River Eden

• Located in north west England and roughly 120km long

  • source in Pennine Hills
  • Flows NW through Appleby and Carlisle
• climate

  mild and wet climate, with cool summers and mild winters, often with intense rainfall

  • around the source, the higher ground can experience freeze-thaw weathering, breaking up exposed rock of valley sides, weakening it and making landslides more likely
  • intense rainfall causes more erosion in upper course
• geology

  hard rock: limestone and gritstone

  igneous rock is impermeable, and high rainfall causes surface streams, eroding it vertically, creating V-shaped valleys

  • in the middle and lower course theres sandstone, increasing the rivers energy and lateral energy
  • widens river channel to form meanders and steep river cliffs
• human activity - deforestation

  1. natural woodland cleared upland

  • this increase surface runoff when it rains, increasing the volume of water in the river
  • gives it more energy for erosion, causing sliding and slumping of river banks
• human activity - farming

  some upland areas are drained of moisture to make them more suitable for farming

  • this reduces the soils stability, and more soil is washed into the river channel, increasing its load
  • this increases deposition downstream, changing floodplain landscape from its natural state
• landforms - waterfall

  HellGill Force near the source

  Hard rock = limestone

  Soft rock = sandstone
• landforms - v shaped valleys

  many streams down steep slopes of hillsides at edge of basin, around 600m above sea level

  near nort-east Lake District
• landforms - floodplains

  Carlisle is built on the floodplain of the river Eden
• landforms - meanders

  oxbow lakes have formed from meanders

  there are lots of tributaries that join the river Eden, giving it more power to erode river channels sideways

  in the lower course, meanders form on valley floor near Salked
• Storm Desmond

  This was a storm in 2015 with record breaking rainfall of 31mm in 24 hours, and winds up to 81mph

  • 2100 properties flooded in Carlisle
  • 2.5m high water —> stopped services
  • Peak river flow = 1680 m^3/s

  Local factory flooded where 640 locals worked, they lost their jobs

  By 2021, £96 million was invested into Carlisle to protect 4,300 homes and businesses

  • afforestation of 200,000+ trees
• management strategies - flood walls + embankments

  10km of raised flood defences built along river eden

  • designed to contain water in channel so floodplains can be built on
  • interrupt rivers natural processes
• management strategies - reservoirs

  castle carrack beck has been dammed to create reservoirs
• management strategies - planting trees

  near Dalston the landscape has been changed by planting 1000 trees to reduce flooding & also reduce erosion by stabilising soils
• management strategies - channel management

  • in the past, there has been channel straightening to try ans reduce flooding
  • recently, some areas of the Eden basin have been restored to original state by having artificial meanders put in