River landforms

• River landform: A feature that is made naturally that shapes the earth’s surface.
• Upper course landform:

  • V-shaped valleys

  
• River Landforms:

  • Upper course

  Potholes: Hollows in the river bed, formed by vertical erosion.

  
• River landforms

  • Upper course

  Rapids:

  • Areas of shallow, fast flowing water in a stream.
  • Alternating bands of soft and hard rock, the softer bands get eroded quicker.

  
• River landforms

  • Upper course

  Waterfalls:

  • A river or other body of water’s steep fall over a rocky ledge into a plunge pool below
  • Forms when A band of softer rock comes after a band of harder rock and the softer rock gets eroded faster, undercutting rocks.
  • Overhead hard rock forms an overhang and usually collapses that forms a plunge pool.
  • This creates a gorge because the water is retreating upwards.

  
• River landforms

  • Upper course

  Gorges:

  • A narrow valley with steep, rocky walls located between hills or mountains
  • Caused by the waterfall’s water undercutting the soft rock underneath the hard rock and causing the water to retreat upstream.
• River landforms

  • Upper course

  Interlocking spurs: Spurs of land in either side of the valley face in the river to wind around them.
• River landforms

  • Middle and Lower course

  Meander:

  • A bend in the river
  • Caused by outwards erosion and inwards deposition (Slip off slope)
• River landforms

  • Middle and Lower course

  Ox bow lake:

  • Forms when meanders continue to erode.
  • Because of the outwards erosion and inner bend deposition, the two ends of the meander and forms into a straight line leaving behind an abandoned meander.
• River landforms:

  • Lower course

  Floodplain:

  • A wide, flat area caused by meanders shifting along the valley.
  • Forms both due to erosion and deposition
  • Erosion removes interlocking spurs
  • Deposition because of the material being deposited during a flood on each side of the river.
• River landform:

  • Middle and lower course

  Levee:

  • Formed by deposition in times of a river flood.
  • Made of sand and silt, sides of the river bank rises when floods occur.
• River landform

  • Lower course

  Delta:

  • Formed at the end of the river.
  • Deposition of material at the mouth of the river, load builds up and cause the river channels to narrow, causing distributaries for the water to go to the sea, making a delta.