STREAMS

Global Distribution of Water

The Hydrologic Cycle
 Stream Profiles
Cross Sections of Youthful and mature Streams
 Drainage Basins and Divides

• Drainage basin – the total area drained by a

stream and its tributaries

• Divide – the high ground separating one

drainage basin from another
North American Continental Divides
Drainage Basin of the Mississippi River, Continental Divides
 Stream Drainage Patterns

Form on uniformly Form on

erodible rock rectangularly
The most common fractured rock

Form on mountains, Form in regions of folded

volcanoes, and domes shale and sandstone
Types of Sediment Loads Carried by Streams:
Dissolved load, Suspended load, Bed load
 Stream Capacity and Competence

• Capacity - refers to the total amount of sediment

a stream is able to transport
– The greater the discharge (amount of water flowing in
a stream), the greater the stream’s capacity

• Competence - refers to the maximum size of

particles a stream can carry
– The greater the velocity, the greater the competence
 Base Level
• A base level is a level at which no erosion can occur

• A stream reaches a local base level where it flows over

erosionally resistant rock
• A stream also reaches a local base level where it flows into a
pond, lake, or the ocean because the gradient is 0º.
• Sea level is the ultimate base level

• A base level can be below sea level (e.g., Death Valley)

 Local Base Levels
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Effect of Gradient on Stream Velocity
Effect of Channel Characteristics on Stream Velocity
Effect of Channel Characteristics on Stream Velocity
Effect of Gradient and Channel Clutter on Stream Velocity
Effect of Channel Characteristics on Stream Velocity
 Effect of Channel Characteristics on Stream Velocity
• Stream velocity is greatest in the center of the channel along straight
stretches

• Stream velocity is greatest along the outside of a curve along curved

sections
Regions of Maximum Stream Velocity
 Types of Stream Erosion

• Downcutting: deepens the channel

• Headward erosion: lengthens the channel

• Lateral erosion: widens the channel and

flood plain
Downcutting
Headward Erosion
Lateral Erosion
Lateral Erosion yields a wide floodplain and a meander belt
Characteristics of a Youthful Stream
• Relatively steep gradient
• Narrow “V”-shaped valley
• No floodplain
• Relatively straight channel
• Rapids and/or waterfalls
• Rocky channel filled with pebbles, cobbles,
and/or boulders
 Characteristics of a Mature Stream
• Low gradient
• Wide floodplain
• Meanders
• Point bars
• Cut banks
• Natural Levees
• Oxbow lakes
• Meander scars
• Back swamps
• Yazoo tributaries
• Stream terraces
Youthful or mature?
Youthful or mature?
Formation of Depositional and Erosional Features
• The greater a stream’s discharge (volume of water per
cross sectional area)
– the faster it is flowing
– the greater its energy
– the greater its capacity (amount of sediment it can carry)
– the greater its competence (size of sediment grains it can carry)

• Where a stream slows down, due to

– decreased gradient,
– decreased inflow,
– overflowing its banks, or
– obstructions in its channel

• it loses energy and therefore deposits its coarser

suspended load (sand and silt) as bars or natural levees
Formation of Depositional and Erosional Features
• The suspended load
– mud - a mixture of clay and silt
• is deposited only under low energy conditions
– such as on a lake bottom or flood plain

In Summary
• Where the current is fast, energy is high, erosion
occurs
• Where the current is slow, energy is low, deposition
occurs
Formation of Point Bars and Cut Banks
A Meander Loop on the Colorado River
Formation of Point Bars and Cut Banks
Deposition of Natural Levees
Meander Cutoff – Oxbow Lake
17_22a.jpg
 Stream Terraces:
Products of Downcutting, flooding, and lateral Erosion
Stream Terraces
 Alluvial Fans
• Are fan-shaped depositional features formed by
intermittently flowing streams

• They form at the base of a hill or mountain where the

gradient suddenly flattens

• Alluvial fans commonly form where steep-gradient

gullies and canyons dump into low-gradient ditches,
valleys, or deserts

• The sudden decrease in gradient drastically decreases

the stream’s energy, competence

• Which, in turn, causes the stream to drop its

– bed load nearest the hill
– suspended load farthest away, in the toe of the fan
Alluvial Fan in Death Valley
17_21a.jpg
 Braided Streams
• Are continuously-flowing, sediment-overloaded streams
that flow in networks of interconnected rivulets around
numerous channel bars

• They form where steep-gradient gullies and canyons

dump into low-gradient ditches, valleys, or plains

• They also form down hill of melting glaciers, in glacial

valleys and on their outwash plains

• The sudden decrease in gradient drastically decreases

the stream’s energy, competence

• Which, in turn, causes the stream to become sediment-

overloaded and drop its bed load and suspended load
as channel bars
 17_21b.jpg

Channel bars

Braided Stream
 Deltas
• Are fan-shaped depositional features formed at the
mouth of a stream where it flows into a large body of
relatively still water, such as a lake or ocean
• Thus, the stream has reached a base level, where the
stream suddenly loses energy and competence
because the gradient is flat (horizontal)
• The stream diverges into small, shifting channels,
distributaries, that carry sediment away from the main
channel and distribute it over the surface of the delta
• The topset beds and bottomset beds deposited in a
delta are subhorizontal

• The foreset beds, deposited where the water suddenly

deepens, dip shallowly to steeply seaward
Features of a Delta
The Mississippi Delta
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Evolution of the Mississippi Delta
17_25a.jpg
Big Thompson Canyon Flash Flood (1976) and
Fort Collins Flash Flood (1997)
Devastation caused by the Big Thompson Canyon Flash Flood, 1976
Devastation caused by the Fort Collins Flash Flood, 1997
17_34a.jpg
 Floods
• Floods are the most common and most
destructive geologic hazard

• Floods result from naturally occurring and

human-induced factors

• Causes of flooding include

• heavy rains
• rapid snow melt
• dam failure
• topography
• surface conditions
 Flood Control
• Engineering efforts include
– building artificial levees
– building flood-control dams
– clearing and straightening channels

• Good floodplain management