The River System

The list below is in alphabetical order

Bankfull discharge
This is when the river channel is full and can not hold any more water. If the river exceeds bankfull
discharge then it floods.

Capacity
This is the total load actually transported.

Competence
This the maximum size of material a river can transport.

Critical erosion velocity (the Hjulstrom curve)

Rivers either transport, erode, or deposit sediment or load. The relationship between the size of particles
(competence) and water velocity is shown by the Hjulstrom curve:

You should note the following:

• Sand is easily transported at lower velocities.
• More velocity is needed to pick up material than to carry it in suspension.
• In times of highest discharge, velocity increases, as does erosion.
• The division between transportation and deposition is small. This means that only a small decrease
in velocity leads to sedimentation.

Cross-section
The cross-section of the river is the width of the river times the depth of the river. A river's cross-section
will get bigger as it moves from the source to the mouth. Because a river's depth can vary we normally take
several depth readings and calculate an average.
Discharge
Is the amount of water being carried by a river. Discharge is measured as cubic metres per second
(cumecs). We calculate discharge by using the formula discharge = cross-section x velocity.

Gradient
Gradient means how steep something is. The gradient of the river will normally get less step as it travels
from the source to the mouth.

Helicoidal flow
This is the cork-screw-like flow of water in a meander and contributes to the formation of slip-off slopes
and river cliffs. The helicoidal motion aids the processes of hydraulic action and corrasion on the outside of
the meander, and sweeps sediment across the floor of the meander towards the inside of the meander.

Long Profile
A sideways look at a river from source to mouth presented in a graph form. It reveals the changing gradient
of a river; steeper in the higher reaches, gentler in the lower reaches.

River load
Suspended sediment load: This is carried with the body of the water in the current. It can
consist of suspended bed material, which is fine to medium sands, which have come from the
riverbed. The material such as silts and clays is light and can be held in suspension.

Bedload: Moves along the bed of the river by sliding, saltating, or rolling. It is larger than suspended
sediment load.

Dissolved load: This is held in solution and can come from erosion, pollution, mineral springs and
chemical weathering.

Sediment in a river comes from a variety of sources. It may be from outside the river that includes, mass
movement, gully erosion and sheet wash. Or from within the rivers channel itself, i.e., material from the
stream bed and banks themselves.

Turbulent Flow
The normal pattern of flow within a river channel. A river may become particularly turbulent at times of
exceptionally high discharge or when the bed becomes rough. Turbulence causes eddie currents and mixing
of water to occur, where 90 % of the energy is used to overcome this increased frictional drag of the rough
bed and banks, with the remaining 5% only being available to carry out work. The maximum velocities will
be away from the bed and banks.

Velocity
Is the measure of the speed and direction of an object (to be very simple - the speed the river is travelling
at).Velocity is normally measured in m/s (metres per second).
It is commonly believed that the velocity of rivers is faster in the upper course. However, this is not true,
the velocity of the river actually increases as you near the mouth. This is because the cross-section of the
river is smaller and the wetted perimeter relatively larger near the source so there is greater friction and
also the discharge is smaller.
Nearer the mouth the discharge of the river increases as does the rivers cross-section meaning less energy
is lost to friction.
This is because near the source a rivers' load is bigger and more angular and therefore less likely to be
suspended in a rivers flow. Instead it will bounce and crash into the bed, causing vertical erosion. However,
nearer the mouth, the load is smaller and smoother and therefore more likely to be suspended and
therefore more likely to crash in the banks, causing horizontal erosion.

Wetted Perimeter
The distance over which flowing water is in actual contact with the channel walls and bottom.
River Processes
(1) Erosion

Erosion is the process of wearing something away. Four main types exist:

River Processes (Erosion, Transportation and Deposition)

1. Corrasion/Abrasion
When a river picks up material and then rubs it against its bed and banks. Erosion occurs by the process of
abrasion, and is most effective during times of flood. It is the main method of both vertical and horizontal
erosion.

2. Attrition
Boulders collide with one another as they move down the river, and can break into smaller pieces. Over
time rocks become smaller and more rounded in appearance. This normally happens with suspended load.

3. Hydraulic action
The force of water that hits river banks, and then pushes water into cracks. Air becomes compressed,
pressure increased and the riverbank may, in time collapse.

4. Solution/corrosion
The process of water dissolving a rivers' load as well as its bed and banks.

Remember in the upper course near the source there is more vertical erosion and in the lower course
near the mouth, there is more horizontal (lateral) erosion.

95% of the erosion carried out by a river happens at a time of flood.

(2) Transportation

Once friction has been overcome, transportation of material in a river begins; in other words, when the
river has excess energy. Material carried by a river is know as load. There are four main processes of
transportation:

1. Suspension
Very small particles of clay and silt are carried in suspension. The larger the amount of turbulence and
velocity the more particles that can be picked up. Material held in suspension usually accounts for the
greatest part of the load of a river.

2. Solution
Water in a river, contains acids. Where the bedrock is easily dissolved running water will remove material in
solution. It is a minor process except in areas of limestone.

If particles are larger and not picked up by the current they will move in one of two ways:

3. Saltation
Pebbles sand and gravel are lifted up by the current and bounced along the bed.
4. Traction
Larger boulders rolling or sliding along the riverbed. Only experienced in times of great flood.

Sometimes a fifth form of transportation is also mentioned - flotation, when material is transported on the
surface of the river.

95% of the transportation carried out by a river happens at a time of flood.

(3) Deposition

This happens when the velocity of a river is reduced. When a river does not have enough energy (i.e., it will
slow down) it will start depositing its load. Deposit means to put something down. Then the main factors
leading to deposition are shown in the table below:

1:
Low rainfall reducing precipitation to drought conditions
2:
On reaching a base level - a river entering the sea or a lake, reducing velocity
3:
Water becoming shallower
4:
When the load is suddenly increased, e.g., after a landslip
5:
River overflows its banks, depositing material on the flood plain
6:
Inside of a meander
7:
Sudden decrease in gradient, e.g. below a waterfall
Characteristic River Features
Upper Course of the River

Channel Features
Rocky, boulders, uneven floor, discharge probably fairly low, fed by throughflow and direct surface flow; in
flood conditions corrasion and hydraulic action prevail > vertical cutting; high potential energy; potholes,
some merging to form a narrow gorge; headward erosion; inputs are gravity, precipitation and weathered
material; outputs are water and bedload;

V-shaped Valley and Interlocking Spurs

V-shaped valleys are found in a river's upper course where vertical erosion is dominant. The river will erode
(cut) downwards while the sides are weathered (attacked by the weather e.g. rain, wind and the sun). The
weathered material will then fall into the river and be transported away leaving a v-shaped valley. The steep
v-shaped valley sides can also experience significant mass movement (landslides, rockfalls, mudflows etc.).
The resulting debris will also be carried away by the river, further deepening the valley.

Interlocking spurs are the areas of the valley (hills) that stick out into the river forcing it to meander around
them. There can be very small floodplains in places.

Long profile
Steep, interrupted by waterfalls and plunge pools

Waterfalls
The rock a river flows over is not uniform and waterfall and result after a river has flowed over hard rock
and meets a band of soft rock. The velocity increases as the water nears the edge of the fall, because of a
decrease in friction (the water is no longer in contact with the river bed). As the water falls over the
waterfall it erodes the river bed and the bottom of the waterfall. This makes a plunge pool and causes some
undercutting. The undercutting creates an overhang which will eventually become too heavy to be
supported and collapse into the plunge pool. The whole process then starts again, which means the waterfall
is constantly retreating upstream towards the source. This is known as headward erosion. As the waterfall
retreats it leaves behind a gorge.

Gorge
A gorge is a deep sided valley left behind when a waterfall retreats.

Potholes
These are holes found in the river bed where load carried by the river is washed around in a circular
motion causing vertical erosion. Potholes can sometimes merge to form a very narrow gorge.

Rapids
Rapids are sections of rough turbulent (white water) water. They are normally in a river's upper course and
are formed when you get layers of hard and soft rock. The layers of soft rock erode quicker than the layers
of hard rock. This makes the bed of the river uneven creating rough turbulent water.

Rapids can become popular with tourists who want to raft down them. Some of the most popular rafting
rivers are the Nile in Uganda and the Zambezi in Zimbabwe. However, rapids can cause problems with
transport, ships can not travel up and down rapids and it is very hard to build bridges across them. They are
also extremely dangerous if people fall into them.
Middle Course of the River

Channel Features
Wider and deeper with smoother banks and floor; Saltation and traction carry some of load, but main load
carried increasingly in suspension with increasing deposition in places.

Valley features
Sides not steep and eroded back, assuming little or no hard rock; with lower gentler land, erosive energy is
increasingly horizontal (lateral) rather then vertical; small bluff cliffs; lateral erosion offers flood plains and
meanders.

Long profile
Gentler gradient, but enough to allow meander movement; river velocity is maintained due to smoother
deep channel reducing friction.

Meander
Named from the Menderes River in Turkey, a meander is simply a bend in the river. A meander starts to
form when the thalweg moves to one side of the river channel. This causes greater erosion on one side of
the channel and deposition on the other. Over time the erosion and deposition will cause the river to bend.
Meanders are constantly moving and over long periods of time and gradually widen the floodplain. This is
lateral erosion.
The water that takes the longer outside route will need to go faster. This is the same principle that creates
the lift in an airfoil, the upper surface is curved so the air must go faster, creating a pressure drop. The faster
flow will cause more erosion on that side of the river and eventually, a concave bank will be formed.
As the meander develops centrifugal force will also come into play, forcing the flowing water into the outer
bank and causing yet more erosion. Three dimensional and turbulent helicoidal flow also also adds to the
erosive forces on the outside of the bend.
The silt that is removed by the erosion will be transported downstream where it will settle out in an area
where the flow is less, generally at the inside curve of the next bend form a point bar or slip off slope.
The reasons for the development of meanders remain unclear. Meanders form where ever there is flowing
water. They form on beaches in between high tides. They form on glaciers on solid ice. Meanders form when
the water flows down a car's window glass. Meanders form in the open ocean; the Gulf Stream passes
through the more static waters of the Atlantic in a pattern that has the same geometry as a meander. They
are both a mystery and an everyday occurrence.

Sinuosity
If a river is very bendy it is said to be sinuous. A measure of how bendy a river is is its sinuosity. A river is
meandering when its sinuosity is above 1.5. Sinuosity = actual channel length / straight-line distance.
Because a meandering river has alternating bends, it is like a wave and therefore has an amplitude, a
wavelength, and a radius of curvature.
The amplitude is the distance along the ground that the river bend extends away from the overall
downward path of the  river.
The wavelength is the distance along the ground between successive bends that are in the same
direction.
The radius of curvature is like the radius of a circle; for a bend in a river, it is the radius of the arc
that the bend makes.

Point Bar/Slip-off slope

2 names for the same thing. This is formed on the side of the river with greatest deposition. This part of the
bank has a convex profile. It is simply deposited material that forms a small beach area and gently sloping
bank.
River cliff
This happens on the side of the river channel with greatest erosion (the outside of the meander). It creates
a steep sided bank which often leads to undercutting of the bank. This part of the bank has a concave
profile.

Thalweg
The thalweg is simply the trace along a river channel where the flow is quickest. It is from the Old German
thal meaning "valley" and weg meaning "way."

Pools and riffles

Pools are areas of deeper water and riffles are areas of shallower water. A pool has more erosion than a
riffle, and is caused by turbulence.

Oxbow lakes
Oxbow lakes are created when two meanders connect or join. If a river meander becomes increasingly tight
over time, leading to a narrow neck, in times of flood the neck is broken through. Eventually this is the
route the river takes leaving the old meander separate to the river as an Ox-Bow lake. The river will often
finally connect the two meanders during a flood event when the river is more powerful.The thalweg then
shifts to the centre of the river (and does not travel around the old meander) causing deposition on the
outside of the river channel cutting off the old meander and creating an oxbow lake.

Flood Plain
Simply, this is land likely to experience flooding, i.e., areas of land that rivers flood onto when they exceed
bankfull discharge. If a river floods, silt is deposited on the land increasing its fertility, and the height of the
flood plain increases. The flood plain can be made wider by the lateral erosion of meanders. Floodplains
tend to be a lot wider in a river's lower course. The outer edge of a flood plain is quite often clearly marked
by a clear slope known as a bluff line, i.e., where higher ground starts to rise away from the valley.

Alluvium
Mineral rich load that is deposited on floodplains in times of flood. It is essential to keep farmland fertile.

Strand line
This is the line of material left behind after a river has flooded. The strand line is found on the outer limit of
the flood somewhere on the floodplain. A strand line normally consists of pieces of wood and litter.

Yazoo
A yazoo stream is a tributary stream that runs parallel to, and within the floodplain of, a larger river which
the stream eventually joins. A yazoo stream is forced to flow alongside the main river's natural levee. The
name comes from the Yazoo River, which runs parallel to the Mississippi River for 170 miles before joining
the main stream.

Braiding
Braided rivers usually occur on rivers with variable flow. When the river flow is high, perhaps due to
snowmelt, the river has excess energy and can transport large amounts of load. However, when the flow is
low, the river is forced to deposit its load. The deposited material forces the reducing flow into small
channels creating a braided river. The small islands created by deposition are known as eyots.
Lower Course of the River

Channel Features
At broadest and deepest; bedload almost entirely in suspension and solution; Deposition now dominant,
particularly during floods; erosion very much lateral in movement of meanders.

Long profile
Very near to or at base level; volume now at greatest but velocity generally at greatest levels.

Levees
Levees form on the edge of the river channel. When a river floods the velocity of the river travelling over
the flooded floodplain suddenly falls. Because of the fall in velocity (and subsequent reduction in surplus
energy) the river immediately deposits its largest load creating embankments that line the river channel.
Over time (and after many flood events) these embankments begin to grow in size and become more
stable. Mature levees are of such size that in normal flow times, the river can actually be flowing in a channel
that is higher than the floodplain.
Levees can be natural or manmade. In some countries, artificial levees are put in place to reduce the flood
risk.

Delta
When a river meets the sea its velocity suddenly reduces. This reduction in velocity means that much of the
rivers load is deposited at the mouth of the river. If the river deposits quicker than the sea can erode then a
delta starts to develop. Deposition can mean that the main river channel gets blocked, forcing the water to
find alternative routes to the sea by making distributaries. Deltas have very fertile soil and tend to be
excellent for farming. There are three types of delta; arcuate, cuspate and bird's foot.

Arcuate Delta, e.g. River Nile: They are called arcuate deltas because the outside edge has a very
regular shape, just like the arc of a circle.
Bird’s Foot Delta, e.g. Mississippi River: They are called bird's foot deltas because they look a bit
like a birds foot. These are found where the volume brought downstream by the river far exceeds the
ability of the sea into which it is deposited to carry it away.
Cuspate Delta, e.g. Ebro Delta: Cuspate delta have been shaped by opposing currents of fairly
equal force. Cuspate means pointed or tooth-like

Deltas can also form when rivers meet enclosed bodies of water such as lochs.

Estuary
An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it,
and with a free connection to the open sea. The section of the river near the mouth that is tidal.
Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and ocean environments and are subject to
both marine influences, such as tides, waves, and the influx of saline water; and riverine influences, such as
flows of fresh water and sediment.
The inflow of both seawater and freshwater provide high levels of nutrients in both the water column and
sediment, making estuaries among the most productive natural habitats in the world.
There are different types of estuaries. Some form where there are very high tidal ranges which do not allow
for the development of deltas, e.g., the River Severn. Some are drowned valleys, such as the rias of the SW
of England and SW Wales. Finally, some are flooded glacial valleys: If they have very steep sides they are
known as fiords, a landform found many times in Norway. On the other hand, the major Scottish firths of
Tay, Forth and Clyde are all flooded glacial valleys with relatively gently sloping sides.