Rivers Flashcards
A leveé is …
… a mound made of fluvial material found parallel to a river in the middle or lower course.
A floodplain is …
… a wide flat area either side of a river which floods when a river overflows, forming by a form of erosion and deposition.
A meander is …
… a fancy name for a bend in a river found in the middle course.
Define fluvial.
Of or found in a river - derived of Latin flumen, meaning river.
Define sinuosity.
Wiggliness.
Define suspension.
Fine sediment, easy to carry - moved within the body of water.
Define solution.
Fine, easy to carry - dissolved by water body.
Define traction.
Large sediment requires a lot of energy to be moved so it is rolled along the bottom of the body of water.
Define saltation.
Sediment bounces along the bed of the body of water as it doesn’t have enough energy to be kept permanently suspended.
Define helicoidal flow.
The corkscrew like flow of water in a meander.
An oxbow lake is …
… a U-shaped body of water that forms when a wide meander from the main stem of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water.
