Chapter 14

River Processes and

Resulting Landforms
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms
Hydrological cycle
• Continuous movement of water through the atmosphere, over land
and beneath the surface
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

In the atmosphere
• Water from the Earth’s surface is released into the atmosphere
through evapotranspiration and remains there as water vapour
• The water vapour condenses to form clouds
• The cloud droplets fall to the surface as precipitation such as rain

In the biosphere
• Rainfall may be intercepted by vegetation and reach the ground via
stem flow and leaf flow
• Water on plant surfaces is evaporated back to the atmosphere
• Water is also returned to the atmosphere through plant
transpiration
• Some of the water that reaches the surface flows over the land as
surface runoff
• Some of it is absorbed into the ground in a process called
infiltration
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

In the lithosphere
• Some of the water that has infiltrated into the ground moves
horizontally through the soil as throughflow
• Some of it continues farther downward and percolates into the
water table to be stored as groundwater
• The groundwater is able to move laterally as groundwater flow
• Throughflow and groundwater flow may eventually reach rivers,
lakes or seas
• Groundwater may also return to the land surface as hot springs or
geysers

In the hydrosphere
• Surface runoff forms streams and rivers which eventually empty
into larger water bodies such as lakes and seas
• Water in these water bodies is returned to the atmosphere via
evaporation
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

River drainage
• Water flows as a thin sheet on gently-sloping land
• As the slope gradient increases, the water concentrates
in narrow channels known as rills which grow to
become gullies and streams

Sheet flow Rills

Gully flow

w
flo
eam
t r
S
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

Rills on slopes of the Grand Canyon, USA

 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

Tributaries
• Streams that feed into larger water channels
• They merge to form larger rivers which eventually drain into water
bodies such as lakes or seas
• A main river and its tributaries make up a drainage system

Drainage basin
• The area drained by a main river
and its tributaries
• The boundary of the drainage
basin is known as the watershed
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

Drainage patterns

Centripetal pattern
Radial pattern

Dendritic pattern Trellis pattern

 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

Drainage patterns

Parallel and sub-parallel pattern Rectangular pattern

Annular pattern
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

River energy
• The energy of a river enables the processes of erosion,
transportation and deposition
• The energy is determined by river discharge (velocity
and volume)

River velocity
• The average velocity of a river is the time a given
particle of water takes to traverse a given distance

River discharge
• Refers to the volume of water that passes through a
certain point of a channel at a given time
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

Factors influencing river velocity

1. Shape of the river channel
• The shape of a channel’s cross-section affects the amount of
friction that the river has to overcome and hence the river
velocity
• Deep narrow channels and wide shallow ones are less
efficient in transporting both water and load than deep wide
channels of semi-circular shape
• Channel efficiency can be measured by the hydraulic radius:
Cross-sectional area (CA)
Hydraulic radius (HR) = ––––––––––––––––––––––
Wetted perimeter (WP)

• The larger the hydraulic radius, the more efficient the channel
shape as less energy is needed to overcome friction
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

Example 1:
CA = 10m
WP = 12m
10m
HR = –––– = 0.8
12m

Example 2:
CA = 10m
WP = 9m
10m
HR = –––– = 1.1
9m

Conclusion:
The channel in Example 2 is more efficient than the one in Example 1
and consequently will have a greater discharge.
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

2. Gradient of the river channel

• A river flowing down a steep slope has greater velocity than
one that flows down a gentle slope

3. Roughness of the river channel

• The presence of resistance in the form of boulders or
unevenness in the river bed interferes with the river flow, thus
reducing the velocity
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

Measuring changes in river discharge

• Variations in river discharge over time is shown using a
hydrograph
• It can be used in conjunction with rainfall charts to show
the lapse in time (lag time) between the maximum
rainfall and the peak river discharge
• The lag time arises because it takes time for rain to fall
into the drainage basin and then to reach the river
channel
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

Reading a hydrograph
• The rising limb
indicates the rise
in discharge
• After the peak,
discharge falls,
hence the falling
limb
• Without the effect
of rain, discharge
will remain at the
base flow level
• Base flow comes from
groundwater which seeps
into the river channel and
increases only slightly due to rain
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

Factors influencing river discharge

1. Size of the drainage basin
• A larger basin means a larger catchment area and therefore
more rainwater is collected

2. Permeability of rocks in the basin

• Permeable rocks allow water to infiltrate into the ground,
reducing the amount of surface runoff and hence discharge
• Impermeable concrete surfaces increase the amount of
surface runoff, thus increasing discharge
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

3. Vegetation cover in the basin

• Vegetation intercepts raindrops, breaking them into smaller
droplets, thereby enabling more infiltration
• In the absence of vegetation, there is more surface runoff
and hence river discharge

4. Climate
• Climate affects the amount of precipitation and the rate of
evaporation
• During the dry season in tropical continental areas, high
temperatures result in more rapid evaporation while the
amount of rainfall is low
This leads to lower river discharge
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

Types of river erosion

1. Vertical erosion
• Deepens the river channel

2. Lateral erosion
• Widens the river channel

Vertical erosion Lateral erosion

 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

3. Headward erosion
• Extends the river in the opposite direction of its flow

pstream
r e t r eating u
River w
flo w ughflo
ugh Thro
Thro
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

Processes of erosion
1. Hydraulic action
• The sheer force of the flowing water widens the joints within
the rocks
• Over time, the rocks break up and the fragments are swept
away by the water
• Where the channel is made up of loosely compacted
sediments, large quantities of the material can slump into the
channel

2. Cavitation
• Refers to the rapid formation and implosion of air bubbles
within the joints and fractures of the rocks
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

3. Corrasion
• When the load of rock fragments carried in a river knocks
against the sides and the bed of the channel, rocks are
dislodged
• The abrasive action of pebbles trapped in hollows results in
potholes on the river bed

4. Corrosion
• Water-soluble minerals in the rocks react chemically with the
river water and dissolve
• The presence of carbonic acid in the water facilitates the
carbonation and solution of certain minerals

5. Attrition
• The rock fragments carried in a river collide with one another,
breaking down into smaller pieces
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

Summary of the types and processes of erosion

 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

Processes of river transportation

1. Traction
• Movement of large materials such as boulders along the river
bed by rolling or sliding

2. Saltation
• Bouncing of small rock fragments such as gravel along the
river bed

3. Suspension
• Lightweight materials such as fine sand and clay remain
suspended in the water
• Suspension load makes up the largest portion of river load

4. Solution
• Movement of dissolved minerals in the water
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

Summary of the transportation processes

 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

River deposition
• When the energy of a river falls too low, it starts to
deposit its load
• The energy of a river can decline as a result of reduced
discharge during a dry season
• Deposition can occur anywhere along the river channel
• The heavier materials are the first to be deposited while
the finest materials are transported farther downstream
before being deposited
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms
Landforms resulting from valley or channel
deepening
• Occur mainly in the upper course of the river

1. Rapids
• Sections of a river where the water flows quickly and
turbulently over a shallow region of the river
• Formed when water flows over alternating bands of resistant
and less resistant rocks
• The less resistant rocks
are eroded faster, leaving
the resistant rocks as
steep outcrops
Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

Formation of rapids
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

2. Waterfalls and plunge pools

• Waterfalls are where a river plunges vertically down a deep
valley along its course
• Formed when a river flows from an area of resistant rock to
an area of less resistant rock
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

• As the less resistant rock gets

eroded more quickly, the river bed
steepens sharply where the
resistant rock is and water
plunges down over the edge
• At the base of the waterfall, the
force of the water wears away the
less resistant rock to form a
plunge pool
• Over time, undercutting of less
resistant rock beneath the layer of
resistant rock causes the
overhanging rock to collapse and
the waterfall to retreat upstream
• E.g. the Niagara Falls have
retreated by more than 11km
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

3. Potholes
• Formed when the swirling action of materials carried by the
river carves hollow depressions in the river bed through
abrasion
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

4. Gorges
• Deep valleys with steep sides
• Formed when vertical erosion occurs faster than lateral
erosion
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

Landforms resulting from valley widening

• Occur mainly in the middle course of the river

1. Meanders
• Bends along the river course
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

• The river erodes and undercuts the

concave bank of the river
• Continuous undercutting causes the
concave bank to slump into the
Water movement:
river, resulting in a river cliff On the surface
• The eroded material from the On the river bed
concave bank is deposited on the A B

convex bank Erosion on the

• The deposited materials outer bank

accumulate to form a
slip-off slope
• The meanders gradually Deposition on
become more pronounced the inside bank

Slip-off slope

A B
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

• Over time, the meanders also migrate/shift position across

and down the valley floor
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

2. Ox-bow lakes
• Continued accentuation of the meanders may cause two
concave banks to come closer and closer together
• As a result of lateral erosion, the narrow neck separating the
two banks is eventually cut through, creating a straight river
channel
• The previous meander is abandoned
• Deposition seals off the abandoned meander, forming an
ox-bow lake
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

Landforms resulting from river deposition

• Occur mainly in the lower course of the river

1. Floodplain
• Flat low-lying area in which the river meanders
• Covered by alluvium (deposited material)
• Formed when the river overflows its banks, carrying sediment
across the floodplain
• Finer materials are deposited farther away from the banks
while larger particles are deposited nearer the river channel

2. Levees
• With repeated flooding, the coarser alluvium accumulates at
the river banks
• This raises the banks of the river to form levees
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

Formation of floodplain and levees

 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

3. Delta
• Formed by the accumulation of sediments at the river mouth
• Where a river enters a lake/sea, its velocity diminishes and
deposition occurs
• The accumulated sediments
rise up above the water level,
separating the main channel
into smaller distributaries
which empty into the lake/sea
• Continued deposition of
sediments through the
distributaries increases the
size and depth of the delta
 Chapter 14: River Processes and Resulting Landforms

What’s in a name?
Did you know that rivers and streams are referred to by
different names in different Caribbean countries?

In Guyana, ‘creek’ is commonly used, in Barbados ‘gully,

in Dominica ‘ravine’ and in St. Kitts and Nevis, ‘ghut’.

What term is commonly used in your country?