River Valley and its Landforms: River Tees

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  • Created by: ep01
  • Created on: 20-02-17 15:48

SOURCE

  • River Tees is 100km from source to mouth.
  • Source has 600m altitude in the Pennines.
  • Spongey, boggy, marshy mooreland - remote, no houses.
  • 1200mm of rainfall a year - twice the UK average.
  • A lot of water is gathered from depressions from the Atlantic.
  • Hundreds of trickling streams and rivulets.
  • The water table is at the surface - the ground is saturated throughout the year.
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UPPER COURSE

  • The river starts to form in v-shaped valleys.
  • Narrow stream, fast flowing, interlocking spurs, vertical erosion.
  • The bedload is very jagged with big boulders that have been eroded from the valley side.
  • After a few miles, the river starts to lose its v-shaped cross section.
  • Centralfugal force causes erosion on the outside sides. Attrition smoothes bedload.
  • Snow melt causes a high in water levels around March and April.
  • Sparsely populated.
  • Cow Green Reservoir - artificial lake to store water.
  • 350m above sea level.
  • Large meanders, wider and deeper river.
  • Pastures are the main land use.
  • Flow rate of 20 cumecs.
  • High Force Waterfall across whinstone rock.
  • 95% of the river's energy is used getting over obstructions.
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MIDDLE & LOWER COURSE

  • At the middle course, the river is at its most powerful.
  • Bedload is smaller and more rounded, valley sides have disappeared.
  • Very wide floodplain.
  • Meanders are more sinuous and form oxbow lakes.
  • Around Stockton, there is an artificial, straight canal.
  • The lower course is very industrial - nuclear power station etc.
  • The valley is a broad u shape with gentle sides.
  • Natural levées are formed where the river runs slowly and deposits sediment.
  • Bedload consists of fine silt and mud.
  • The mouth is the North Sea.
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HIGH FORCE WATERFALL

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v676/swimgram02/geography/Waterfall_formation23.png)(http://www.bbc.co.uk/staticarchive/588f5bb3bb05d79acd04af3f0c2d456ea545a69e.gif)

  • Located in the upper course of the Tees, High Force is England's biggest waterfall, dropping at 21m.
  • The continuous process of erosion causes the fall to recede upstream, leaving an ever growing gorge (currently about 700m).
  • Below the hard, whinstone lip, soft rock is eroded.
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