Question | Answer |
Tributary | A smaller river or stream flowing into a larger river. |
V-Shaped Valley | A valley with steep sides and a narrow bottom that has been formed by erosion. |
Interlocking Spurs | The stream winds around ridges, or spurs of land, which jut into their valley. |
River Channel | It is a type of landform consisting of the outline of a path of relatively shallow and narrow body of water. |
Types of Erosion | Abrasion, Attrition, Hydraulic Action and Solution |
Erosion | Wearing away rocks by natural process of rivers, ice, wind and sea. |
Abrasion | The erosion of a surface by pieces of rock carried in rivers and glaciers. |
Attrition | A process where the rocks and stones moving along in the water get knocked against each other and are gradually worn away. |
Hydraulic Action | Fast flowing water pushes air into cracks and the force of this causes the channel to break up over time. |
Solution | When minerals are dissolved in water and you can no longer see them. |
Types of Transport | Saltation, Solution, Traction and Suspension |
Saltation | Transports small stones or pebbles. |
Solution | Transports dissolved minerals or chemical. |
Traction | Transports large stones. |
Suspension | Transports tiny particle of sediment. |
Load | The material that river carries. |
Bedload | Heavier material is carried along the bottom. |
Waterfall | A vertical fall of water where the course of a river is interrupted by a steep drop in the land it is flowing. |
Gorge | A steep-sided cut through the landscape formed over thousand of years by retreating waterfall. |
Plunge Pool | The area of deep water at the bottom of a waterfall, formed by hydraulic action and the grinding of rocks and pebbles. |
Flood Plain | A flat area either side of a river which floods when the river overflows. |
Meander | Bends found along the course of a river. |
Helical Flow | The rivers natural flow. |
Thalweg | The fastest current. |
Point Bar | Where the slower-moving water deposits. |
Oxbow Lake | A lake shaped like crescent that is formed when a river bend is cut off from the main flow and becomes isolated. |
Sediment | Materiel such as sand and clay that is carried by a river. |
Levees | River embankments built as a flood defence. |
Bankfull | Point from where water begins to overflow onto a floodplain. |
Mudflats | Flat coastal areas formed when mud is deposited by rivers and coasts. |
Salt marshes | An area of coastal grassland that is regularly flooded by seawater. |
Long Profile | The side view of a river course from source to mouth which shows how the gradient of the river changes as it flows. |
Cross Profile | Cut away view through a feature from side to side. |
Discharge | The amount of water flowing in a river at any one point. |
Antecedent Rainfall | The rainfall occurring within a specifically defined time period prior to the first rainfall. |
Hydograph | A graph showing how a river responds to a storm, showing the rainfall and discharge to break up over time. |
Rising Limb | The increase of rainfall. |
Lag Time | The gap between the peak (maximum) rainfall and peak discharge (highest river level). |
Confluence | The point where two rivers meet. |
Hard Engineering | Building structure to deal with natural hazards, such as dams to prevent flooding. |
Soft Engineering | Involves adapting to natural hazards and working with nature to limit damage. For example, planting trees to limit flood risk. |
Water Stress | Lack of sufficient available water resources to meet the demands of water usage within a region. |
Water Transfer-Scheme | Water is transferred from one area to another. |
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