load grinding away at the
bed and banks of a river like sandpaper. This is the most effective process
of river erosion.
 ATTRITION: As material wears away the bed and banks, it also becomes
smaller and more rounded and less effective in carrying our erosion
 SOLUTION (CORROSION): Some rocks dissolve in the presence of
water. Limestone.
 These processes can take place at the same time, so it is difficult to
know which processes are operating at any one place in the river
 THE WORK OF RIVERS
 TANSPORT:
 SOLUTIONS LOAD: Minerals are dissolved and carried in
solution. This requires less energy.
 SUSPENSION LOAD: Very light materials are carried near the
surface giving the river its colour – Blue Nile
 SALTATION LOAD: Small pebbles and stones are bounced along
the riverbed.
 TRACTION LOAD: Heavy boulders and rocks are rolled along the
river bed. This requires the more energy.
 THE WORK OF RIVERS
 DEPOSITION
 The river deposits material when its energy decreases.
 It is no longer competent to transport it’s load.
 This is because the river channel becomes more gentle.
 The first material to be deposited is the heaviest and lighter ones
follow.
 The finest material is carried be the river which approaches the sea
and deposits fine material.
 This fine material is called alluvium.
 Several floods can build up the valley floor – creating a flood plain.
 EROSION OF RIVER VALLEY
 While the water in the river is eroding the banks and bed of the river, the shape of its valley is
also changing.
 The two main types of erosion involved in changing the valley shape are :
 Vertical erosion – the steam flows downhill as it tries to reach sea level from its source.
This results in the bed being eroded and the river channel getting lower .
 Erosion smoothes the river’s long profile by removing uneven gradients in the riverbed
which creates waterfall and rapids. Eventually vertical erosion creates a smooth, concave,
long profile.
 Lateral erosion – the river also erodes away at its banks and the sideways erosion widens
the river channel. Above the river level there is weathering and erosion taking place from
other processes unrelated to the river water. These processes wear away the valley sides.
 Together vertical and lateral erosion create the distinctive V- shaped valley that is found in
rivers in their upper courses. As the river gets closer to the sea, there is more lateral
erosion than vertical erosion and the V flattens out into a much wider shape
 RIVER LANDFORMS – 1
 The shape of a river valley is influenced by many factors:
 The rate of vertical erosion, or downcutting, by the river
 The rate of lateral erosion by weathering and erosion
 The geology of the valley
 The climate of the valley
 Time.
 WRITE A SHORT NOTE ON THE GRAND CANYON
 WATERFALLS
 A waterfall is a fast – flowing and vertical erosion in the main process. As the waterfall cuts
down through the rock, it appears to move back upstream or “retreat’. This produces a gorge
nearly 10 Km long to the north of the current site.
 REVIER LANDFORMS – 2
 A meander is a bend in a river
channel. Meanders form when water in
the river erodes the banks on the
outside of the channel. The water
deposits sediment on the inside of the
channel. Meanders only occur on flat
land where the river is large and
established.
 OXBOW LAKE
 As a river reaches flatter land, it
swings from side to side, forming
winding bends called
meanders. ... Eventually the river
may take a short cut, cutting
across the narrow neck of the
loop, leaving a separated U-
shaped lake known as
an oxbow.
 LEVEES AND FLOOD PLAINS
 A levee is a natural or artificial wall that
blocks water from going where we don't
want it to go. ... The banks
form levees made of sediment, silt, and
other materials pushed aside by the
flowing water. Levees are usually
parallel to the way the river flows,
so levees can help direct the flow of the
river.
 A flood plain is an area of flat land
alongside a river. This area gets covered
in water when the river floods. Flood
plains are naturally very fertile due to the
river sediment which is deposited there.
 DELTAS
 Deltas are wetlands that form
as rivers empty their water and
sediment into another body of
water, such as an ocean, lake,
or another river. Although very
uncommon, deltas can also
empty into land. A river moves
more slowly as it nears its
mouth, or end.
 RIVERS – HAZARDS AND OPPORTUNITIES
 HAZARDS:
 Loss of housing, forcing a move else where
 Lower house prices and higher insurance coasts
 Loss and diversion of transport routes
 Loss of social, environmental and economic amenities
 Stress, injuries and death
 OPPORTUNITIES:
 water for domestic use
 water for industrial use
 water for irrigation
 Water for electricity