Rivers: Profiles & Landforms
Higher Geography
The Hydrosphere
River ProfileSourceof river
UpperCourse
MiddleCourse
LowerCourse
River speed
Fastest??
Fastest??
Fastest??
Reality Landscapes have been modified by ice. Waterfalls and rapids interrupt smooth profiles.
Upper Course
Lower Course
Contrasting river landforms from source to mouth
Channel features
Valley features
Long profile
Upper Course - Channel features
• River channel is rocky.
• Covered with various shapes and sizes of boulder.
• Discharge is low.
• Under flood conditions rivers energy is expended on vertical erosion with hydraulic action and corrosion processes at work.
• Potholes may form.
Vertical erosion
Pothole formation
Upper Course - Valley features
• Valley sides are steep and form a ‘V’ shaped cross section.
• Interlocking spurs.
V shaped valley
Steep sides
Zig-zag bends
(interlocking spurs)
V – shaped valley
Form due to a combination of the following processes:
Vertical erosion by the river itself.
Physical weathering (eg: frost action) which provides debris to move down slope.
Mass movement (inc: soil creep & landslides) to move debris down slope.
Interlockingspurs
River flows aroundinterlocking spurs
Upper Course – Long Profile
• Generally the gradient is steep and the profile is uneven, particularly where waterfalls and rapids form.
Waterfall formation
Hard Rock – LavaSoft Rock – Sandstone or Conglomerates
Soft rock is easy to erode, but the hard rock is resistant.
So over time a ledge develops.
Waterfall formation
The water rushes over the ledge and erodes a plunge pool by abrasion and hydraulic action.
Hard Rock – LavaSoft Rock – Sandstone or Conglomerates
Waterfall formation
The ledge collapses into the plunge pool, where the debris helps to speed up the erosion.
Hard Rock – LavaSoft Rock – Sandstone or Conglomerates
Waterfall formation
The process is repeated and the waterfall gradually retreats upstream, carving out a gorge.
Hard Rock – LavaSoft Rock – Sandstone or Conglomerates
PLUNGE POOLUNDERCUTTIN
G OF SOFT ROCK
OVERHANG
WATERFALL RETREATS . .UPSTREAM . .
Formation of rapids
Resistant rock
Less Resistant Rock
Middle Course - Channel features
• Channel is now wider and has smoother banks and bed compared to the upper course.
Middle Course - Valley features
• River erosional energy is now increasingly expended horizontally rather than vertically.
• Lateral erosion by the river’s meanders broadens the valley floor into a narrow flood plain.
• Meanders gradually shift their course downstream.
Middle Course 1
Middle Course 2
MeandersA meander starts as a slight bend:
Water flows faster on the outer curve of the bend (more energy), and slowest on the inner curve (less energy).
So the outer bank gets eroded while material is deposited at the inner bank.
Over time the outer bank gets worn away (river cliff) and the inner one builds up (river beach). The bend grows into a meander.
Meanders (refer to previous notes and diagrams)
• Alternating series of irregularities develop• Pools – deeper stretches of slow moving water• Riffles – shallower section of faster flow,
flowing above coarser material• River develops a winding or sinuous course• Faster flow on outer bend results in erosion
and formation of River Cliff• Slower flow on inside of bend results in
deposition and formation of Slip-off Slope
Meanders• Meanders develop and
migrate laterally and downstream
• Helicoidal flow further assists meander formation and transports sediment from river cliff to the slip-off slope on the inside of the next bend.
MEANDERS
Flood plain
MeandersMost erosionon the outsideof the bend .. Fastest flow
Possible breakthrough point
Possible ox-bowlake
Meanders
Middle Course - Profile
Middle Course - Profile
• Gradient is now less steep.
• Overall the profile is smooth – but an outcrop of resistant rock could still cause a waterfall.
Lower Course - Channel features
• The channel is now at its broadest and deepest.
• Bedload is carried entirely in suspension and is solution.
• Deposition now dominates – particularly during floods.
• Erosion also occurs – in the formation of meanders
Lower Course – Valley features
• Thanks to lateral erosion the valley sides may now be several kilometres away.
• Typically it may also contain the following features:
Floodplain & natural levées
Braided channels
Meanders
Oxbow lakes
Estuaries and deltas
Lower Course
Natural levées
• As the river floods, sediment is dropped over all the flooded areas but most falls along the river channel itself.
• This sediment raises the height of the banks is flooding occurs regularly
• Levees themselves do not prevent flooding because as the banks are raised, more sediment is dropped on the river bed, raising the water level.
Gentle valley sides
Flat floodplain
Layers of siltDeposited during floods
Coarse materialForms naturallevees
River is actually flowing aboveThe floodplain !!
Levees is oftenartificiallystrengthened
Braided channels
• Formed by the choking of the main channel by the deposition of a considerable amounts of the river load.
• The channel splits into several smaller channels which flow around fresh ‘islands’ of deposited material before rejoining.
Braided channels
Braided channels
Ox-bow lakesDownstream migration of meanders produce pronounced meander loops whichmay form ox-bow lakes during flood conditions
1 Lateral erosion on outside of bends of pronounced meander
2 Narrow neck of meander gradually becomes narrower
3 Neck is cut through by river during floods and river forms new straighter channel
4 Cut-off is sealed by deposition
5 Ox-bow lake begins to silt up(Core Higher, P 65, Fig 3.36)
Oxbow lakes
An Oxbow lake starts as a meander. During a flood the river cuts across the meander, forming a new channel.
Sediment is deposited along the sides of the new channel. The loops gets sealed off and an oxbow lake forms.
The water in it becomes stagnant. The lake will remain sealed of until either the river floods into it or it dries out.
Oxbow lakes
NARROW MEANDER NECK
FUTUREOX-BOW LAKE
Estuaries and deltas
• An estuary is where a river meets the sea (it is tidal).
• Deltas are essentially the seaward extension of the floodplain and form where tides are too weak to remove deposit sediment.
Team work and Alloa
tributaries
ox-bowlake
meander
V shaped valley
SteepValleysides
Floodplain
Rivers on OS Maps