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Rivers Flashcards

(58 cards)

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1
Q

What is a drainage basin?

A

A drainage basin is the area of land drained by a river and its tributaries.

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2
Q

What is a source of a river?

A

It is the start of the river

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3
Q

What is a tributary of a river?

A

This is a small stream that feeds into the main river

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4
Q

What is the confluence of a river?

A

This is the point at which a tributary joins the main river

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5
Q

What is the mouth of a river?

A

This is where the river meets the sea

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6
Q

What is the watershed of a river?

A

This marks the edge of a drainage basin

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7
Q

What is a long profile?

A

It shows how the rivers gradient change la as it flows from the source to the mouth

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8
Q

What is a gradient of a river?

A

The change in the slope of the river bed as it passes from source to mouth

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9
Q

What is the channel width?

A

The distance from one bank to another

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10
Q

What is the channel depth?

A

The distance from the surface of the water to the channel bed

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11
Q

What is the velocity of a river?

A

The speed at which water is moving through the channel measured in m/s

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12
Q

What is the discharge of a river?

A

The amount of water passing a given point in a given time - measured in cumecs (metres3/second) calculated by velocity X volume

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13
Q

What does vertical erosion do?

A

Vertical erosion makes the river channel deeper in the upper course

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14
Q

What is lateral erosion?

A

Lateral erosion is ‘sideways’ erosion

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15
Q

What is erosion?

A

Erosion is the process that wears away the river bed and banks

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16
Q

Hat are the different types of erosion?

A
  • Attrition
  • Abrasion
  • Solution
  • Hydraulic action
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17
Q

What is hydraulic action?

A

It is when rocks hit the bank hard so they break it down

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18
Q

What is solution (in erosion)?

A

Rocks in bed dissolve and get carried away in solution

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19
Q

What is abrasion?

A

Sandpaper (scrapes away and makes rocks smaller)

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20
Q

What is attrition?

A

Smaller rocks long together to make them smaller and rounded

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21
Q

What are the methods of transportation in a river?

A
  • Traction
  • Saltation
  • Suspension
  • Solution
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22
Q

What is traction?

A

Heaviest material is rolled along the river bed. This requires the most energy

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23
Q

What is saltation?

A

Sand-sized particles may be bounced along the river bed

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24
Q

What is suspension?

Study These Flashcards
A

Small particles are carried within the water by turbulent flow

25
What is solution (transportation)?
Some minerals will dissolve in water and be carried in solution
26
What is deposition?
Deposition is where material being transported by a river can no longer be carried and is dropped
27
What are the two factors effecting deposition?
The two main factors affecting disposition are the amount of energy and the size of the material
28
What is stage one of making a waterfall?
The water passes over hard rock and erodes the softer rock bellow. Type of rock: Abrasion and Hydraulic Action
29
What is stage two of making waterfall?
A plunge pool is formed and the river erodes backwards (by erosion) as the water and rock swirl around
30
What is stage three of making a waterfall?
Eventually the hard cap rock overhangs and collapses under gravity
31
What is stage four of creating a waterfall?
This process continues overtime and the waterfall moves backwards or retreats to form a gorge.
32
What is a gorge?
A gorge is a narrow steep sided valley that is usually found immediately downstream of a waterfall
33
What is a meander?
A meander is a bend or curve in the river
34
What is an ox-bow lake?
An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake that forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off creating a freestanding body of water
35
How is an oxbow lake created?
1) The river flows faster on the outside band causing erosion and slower on the inside bend causing deposition. A meander is formed by gradual erosion and deposition. 2) The neck of the meander narrows by the continual erosion and deposition. 3) Eventually the river cuts through the neck to find a faster route to flow. 4) Finally the neck will break through and cut off the bend, to leave an oxbow lake
36
What is a floodplain?
A floodplain is the wide valley floor on either side of the river that occasionally gets flooded.
37
What are floodplains used for?
- Farming (rice) - Washing/Bathing - Sporting activities - Camping sites
38
What are levees?
Levees are natural embankments along the edges of a river channel
39
Where is the River Tees?
North of England The source is in the pennies It flows east At the mouth the river joins the North Sea
40
What is the waterfall like in the upper course?
There is a high force waterfall, close to Forest in Teesdale. 20m drop into turbulent plunge pool. 700m gorge
41
What is in the middle course of the river Tees?
The river tees become less steep as it enters the middle course and meander develop with increased lateral erosion. The river Tees meanders its way through a lower gradient past Barnard Castle
42
What is in the lower course of the river Tees?
At stockburn (near Darlington) It is a sweeping meander
43
What else is found in the lower course of the river tees?
Flooding has caused the development of raised banks (levees) along the lower course- near nearsham
44
How long is the river tees?
128km
45
Where is Banbury?
Banbury is a town that is 50km north of Oxford. It is on the floodplain of the river Cherwell (a tributary of the River Thomas). Population of 45000
46
What was the problem of Banbury?
- History of flooding - Shut down railway station and many roads - In 1998, cost was £12.5 million - 150 homes affected
47
Why did the scheme need to be put in place in Banbury?
The floods were costing £12.5 million a year
48
When was the Banbury scheme?
2011-2012
49
What was strategy one of Banbury’s scheme?
They raised the A361 and improved the drainage beneath
50
What was strategy two of the Banbury scheme ?
A new pumping station to transfer excess water downstream
51
What was strategy three of the Banbury scheme?
A 2.9km earth embankment was built parallel to M40. Height of 4.5m and is capable of holding 1200 Olympic pools
52
What was strategy four of the Banbury scheme?
Biodiversity action plan with ponds and trees
53
What was strategy five of the Banbury scheme?
Flood storage area
54
What is a cost of the Banbury scheme?
The cost of the scheme was 18.5 million
55
What are some of the benefits of the Banbury scheme?
- The raised A361 route will be open during a flood, to avoid disrupting people’s lives. - Donors included the Environmental Agency and Cherwell District Council. - By protecting 441 houses and 73 commercial properties, the benefits are estimated to be over £100 million. - Around 100,000 tonnes of earth were required to build the embankment. This was extracted from nearby creating a small reservoir. - A new Biodiversity Action plan habitat has been created with ponds trees and hedgerows. - Quality of life for local people is improved with new footpaths and green areas. - Part of the floodplain will be deliberately allowed to flood if river levels are high.
56
What is the Jubilee River?
It is a flood relief channel on the River Thames. It is an 11km overflow channel that takes water from the river to reduce flooding in Windsor. The longest man-made river.
57
How much did the jubilee river cost?
£110 million- most expensive artificial river.
58
What is a problem with the jubilee river?
A problem is they are getting more flooding downstream in places like Raysbury

Geography (3 decks)

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