V Shaped Valley

V shaped valleys are formed by vertical erosion. As the

river erodes downwards, it leaves behind valley sides
that are formed like a letter V. This is because as it
erodes straight down it leaves very steep valley sides
that are then attacked by weathering processes such as
freezing thaw and biological weathering. This
weakens the valley sides which collapse or move down
slope due mass movement processes such as slumping
or soil creep. The river can then erode this material
and move it away, leaving behind the characteristic V
shape.

Case Study
The Grand Canyon in
Arizona USA provides and
example of numerous V
shaped valleys. For every
long, the Colorado River
and its many tributaries
have been cutting vertical
channels down through
layer after layer of rock,
whilst the Colorado
Plateau has
simultaneously been lifted
out. This has created the
landscape which todays
most recognised natural
wonders of the world.
Freeze thaw- Water becomes trapped in a crack in a rock.
As it freezes, it expands. When it thaws, it contacts.
Overtime, the repetition of this process causes rock to split
Biological weathering- Weathering caused by the action of
living organisms i.e. Plants and animals
Slumping- Where a section of land moves downwards
along a sheer plane.
Soil creep- The gradual downhill movement of loose
material on a slope.

Waterfalls

Waterfalls are one of the most spectacular landforms

found in the upper valley and are created by erosion
processes. They occur where a band of hard rock (e.g.
granite) overlies a softer rock (e.g. sandstone).
Erosion processes such as hydraulic action and abrasion
dominate.
The softer rock is eroded quicker than the harder rock and
gradually washes away downstream.
This creates a plunge pool where water is swilled around,
potholing can occur here and any rocks and debris swept
into the plunge pool by the river will be swirled around
and rub against the bed and banks of the plunge pool
(called corrosion), deepening it further.
Over time, the softer rock is eroded further creating an
over hang of hard rock. This overhang is unstable as it's
weight is unsupported.
Eventually, this hard rock collapses because it is
unsupported and the waterfall moves back upstream.
This creates gorges, which are steep sided deep river
valleys. This process will repeat continually, with the
location of the waterfall moving back upstream.

Case Study
More than 168,000 cubic metres of water go over the crest line of the Falls
every minute during peak daytime tourist hours. The total area drained by
the Niagara River is approximately 684,000 square kilometres. The height of
the American Falls ranges between 21 to 34 metres, this measurement is
taken from the top of the Falls to the top of the rock pile at the base, called
the talus slope. The height of the Falls from the top of the Falls to the river is
57 metres (188 ft.)The rapids above the Falls reach a maximum speed of 40
km/hr or 25 mph. Niagara River is a connecting channel between two Great
Lakes, Erie and Ontario. Niagara Falls has moved back seven miles in 12,500
years and may be the fastest moving waterfalls in the world.

Embankments- A long artificial mount

made to form the limits and support of a
river
Flooding- A natural event or occurrence
where a piece of land (or area) that is
usually dry land, suddenly gets submerged
under water.
Deposit- Deposition is the geological
process in which sediments, soil, and rocks
are added to a landform or land mass.
Wind, ice, and water, as well as sediment
flowing via gravity, transport previously
eroded sediment, which, at the loss of
enough kinetic energy in the fluid, is
deposited, building up layers of sediment.

Case Study
The Mississippi River is one of
the worlds major river systems
in size, habitat diversity and
biological productivity. It is the
third longest river in North
America, flowing 2,350 miles
from its source at Lake Itasca
through the centre of the
continental United States to the
Gulf of Mexico. During flooding
levees form on the outside
bends of the Mississippi River.

Levees are naturally formed banks along the sides of a river channel in its
lower course, as it flows through the flood plain. They are formed by the
river depositing material when it floods. During a flood the river deposits its
heaviest, coarsest material closest to its normal course. Over years this
deposition has built up the natural embankments, built of coarse material.
Beyond them the flood plain has been built up of the finer material that was
deposited further away from the normal course of the river.

Case Study
Archbald Pothole is 38 feet (11.6 m) deep and 42 feet (12.8 m) wide at its
maximum diameter. The pothole cuts through layers of sandstone, shale and
coal. A pothole, in geologic terms, is a hole that is worn into the bedrock of a
stream in strong rapids or at the base of a waterfall. The force of the water spins
rock fragments, sand and gravel into a small indentation in the bedrock. After
years and years of constant spinning, the stones and sands carve out an elliptical
hole. Potholes are also formed by the action of glacial meltwater. Archbald
Pothole is an example of just such a pothole.
Archbald Pothole was formed during the Wisconsin Glacial Period. As the glacier
melted, a stream that flowed on top may have fallen into a crevasse and then fell
to the bedrock. The force of the falling water created a pothole in much the same
way that a waterfall creates a pothole. The pothole was filled by falling sand,
rocks and gravel as the glacier retreated and created other potholes. Archbald
Pothole was preserved underground for nearly 13,000 years until its discovery.

Eddy- A current, as of water or air,

moving contrary to the direction of the
main current, especially in a circular
motion.
Altitude-the vertical height of an object
above some chosen level
Turbulence- An eddying motion of the
atmosphere that interrupts the flow of
wind.

Abrasion- The process of wearing down

or rubbing away by means of friction.

Potholes form mainly in the upper course of the

river, in high altitude where the river channel cuts
directly into the bedrock. Potholes are the direct
consequence of vertical erosion and processes of
abrasion. The sequence of the development is quite
easy to understand. As we know the river channel in
the upper course is characterised by roughness,
associated with large bed load. As water flows over
still standing bed load on river bed it is forced over
the obstacle and to eddy behind the rock
downstream. This turbulence forces water down on
to the bedrock. Over time small depressions within
the bedrock develop

Case Study
The Rakaia River is in the Canterbury Plains in
New Zealand's South Island. The Rakaia River is
one of the largest braided rivers in New Zealand.
The Rakaia River has a mean flow of 203 cubic
metres per second and a mean annual seven-day
low flow of 87 cubic metres per second. It rises in
the Southern Alps, travelling 150 kilometres in a
generally eastern or south-eastern direction
before entering the Pacific Ocean 50 kilometres
south of Christchurch.
The river is a braided river, running through a
wide shingle bed. Close to Mount Hutt, however,
it is briefly confined to a narrow canyon known as
the Rakaia Gorge.

Alluvium-Sediment deposited
by flowing water, as in a
riverbed, flood plain, or delta
Discharge-The amount of
water that flows from the
river to the sea
Bioconstruction- Formed by
natural material

Alluvial deposits created by the erosion of the meandering river grow

downstream.
When the river floods and the discharge decreases the river takes a quicker
route back to the channel and the river gets wider. The coarsest material
tends to be deposited first leaving behind bars of sediment in the middle of
the channel. Sometimes these bars will become stabilized by vegetation as
the roots hold the deposits tight and together.(This is called
bioconstruction)
As discharge increases some bars begin to lack stability, therefore are split
and transported as the river tries to take its quickest route to the mouth.
Braided channels are most common in areas of moderately steep gradient,
areas of variable discharge and semi-glacial environments.

Floodplains

The river in the middle reaches erodes laterally, from side to

side, because of the fastest velocities being on the outside
edge of meanders.
This means that the river erodes the valley sides and widens
the valley floor to create a floodplain.
In addition, every time the river floods sediment is deposited
as a layer on the floodplain because the rivers wetted
perimeter increases so its hydraulic radius decreases.
Where the river is deepest, next to the river channel, the
largest size sediment is and towards the edge of the
floodplain where the river is shallowest the smallest
sediment is deposited.
Flooding occurs repeatedly over time and these deposition
processes occur again and again.
The net result is a multi-layered floodplain with large banks
of sediment called levees next to the river channel.

Case Study- The Paran River (Brazil)

An extensive wetland (dark green) occupies most of the left half of
the river and the floodplain reaches a width of 11 kilometres
(about 7 miles). The thin line of a road crossing the floodplain also
gives a sense of scale. Above the Paran-Verde confluence, the
floodplain is much narrower.
The floodplain is generated by sediments delivered by both rivers.
The evidence for this is that the entire surface is crisscrossed by
the wider traces of former Paran River channels, as well as
numerous narrower traces of the Verde. The floodplains along
both rivers are bordered by numerous rectangular agricultural
fields.

Lateral erosion- Makes a river wider as erosion occurs downwards. This occurs mostly in the middle
and lower stages of a river.
Wetted perimeter- The wetted perimeter is the perimeter of the cross sectional area that is "wet.

In the lower course of the river

meanders can become so
pronounced that they can form oxbow lakes. In the lower course the
rapid lateral erosion cuts into the
neck of the meander, narrowing it
considerably. Eventually the force of
the river breaks through the neck,
and as this is the easiest way for the
water to go, the old meander is left
without any significant amount of
water flowing through it. Quickly the
river deposits material along the side
of its new course, which completely
block off the old meander, creating
an ox-bow lake.

Case Study
Cuckmere Haven (also known as the Cuckmere Estuary) is an area of flood plains in Sussex,
England where the river Cuckmere meets the English Channel between Eastbourne and Seaford.
The river is an example of a meandering river, and contains several oxbow lakes.

When a river reaches a lake or the sea

the water slows down and loses the
power to carry sediment Larry. The
sediment is dropped at the mouth of
the river. Some rivers drop so much
sediment that waves and tides can't
carry it all away. It builds up in layers
forming a delta.
Some deltas are so large that people
can live on them. The Nile delta is a
very important farming area in Egypt.
Deltas have a fairly flat section called a
delta plain that is above water. The
river cuts many small channels through
the delta plain. These channels are
called distributaries. New sections of
delta build up at the mouths of the
distributaries.
The rest of the delta is under water
William. There is a steeply sloping delta
front that faces the lake or ocean. The
pro-delta is furthest away from the
mouth of the river and is deepest
under water.

In the middle course the river has more energy and a high volume
of water. The gradient here is gentle and lateral (sideways)
erosion has widened the river channel. The river channel has also
deepened. A larger river channel means there is less friction, so
the water flows faster
As the river erodes laterally, to the right side then the left side, it
forms large bends, and then horseshoe-like loops called which are
identified as meanders. In the middle course of the river both
deposition and erosion and meanders gradually migrate
downstream.
The force of the water erodes due to processes of abrasion and
hydraulic action and undercuts the river bank on the outside of
the bend where water flow has most energy due to decreased
friction. An outer concave bank is therefore created.
The Amazon River is one of the most known examples of a meander
on earth. The Amazon River in South America has the largest river
by discharge of water in the world, averaging a discharge of about
209,000 cubic meters per second. It is also has the largest drainage
basin in the world, about 7,050,000 square kilometres and accounts
for approximately one-fifth of the world's total river flow. The
portion of the river's drainage basin in Brazil alone is larger than any
other river's basin. The Amazon enters Brazil with only one-fifth of
the flow it finally discharges into the Atlantic. The Amazon River has
over 15,000 tributaries and sub tributaries and has the largest river
basin in the world. In terms of meanders, the Amazon River is
known to have over 300 meanders across its course.