L4 - Identifying river landforms

• contour lines are the orange lines drawn all over maps, they tell you about the height of the land by the numbers marked on them, and the steepness of the land by how close together they are (the closer they are, the steeper the slope)
• a river flows from higher contour lines to lower ones
• evidence for the upper course on maps

  • waterfalls are marked on the maps, but close contour lines are evidence for an upper-course waterfall
  • the nearby land is high
  • the river crosses lots of contour lines in a short distance, showing its steep
  • the river is narrow - a thin blue line
  • the contour lines are very close together and the valley floor is narrow (v-shaped valley)
• evidence for the lower course:

  • the nearby land is low
  • the river doesnt cross any contour lines so its gently sloping
  • the river meanders across a large flat area (no contours) which is the flood plain
  • the river is wide - a thick blue line
  • the river has large meanders and an ox-bow lake may be formed here