Drainage Basin: an area of land where water from

rain drains downhill into a body of water such as a

river, lake, wetland, or
Ocean

Drainage Divide: an imaginary boundary that

divides the two
drainage basins

Tributary: a small stream or river that flows into a

larger stream or river

Delta: a low-lying plain that is composed of

Surface Water stream-borne sediments deposited by a river at its
-Refers to the water flowing on the surface of the mouth
Earth.
-Undergone the process of runoff

Factors of surface runoff:

• Intensity and duration of rainfall;
• Amount of water already in the soil;
• Nature of the surface material;
• Slope of the land, and;
• Extent and type of vegetation.

PROPERTIES OF RIVER SYSTEM

Streamflow: The flow of the water in river

channels travels downslope under the influence of
gravity.
1. Laminar Flow: water moves in roughly
straight-line paths parallel to the stream
channel
2. Turbulent Flow: water moves in an erratic
fashion characterized by a series of
horizontal and vertical swirling motions
• Whirlpools: when two opposing currents
meet, causing water to rotate
 • Eddies: current created behind a rock or Wetted Perimeter: Refers to the part of the bed
other obstruction that flows in a circular and banks which are in contact with the water in
upstream direction the channel
• Rapids: areas of shallow, fast-flowing
water in a stream

It has a higher wetted perimeter in comparison to

its volume, which increases friction and reduces
velocity.

Flow Velocity: Flow velocities can vary

significantly from place to place along a stream It has a smaller wetted perimeter in comparison to
channel, as well as over time, in response to its volume, because it has smooth banks, friction is
variations in the amount and intensity of reduced, and it allows velocity to increase.
precipitation.
• Velocity increases as you move into deeper
parts of the channel.
• The ability of a stream to erode and
transport material is directly related to its
flow velocity

Factors that affect flow velocity:

1. Channel slope or gradient Discharge: measures the volume of water flowing
2. Channel size and cross-sectional shape past a certain point in a given unit of time.
3. Channel roughness
4. Amount of water flowing in the channel

Stream Gradient: Refers to the slope of the

channel - thevertical drop of a stream over a
specified distance
• The steeper the slope the faster the stream
velocity
WORK OF RUNNING WATER 3. Bed Load: The heavier, coarser‐grained
earth material that travels along the bottom
Stream Erosion: A stream’s ability to accumulate of the stream.
and transport soil and weathered rock is aided by • Traction: Occurs when these
the work of raindrops,which knock sediment fragments move along by rolling
particles loose and sliding.
• Attrition - is when the stones carried in the • Saltation: When turbulent or
load of the river are themselves worn down. eddying currents can temporarily
Stones are smoothed, rounded, and made lift these larger grains into the
smaller by the process of attrition. overlying flow of water—the grains
• Abrasion - this is when the load hits advance by short jumps or skips
against the bed and the banks of the river until the surge diminishes and then
and erodes them rapidly. Abrasion is the fall back to the bottom because of
most powerful way in which the river their greater weight.
erodes.
• Solution - is when the chemicals in the
water help to break down some rocks.
Carbonic acid for example, slowly
dissolves limestone.
• Hydraulic Action - is the force of the
moving water, which breaks fragments
from the bed and the banks of the river. The
material carried along by the river is called
its load.

A stream’s ability to carry solid particles is

described using two criteria:

• Capacity: The maximum load of

sediment that a stream can
transport. It is directly proportional
to the discharge: the greater the
amount of water flowing in the
stream, the greater the amount of
sediment it can carry.
TRANSPORT OF SEDIMENT BY STREAMS • Competence: It is a measure of the
Streams transport their load of sediment in three largest‐sized particle it can
ways: transport; competence is directly
1. Dissolved Load: Earth material that has proportional to a stream's velocity,
been dissolved into ions and carried in which can vary seasonally.
solution. Common ions are calcium,
bicarbonate, potassium, sulfate, and - Because of increased capacity and
chloride. These ions may react to form new competence, a single flood event can
minerals if the proper chemical conditions cause more erosion than a hundred
are encountered during flow. years of standard flow.
2. Suspended Load: Fine‐grained sediment
that remains in the water during - Deposition occurs whenever a stream
transportation. It is generally made up of slows, causing a reduction in
lighter‐weight, finer‐grained particles such competence.
as silt and clay. Most of the sediment in a
stream is carried as suspended load
 - As the velocity decreases, sediment
begins to settle, the largestparticles Alluvial Channel: a stream or channel when the
first. bed and banks are composed mainly of
unconsolidated sediment or alluvium
Sorting: A process of the deposition of sediments
by which solid particles of various sizes are • The major factors affecting the shapes of these
separated channels are the average size of the sediment
being transported, the channel’s gradient, and
Stream Channels discharge.
A basic characteristic that distinguishes • Alluvial channel patterns reflect a stream’s ability
streamflow from overland flow is that it is confined to transport its load at a uniform rate while
in a channel. expending the least amount of
Energy
Stream channel: can be thought of as an open
conduit consisting of the streambed and banks that Two common types of alluvial channels:
act to confine flow except, of course, during floods. • Meandering channel
• Braided channel
Stream channels can be divided into two basic
types: Meandering channel: Streams that transport
• Bedrock Channel much of their load in suspension generally move in
• Alluvial Channel sweeping bends called meanders
• These streams flow in relatively deep,
Bedrock Channel: streams or channels that are smooth channels and primarily transport
cut into the underlying strata and typically form in mud (silt and clay), sand, and occasionally
the headwaters of river systems where streams fine gravel.
have steep slopes. • Meandering channels evolve over time as
• The energetic flow tends to transport individual bends migrate across the
coarse particles that actively floodplain.
abrade the bedrock channel. • Most of the erosion is focused on the
outside of the meander, where velocity and
Pothole: Major erosional landform in a bedrock turbulence are greatest.
channel

Steep bedrock channels often develop a sequence

of pools andsteps, relatively flat segments (pools)
where alluvium tends to accumulate, and steep
segments (steps) where bedrock is exposed.

The channel pattern exhibited by streams cutting

into bedrock is controlled by the underlying
geologic structure
Point Bar: Debris acquired by the stream at the
cut bank moves downstream where the coarser
material is generally deposited
Cut Bank: Area outside the meander where the
erosion is active
Cutoff: A new, shorter channel segment of a river
that may erode through the narrow neck of land
Oxbow Lake: The abandoned bend of the
meander
• Changes in base level cause
corresponding adjustments in the “work”
that streams perform.
• When a dam is built along a stream course,
the reservoir that forms behind it raise the
base level of the stream
• Upstream from the reservoir the stream
gradient is reduced, lowering its velocity
and hence its sediment-transporting ability.
• As a result, the stream deposits material,
thereby building up its channel.
• This process continues until the stream
again has a gradient
sufficient to carry its load.
• The profile of the new channel will be
similar to the old, but
somewhat higher.
Braided Channel: Some streams consist of a
complex network of converging and diverging
channels that thread their way among numerous
islands or gravel bar
• Braided channels form where a large
portion of a stream’s load consists of
coarse material (sand and gravel) and the
stream has a highly variable discharge.

BASE LEVEL AND GRADED STREAMS

Base Level: defined as the lowest elevation to

which a stream can erode its channel.
• Essentially this is the level at which the
mouth of a stream enters the ocean, a lake,
or a trunk stream.
• John Wesley Powell (1875): introduced the
concept of a downward limit to stream
erosion – Base Level
• Ultimate Base Level: Sea level
• Local (Temporary) Base Level: It include
lakes, resistant layers of rock, and rivers
that act as base levels for their tributaries
Graded Stream: Refers to a stream that has a
necessary slope and other channel characteristics
to maintain the minimum velocity required to
transport the material supplied to it.
• Observing streams that adjust their profiles
to changes in base level led to the concept
of a graded stream.
• On average, a graded system is neither
eroding nor depositing material but is Valley Deepening: When a stream’s gradient is
simply transporting it. steep and the channel is well above base level,
• When a stream reaches equilibrium, it downcutting is the dominant activity.
becomes a self-regulating system in which • Abrasion caused by bed load sliding and
a change in one characteristic causes a rolling along the bottom and the hydraulic
change in the others to counteract the power of fast-moving water slowly lowers
effect. the streambed.
• The result is usually a V-shaped valley with
steep sides.
• The most prominent features of V-shaped
valleys are rapids and waterfalls.

*Both occur where the stream’s gradient

increases significantly, a situation usually
caused by variations in the erodability of
the bedrock into which a stream channel is
cutting.

Valley Widening: As a stream approaches a

graded condition, downcutting becomes less
dominant.
• At this point, the stream’s channel takes on
SHAPING STREAM VALLEY a meandering pattern, and more of its
energy is directed from side to side.
Stream Valley: It consists of a channel and the • As a result, the valley widens as the river
surrounding terrain that directs water to the cuts away at one bank and then the other.
stream. • The continuous lateral erosion caused by
• Valley Floor: a lower, flatter area that is shifting meanders gradually produces a
partially or totally occupied by the stream broad, flat valley floor covered with
channel alluvium – floodplain
• Valley Walls: slopes above the valley floor • Over time the floodplain will widen to a
on both sides point where the stream is only actively
eroding the valley walls in a few places.
Alluvial channels often flow in valleys that have
wide valley floors consisting of sand and gravel
deposited in the channel,and clay and silt
deposited by floods.

Bedrock channels tend to be located in narrow V-

shaped valleys.
Incised Meanders: meandering channels that flow Delta: forms where sediment-charged streams
in steep, narrow, bedrock valleys. enter the relatively still waters of a lake, an inland
sea, or the ocean
• Originally the meanders probably • As the stream’s forward motion is slowed,
developed on the floodplain of a stream sediment is deposited by the dying current.
that was in balance with its base level. • As a delta grows outward from the
• Then, a change in base level caused the shoreline, the stream’s gradient continually
stream to begin downcutting. decreases.
• One of two events likely occurred—either • Distributary: Dendritic, shifting channels
base level dropped or the land upon which that spread out across the delta from the
the river was flowing was uplifted. main river channel and disperse the
sediment load.
(River) Terraces: Refers to the remnants of a
former floodplain are sometimes present as Natural Levees: These are embankments formed
relatively flat surfaces naturally after a river floods and recedes that run
• After a river has adjusted in this manner, it parallel to the river channel on both banks
may once again produce a floodplain at a
level below the old one. • When a stream overflows onto the
floodplain, the water flows over the surface
as a broad sheet.
• Because the flow velocity drops
significantly, the coarser portion of the
suspended load is immediately deposited
adjacent to the channel.
• As the water spreads across the floodplain,
a thin layer of fine sediment is laid down
over the valley floor.
• This uneven distribution of material
produces the gentle, almost imperceptible,
DEPOSITIONAL LANDFORMS slope of the natural levee

Point Bars: These small-scale channel deposits Back Swamp: The marshy area behind the levee
is characteristically poorly drained for the obvious
reason that water cannot flow over the levee and
into the river

Yazoo Tributary: When a tributary stream enters

a river valley having a substantial natural levee, it
often flows for many kilometers through the back
swamp before finding an opening where it enters
the main river.
 DRAINAGE PATTERNS

Dendritic Pattern: It is characterized by irregular

branching of tributary streams that resemble the
branching pattern of a deciduous tree
• This drainage pattern develops whenever
underlying bedrock is relatively uniform,
such as flat-lying sedimentary strata or
massive igneous rocks.
• Because the underlying material is
essentially uniform in its resistance to
erosion, it does not control the pattern of
streamflow.
Alluvial Fan: Refers to fan-shaped deposits that
accumulate along steep mountain fronts
• When mountain streams emerge onto a
relatively flat lowland their gradient drops
and they deposit a large portion of their
sediment load.
• Mountain streams, because of their steep
gradients, carry much of their sediment
load as coarse sand and gravel.
• Because alluvial fans are composed of
these same coarse materials, water that Radial Pattern: When streams diverge from a
flows across them readily soaks in. central area, like spokes from the hub of a wheel
• When a stream emerges from its valley • This pattern typically develops on isolated
onto an alluvial fan, its flow divides itself volcanic cones and domal uplifts.
into several distributary channels.
• The fan shape is produced because the
main flow swings back and forth between
the distributaries from a fixed point where
the stream exits the mountain.

Rectangular Pattern: When streams have right-

angle bends
• This pattern typically develops where the
bedrock is crisscrossed by a series of
joints.
• Because fractured rock tends to weather
and erode more easily than unbroken rock,
the geometric pattern of joints guides the
direction of streams as they carve their
valleys.
 Flood Control Projects

Artificial Levees: These are earthen mounds built

on riverbanks to increase the volume of water the
channel can hold. In some locations, concrete
floodwalls are constructed that function as artificial
levees.

Trellis Pattern: A rectangular pattern in which

tributary streams are nearly parallel to one another
and have the appearance of a garden trellis.
• This pattern forms in areas underlain by
alternating bands of resistant and less
resistant rock

Flood-Control Dams: These are built to store

floodwater and then release it slowly, in a
controlled manner. Many dams have significant
non-Nflood-related functions such as providing
water for irrigated agriculture and for hydroelectric
power generation.

FLUVIAL HAZARDS

Flood
Occurs when the flow of a stream becomes so
great that it exceeds the capacity of its channel and
overflows its banks
• Regional Flood: Seasonal floods resulted
in numerous heavy rain events.
• Flash Floods: Occur with little warning and
are potentially deadly because they
produce rapid rises in water levels and can Channelization: It involves altering a stream
have devastating flow velocities. channel in order to make the flow more efficient.
• Dam-Failure Flood: Human interference This may simply involveNclearing a channel of
with stream systems can also cause floods. obstructions or dredging a channel to make it wider
When larger floods occur, the dam or levee and deeper.
may fail, resulting in the water behind it
being released as a flash flood.
Groundwater
Refers to the water below the water table Artesian Well: a well in which water rises under
Different geologic formations of groundwater: pressure from a permeable stratum overlaid by
1. Aquifer impermeable rock
2. Aquitard
3. Aquiclude Flowing Artesian Well: if the water in the aquifer
4. Aquifuge reaches the surface due to its natural pressure

Potentiometric Surface: the imaginary plane

where a given reservoir of fluid will “equalize out
to” if allowed to flow

The Water Table

It refers to the upper limit of the zone of saturation,
which is a very significant feature of the
groundwater system.

Unsaturated Zone (Vadose Zone): Refers to the

portion of the subsurface above the water table.
Aquifer
Saturated Zone (Phreatic Zone): Refers to the
• An aquifer is a saturated formation of the
part of an aquifer, below the water table, in
earth. It not only stores the water but also
which relatively all pores and fractures are
yields it in adequate quantity.
saturated with water.
• Aquifers are highly permeable formations
and hence they are considered as main
Capillary Fringe: Refers to a narrow zone of
sources of groundwater applications.
saturation where water is wicked upward in
• Unconsolidated deposits of sand and
pore spaces due to capillary forces.
gravel are examples of anaquifer.

Variations in Water Table

Recharge Area: area wherein water enters the
aquifer • An important characteristic of the water
table is that its configuration varies
Confining Unit: a geologic unit little or no intrinsic seasonally and from year to year because
Permeability the addition of water to the groundwater
system is closely related to the quantity,
Unconfined Aquifer: an aquifer without a distribution, and timing of precipitation.
confining unit on top of it • Its elevation can be mapped and studied in
detail where wells are numerous because
Confined Aquifer: an aquifer overlain by a
confining layer
 the water level in wells coincides with the are joints, faults, cavities formed by the
water table. dissolving of soluble rocks such as
• Its shape is usually a subdued replica of the limestone, and vesicles
surface topography, reaching its highest • Where sediments are poorly sorted, the
elevations beneath hills and then porosity is reduced because the finer
descending toward valleys particles tend to fill the openings among the
larger grains
• Most igneous and metamorphic rocks, as
well as some sedimentary rocks, are
composed of tightly interlocking crystals, so
the voids between the grains may be
negligible. In these rocks, fractures must
provide the voids.
Interaction of Groundwater and Streams
Permeability: Ability of a material to transmit fluid
Gaining Stream: Streams that may gain water • The pores must be connected to allow
from the inflow of groundwater through the water flow, and they must be large
streambed. enough to allow flow.
• The elevation of the water table must be • Groundwater moves by twisting and
higher than the level of the surface of the turning through interconnected small
stream. openings.
• The smaller the pore spaces, the
Losing Stream: Streams may lose water to the slower the water moves.
groundwater system by outflow through the
streambed.
• The elevation of the water table is lower Groundwater Flow
than the surface of the stream. • Groundwater move along flow paths from
areas of recharge to a zone of discharge
Hybrid Stream: A stream that gains in some along a stream.
sections and loses in others. • Discharge also occurs at springs, lakes, or
wetlands, as well as in coastal areas as
seeps into bays or the ocean.
• The energy that makes groundwater move
is provided by the force of gravity.
• Water moves from areas where the water
table is high to zones where the water table
is lower.
• Water at any given height is under greater
pressure beneath a hill than beneath a
stream channel, and the water tends to
migrate toward points of lower pressure.

Factors Affecting the Movement of

Groundwater

Porosity: Refers to the percentage of the total

volume of rock or sediment that consists of pore
spaces.
Pore Spaces (Voids): These are openings similar
to those of a sponge
• Voids most often are spaces between
sedimentary particles, but also common
Hydraulic Gradient:

• Q → groundwater discharge
• K → hydraulic conductivity
• A → cross-sectional area of the aquifer
• h1 – h2 → elevation difference
• d → horizontal distance between the two
→ hydraulic gradient
points
• Postulated by Henry Darcy (French
scientist-engineer) Springs
• The velocity of groundwater flow is • Occurs whenever the water table intersects
proportional to the slope of the water table Earth’s surface, a natural outflow of
• The steeper the slope, the faster the water groundwater results
moves (because the steeper the slope, the • An area on the surface of the Earth where
greater the pressure difference between the water table intersects with the surface
two points). and water flows out of the ground.
• Some occur when an aquitard intersects an
aquifer at the surface of the Earth
• Can occur along fault zones

Wells
Hydraulic Conductivity • A deep hole that is dug into the ground to
• Refers to a coefficient that takes into penetrate and aquifer within the saturated
account the permeability of the aquifer and zone.
the viscosity of the fluid • Wells serve as small reservoirs into which
• It is denoted by k. groundwater migrates and from which it
• the flow velocity varied with the can be pumped to the surface.
permeability of the sediment— • The water-table level may fluctuate
groundwater flows more rapidly through considerably during the course of a year,
sediments having greater permeability than dropping during dry seasons and rising
through materials having lower following periods of rain.
permeability. • Drawdown: Refers to the effect of water
extraction in wells when the water table
Groundwater Discharge around the well is lowered
• Refers to the actual volume of water that
flows through an aquifer in a specified time
• It is denoted by Q.
• It is expressed as the Darcy’s Law
Cone of Depression: Refers to a depression in
the water table, roughly conical in shape, when the
drawdown decreases with increasing distance
from the well

Hot Springs and Geysers

Hot Springs: When the water is 6 to 9 °C (11 to

16 °F) warmer than the mean annual air
Artesian Wells temperature for the localities where they occur.
• When water in the well rises, sometimes • An average of about 2 °C per 100 meters
overflowing on the surface
(1 °F per 100 feet)
• When groundwater circulates at great
Two conditions on the occurrence of artesian
depths, it becomes heated.
wells:
• If it rises to the surface, the water may
1. Water is confined to an aquifer that is
emerge as a hot spring.
inclined so that one end is exposed at the
• The reason for such a distribution is that the
surface, where it can receive water; and
source of heat for most hot springs is
2. Aquitards, both above and below the
cooling igneous
aquifer, must be present to prevent the
water from escaping
Geysers: Refers to an intermittent hot springs or
fountains where columns of water are ejected with
• When such a layer is tapped, the pressure
great force at various intervals, often rising 30 to
created by the weight of the water above
60 meters (100 to 200 feet) into the air
will force the water to rise.
• After the jet of water ceases, a column of
• If there were no friction, the water in the
steam rushes out, usually with a
well would rise to the level of the water at
thunderous roar.
the top of the aquifer. However, friction
• Geysers occur where extensive
reduces the height of this pressure surface.
underground chambers exist within hot
• The greater the distance from the recharge
igneous rocks.
area (area where water enters the inclined
• As relatively cool groundwater enters the
aquifer), the greater the friction and the less
chambers, it is heated by the surrounding
the rise of water.
rock.
• At the bottom of the chambers, the water is
under great pressure because of the weight
of the overlying water.
• This great pressure prevents the water
from boiling at the normal surface
temperature of 100 °C (212 °F).
 cavern and form where water seeps through
cracks above. When the water reaches the air in
the cave, some of the carbon dioxide in solution
escapes from the drop and calcium carbonate
precipitates.
• Stalagmite: Speleothems that form on the
floor of a cavern and reach upward toward
the ceiling The water supplying the calcite
for stalagmite growth falls from the ceiling
and splatters over the surface. As a result,
stalagmites do not have a central tube, and
they are usually more massive in
appearance and more rounded on their
upper ends than stalactites.
• Column: The merging of stalactite and
stalagmite

Cave Formation
• The most spectacular results of
groundwater’s erosional handiwork in the
karst area
• Karst: Many areas of the world have
landscapes that to a large extent have
been shaped by the dissolving power of
groundwater
• Most caverns are created at or just below
the water table in the zone of saturation.
• Here acidic groundwater follows lines of
weakness in the rock, such as joints and
Environmental Problems Associated with
bedding planes. As time passes, the
Groundwater
dissolving process slowly creates cavities
and gradually enlarges them into caverns.
Land Subsidence
• The material dissolved by groundwater is
• It is a result from natural processes related
carried away and discharged into streams
to groundwater. However, the ground may
and transported to the ocean.
also sink when water is pumped from
wells faster than natural recharge
Cavern Features
processes can replace it.
• Travertine: limestone rock that is left
• This effect is particularly pronounced in
behind by the cave formation
areas underlain by thick layers of loose
• Dripstone: type of travertine formed from
sediment.
the dipping of water with dissolved calcium
• As water is withdrawn, the weight of the
carbonate
overburden packs the sediment grains
• Speleothem: collective term of different
more tightly together and the ground
types of dripstone
subsides.

Speleothem: collective term of different types of

dripstone
• Stalactite: These icicle-like pendants hang
from the ceiling of the
Groundwater Contamination
• Addition of unwanted substances into the
groundwater

Sources of Contamination:
• Pesticides and herbicides
• Fertilizers
• Landfills
• Sewers and septic tanks
• Gasoline tanks
• Biological waste products

Sinkhole
• Karst areas typically have irregular terrain
punctuated with many depressions

Sinkholes commonly form in two ways:

1. Some develop gradually over many years

without any physical disturbance to the
rock.
• In these situations, the limestone
immediately below the soil is dissolved by
Saltwater Intrusion downward-seeping rainwater that is freshly
• It is the movement of saline water into charged with carbon dioxide.
freshwater aquifers, which can lead to • With time, the bedrock surface is lowered
contamination of drinking water sources and the fractures into which the water
and other consequences. seeps are enlarged.
• It occurs naturally to some degree in most • As the fractures grow in size, soil subsides
coastal aquifers, owing to the hydraulic into the widening voids, from which it is
connection between groundwater and removed by groundwater flowing in the
seawater. passages below. These depressions are
• Because saline water has a higher mineral usually shallow and have gentle slopes.
content than freshwater, it is denser and
has a higher water pressure. 2. By contrast, sinkholes can also form
• As a result, saltwater can push inland abruptly and without warning when the roof
beneath the freshwater. of a cavern collapses under its own weight.
• Water extraction drops the level of fresh • Typically, the depressions created
groundwater, reducing its water pressure in this manner are steep-sided and
and allowing saltwater to flow further deep.
inland. • When they form in populous areas,
they may represent a serious
geologic hazard.