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River erosion
Ways of erosion:
Hydraulic action Force of running water Abrasion / corrasion Load of a river
Attrition Rock fragments rub and hit against each other Solution / corrosion Water as a solvent
Vertical erosion
Lateral erosion
Narrow V-shaped
(b)
Broad V-shaped
Account for their differences in terms of the main erosional process carried out by the river.
(a)
(b)
River transportation
Smaller rock fragments bounced downstream Floating small rock fragments carried downstream Large rock fragments dragged downstream
Solution
Suspension
Saltation
Traction
Soluble minerals are removed by solution For the insoluble load, the largest one is pushed along the river bed by traction, the smaller one is carried by saltation, while the finest one is suspended in the moving water.
River deposition
Dropping of a rivers load Occurs when load > rivers carrying capacity
Volume of water
In times with rainfall In times with drought or low rainfall (over a long period of time)
At any point of a river Inside banks of bends Floor of the river valley
Deposition
large Energy small
-----------------------------smallest particle Pebbles small stones sandsilt clay Sorting of fluvial deposits
The smaller the particle size, the further it is carried
B
outer
inner
outer
deposition
erosion
Inner bank A
Outer bank
Study the Figure 1 Describe the relationship between erosion and deposition.
(a) How the amount of load affects the level of energy of a river? When the river has too little load, its energy increases and vice versa.
(b) What are the other factors affecting the energy of a river?
Gravity
Channel friction
Shape Roughness
Channel discharge
Slope
River velocity
Roughness
When the river has a lot of energy, erosion takes place. When the river has little energy, deposition resumes.