RIVERS

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RIVERS - drainage basin

(http://www.coolgeography.co.uk/GCSE/AQA/Water%20on%20the%20Land/Processes/Drainage_Basin_System.jpg)

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RIVERS - things to remember

A WATERSHED - an area of high land that separates two drainage basin. Water falling either side of the ridge will enter different drainage basins.

Drainage basins are open systems; water is both inputted and outputted from a drainage basin.

LEVEES - natural embankments along the edges of a river channel.

Levee formation: when a river floods the heaviest material is deposited first as it is dropped first when the river slows down. Over time the deposited material builds up, creating levees along the edge of the river channel.

Deltas: Arcuate = rounded shape and lots of distributaries. Cuspate = triangular shape and few distrobutaries. Bird's foot = self explanatory.

Flooding effects: people killed by flood waters; disease spread by water contamination; buildings damaged or destroyed; jobs lost due to damage to premises, equipment and farmland.

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