RIVERS Revision ;

Upper/middle and lower course features

LO: To know how to recognise main river

features and describe how they are formed.
TASK: Each group of 4 will have half and hour to organise a
presentation to the rest of the class to explain how ONE river
feature is formed:

V-shaped valley
Delta
Waterfall
Meander/migration
Oxbow lake
Rapids
levees

You must include How to recognise your feature, whether it

is found in upper/lower or middle courses, and explain how
they are formed (erosion or deposition?)
V Shaped Valley
River Delta
Waterfall
Meander
Oxbow lake
Rapids
Natural levees
Where do we find them?
 Rapids
• Rapids are stretches of fast-flowing water tumbling over a rocky-shallow
riverbed. They are caused by different resistance among various rock. They
are formed when the water goes from one hard rock that resists the water's
erosion to a softer rock that is easier eroded. The rocks break up the flow of
the flow, but are not big enough to form a waterfall. Over time, rapids are
formed.
Rapids occur in a fast-moving stream littered
with large, hard rock formations.
Water erodes soft land faster than hard, so
the rocks remain standing as incomplete
barriers. The stream’s fast-moving water
rushes around the rocks, often foaming into
“white water.”
 The river erodes vertically at a greater
V-shaped Valley
rate than it does horizontally deepening
the valley.
The river continues to erode vertically,
the river banks become less stable and
after
A period of heavy rain, due to gravity they
collapse.
This creates a v-shaped valley.
The process is repeated, deepening
The valley further.

As the river flows through the valley it is

forced to swing from side to side around
more resistant rock outcrops (spurs). As
there is little energy for lateral erosion,
the river continues to cut down vertically
flowing between spurs of higher land
creating interlocking spurs.
 Waterfall
Many waterfalls form when
• Waterfall rivers meet a band of softer
less resistant rock after
flowing over a relatively hard
resistant rock. The softer
rock is worn away more
quickly, and the harder rock
undercut.
The overhead hard rock
forms an overhang, which
will eventually collapse, to
form a deep plunge pool.
This process is repeated
causing the waterfall to
retreat upstream creating a
gorge in its wake.
 meanders

Within sections of the river channel, the flow

Meander tends to wind from side to side through a
pattern of deep pools and shallower riffles.
Riffles are formed by bed load deposits.
A meander forms when the river channel
bends, most of the water is directed to the
outside of the bend. This reduces friction
and increases the speed of the river at this
point. The river therefore has more energy
to transport through suspension, which will
lead to erosion of the outside bank by
corrasion. The bank will be undercut,
collapse and retreat to leave a small river
cliff.
Meanwhile, there is less water on the inside
of the bend, there is an increase in friction
and a decrease in velocity. As the river loses
energy, it deposits some of its load to form a
slip off slope.
• Ox-Bow lake Following on from the
development of a
meander…..
Continued erosion
(corrasion) on the outside
of the bend results in the
neck of the meander
getting narrower until,
usually at a time of flood,
the river cuts across. The
fastest current will now be
flowing in the centre of the
channel and deposition is
now next to the banks.
The original meander is
blocked off to leave a
crescent shaped Ox-Bow
Lake.
 Levee
Floodplain and levee
In the lower course the river widens its
valley through lateral erosion. At times of
high discharge the river has considerable
amounts of energy, which it uses to
transport material through suspension.
When the river overflows its banks, it will
spread out over the surrounding area which
is flat. This sudden increase in friction will
reduce the velocity of the river causing it to
deposit its load (silt). Each time the river
floods another layer of silt is added creating
natural levee
as flat floodplain.
–noun The coarsest material will be dropped first,
a deposit of sand or mud built up along, and this can form a natural embankment,
and sloping away from, either side of called a Levee next to the river. Levees can
the flood plain of a river or stream. help to prevent further flooding.
 Delta Accumulation of silt deposited
on the seabed at the month of
the river. Because the river’s
velocity is much reduced
when it joins the sea, it must
deposit its load. If the load is
built up above sea level then
mud banks form to create a
delta.

Deltas only form under

certain conditions:

The river must be

Deltas are found at the mouth of large rivers - for transporting a large amount
example, the Mississippi. A delta is formed when the of sediment
river deposits its material faster than the sea can The sea must have a small
remove it. There are three main types of delta, tidal range and weak currents
named after the shape they create (see above): The sea must be shallow at
the river mouth