Rivers Flashcards
(23 cards)
A dendritic stream pattern will tend to develop in…
regions of flat-lying sedimentary rocks
Point bars are deposited where?
on the inside of a meander bend
As a river overflows its banks during a flood, it drops much of its coarser-grained load immediately, forming landforms called what?
Natural levees
As a river flows into a quiet lake it begins to form what
Delta
What generally decreases downstream along the length of a stream?
Gradient
What type of flow action can transport gravel and cobbles?
Turbulent
What is a bed load?
Particles that roll and slide along the river bottom
What does a Suspended load include?
Material temporarily or permanently suspended in the flow
What is the speed at which suspended particles become part of the bed load of a stream called?
settling velocity
At a bend in a river, _________ occurs on the outside of the bend and ________ occurs on the inside of the bend.
Erosion, Deposition
If a dam is built, sediment will ________ on the upstream side of the dam and sediment will ________ on the downstream side of the dam.
Accumulate, Erode
What type of drainage pattern would you expect to find on a volcano?
Radial
A delta is made up of sediments…
deposited at the mouth of a river
What process is the most important erosional force?
streams
What flow is most likely to be turbulent?
fast flow in a deep channel
What is the intermittent jumping motion of sand grains along a river bottom is called?
Saltation
What is the term for a curved sandbar that forms on the inside curve of a stream?
point bar
Natural levees are made up of what?
sand and gravel deposited during a flood
Natural levees are built up by what?
floods
Where does a rectangular drainage pattern develop?
Where rapid weathering along joints in bedrock controls the course of streams
A delta is made up of sediments…
deposited at the mouth of a river
Why is the Missippi delta so large?
- because the Mississippi River transports huge amounts of sediment
- because the tides in the Gulf of Mexico are not very strong
- because waves in the Gulf of Mexico are not very strong
Why does the east coast of North America lack deltas?
waves and tides are too strong
