Rivers

Features of a river:

- In the uppercourse water lacks sufficiant energy to transport and erode much bedload found in the river. Therefore, water travels around, under and over it creating a turbalent flow called rapids

- Waterfalls form when water traveks first over reistant rock and then non-resistant rock causing the soft rock to erode away

- Plungpools is formed from the power if the falling water from a waterfall

-The water shed is the dividing line between two drainage basons

- A terrace cliffe is a bench or step that runs alongside a river representing the former level of the valley floor

- An Ox bow lake is a lake that forms when water erodes through a meander neck finding a more direct route of flow 

- An estuary is the part of the river near the mouth which is tidal meaning mudflats are exposed at low tide

- Occurs when a waterfall erods backwards leaving a steep sided valley called a gorge

- A delta is where a river deposits material where is meets the sea

- Meanders are bends in the river formed by helicoidal flow

- The confluence is where two rivers meet

- A tributary is a smaller river which feeds into a larger one

- Flood planes are flat land found either side of a river

- Interlocking spurs are found in the upper course. They are lobes of hard rock around which the river or stream has to flow as it doesn't get have enough energy to flow through it

- Drainage baison is the total area drained by a river and its tributaries borded by the watershed

- Distributaries occur when a river slows and mets the sea dumping material into a delter as the the river splits into smaller channels

The river long profile is a profile of the river from its source to mouth:

The upper course= River will be small, narrow and shallow. lacks energy, low velocity (speed). Features found: interlocking spurs, tributories, waterfall, plunge poo, rapids and V shaped valleys

Middle course= River will get larger, widerm deeper, have more energy, discharge increases and has higher velocity. The land starts to flatten. Features found: small meanders, small floodplains

Lower course= River will be very large, very wide, very deep, high energy, higher velocity and higher discharge. Usually surrounded by a flood plain. Features found: delta, mouth, ox-bow lake, estury, confluence, distributaries, flood plains.

5 processses that occur in and around a river:

• Weathering- breakdown of rock by natural weather processes 'in situ' (without moving)
• Mass movement- the movement of material down hill under gravity eg.landslide, soil creep and avalanches
• Erosion- breaking down of material by wind, ice and water
• Transport- The movement of material
• Deposition- The dropping of material

Types of weathering:

In biological weathering, roots of plants and the burrows of animals, force cracks apart. In chemical weathering carbon dioxide in the atmosphere naturaly dissolves in water to form weak carbonic acids which dissolve some alkaline…