12/9/07

Rivers

What are the Main Processes in the Upper Course?

Processes of river erosion
Erosion is the wearing away of the land. There are different types of
erosion:
- Hydraulic action This process involves the force of water against
the bed and banks
- Abrasion/Corrasion This is the process by which the bed and
banks are worn down by the rivers load. The river throws these
particles against the bed and banks, sometimes at high velocity
- Attrition Material (the load) carried by the river bump into each
other and so are smoothed and broken down into smaller
particles.
- Corrosion This is the chemical action of river water. The acids in
the water slowly dissolve the bed and the banks.

What Landforms occur in the upper course of a river?

- V-shaped valleys and interlocking spurs
- Rapids
- Waterfalls

How are these landforms created?

Why do V-Shaped valleys occur?
1. A rivers discharge is low in the upper course and so the river
only has enough energy to erode downwards. This is called
vertical erosion.
2. The valley’s sides are slowly broken down through weathering.
3. The weathered material is transported via gravity and rainfall
towards the river channel. This process steepens the valleys
sides.
4. The steep-sided and narrow valley shape that is created is
typical of upland rivers.

Interlocking Spurs
In the upper course the river does not have a huge amount of energy
to erode as it does not have a high discharge and it has to transport
large pieces of sediment.

When the river meats areas of harder rock that are difficult to erode it
winds around them. A series of hills form on either side of the river
called spurs. As the river flows around these hills they become
interlocked. So, a series of interlocking spurs are often found in the
upper course of a river valley.

Waterfalls
How a waterfall forms:
1. A river meets a band of softer, less resistant rock.
2. The underlying, softer rock is erode away more quickly.
3. Processes of erosion such as abrasion cause undercutting.
4. The more resistant rock is left unsupported and overhangs.
5. Eventually the more resistant rock collapses onto the riverbed.
6. The rock causes abrasion of the river bed.
7. Hydraulic action also helps to create a deep plunge pool.
8. This process is repeated and the waterfall retreats upstream.
9. A steep-sided river valley is created called a gorge.

Case study-Iguaçu Falls, Brazil.

The Iguaçu River, a tributary of the Parana, forms part of the border
between Brazil and Argentina. At one point along its course the Iguaçu
plunges 80m over a 3 km wide crescent-shaped precipice. The Iguaçu
Falls occur where the river leaves the resistant basaltic lava which
forms the southern edge of the Brazilian plateau and flows onto less
resistant rock, wile their crescent shape results from the retreat of the
falls upstream.

By the end of the rainy season (January/February) up to 4 million litres

of water a day can pour over the individual cascades-numbering up to
275-which combine to form the falls. The main attraction is the Devil’s
Throat where 14 separate falls unite to create a deafening noise,
volumes o spray, foaming water and a large rainbow. In contrast, by
the end of the dry season (June/July) river levels may be very low-
indeed, for one month in 1978 it actually dried up.

Rapids
What are rapids and how do they form?
Rapids are part of a river where the water is relatively shallow but the
flow of the water is quite fast and turbulent as the water descends
over a series of small steps.

Rapids are formed due to a sudden steepening of the stream gradient,

but without a sufficient break in slope to form a waterfall, or from the
river flowing over a series of thin layers of hard and soft rock.

Key Ideas
- Erosion is the main process operating in the upper course of a
river
- The direction of erosion is vertical
- There are four main types of erosion-hydraulic action, attrition,
abrasion and corrosion.
- Valleys are v-shaped with interlocking spurs.
- Waterfalls are formed where a river meets a band of less
resistant rock. Plunge pools and gorges are features associated
with the formation of waterfalls.
- Rapids are smaller scale features formed where finer bands of
varying resistance of rock are found.