Streams

 A stream is any body of flowing water

confined with in channel, regardless of size
 It flows downhill through local topographic
lows, carrying water away over earth’s
surface
 The region from which a stream draws
water is it’s drainage basin
 Stream

 The size of stream may be described by it’s

discharge, the volume of water flowing past
a given point in a specified length of time
 Water is powerful agent of transporting
material
 Heavier debris may be rolled or pushed
along the bottom of the stream bed- Bed
Load of stream
 Sediment transport
 The suspended load consists of material that
is light or fine enough to be moved along
suspended in the stream, supported by
flowing water
 Suspended sediments gives a water muddy
appearance
 Stream Capacity

 Stream capacity is a measure of a total load

of a material a stream can move
 Capacity is directly related to discharge: the
faster the water flows, and the more water is
present, the more material can be moved
 How much of a load is actually transported
depends upon;
Availability of sediments or soluble material
 Velocity, Gradient and Base Level
 The steepness of the stream channel is
called gradient
 Stream velocity is related partly to
discharge and partly to the steepness of the
slope down which the stream flows
 The higher the gradient, the steeper the
channel, and the faster the stream flows
 Velocity, Gradient and Base Level
 Gradient and velocity vary along the length of
channel
 Near the source, gradient is steeper and it tend to
decrease downstream
 Velocity may or may not decrease correspondingly:
the affects of decreasing gradient may be
counteracted by other factors, including increased
water volume as additional tributaries enter the
stream, and changes in the channel’s width and
depth
 Velocity, Gradient and Base Level
 The lowest elevation to which a stream can erode
downward ( near the mouth), stream is
approaching it’s base level
 For most of the streams, the base level is the water
(surface) level of the body of water into which
they flow
 Example: streams flowing into the oceans, base
level is sea level
 The closer the stream is to its base level, the lower
the stream gradient
 Flood Plain evolution
 Streams do not ordinarily flow in straight lines for
very long
 Small irregularities in the channel cause local
fluctuations in velocity, which result in a little
erosion where the water flows strongly against the
side of the channel and some deposition of
sediments where it slows down a bit.
 Bends or Meanders, thus began to form in the
stream.
 Flood Plain evolution
 Once meander is form, it tends to enlarge and also
to shift downstream
 Over a period of time, the combined affects of
erosion on the outside banks and deposition on
the inside banks of meanders, and downstream
migration of meanders, produce a broad, fairly flat
expanse of land covered with sediments around
the stream channel- Flood Plains- the area into
which the streams spills over during flood
condition.
Flood Plain Evolution
 Floods

 Flood can be defined as a stage or height of

water above some given datum such as
banks of normal datum
Flood occurs whenever river overflows its
banks
To the inhabitants of flood plain, however, a
flood occurs whenever water rises sufficiently
so that life and property are damaged and
threatened
 Factors –Flood severity
 Many factors
The quantity of water involved
The rate at which it enters
 When water inputs exceeds the capacity of
the stream to carry that water away
downstream within its channel, the water
overflows the banks
 Surface Runoff
 The rate of the surface runoff is influenced
by the extend of infiltration, which, in turn,
is controlled by the soil type and how much
soil is exposed
Permeable soils- allows great deal of water to
sink
Topography-Steep-more runoff
 Floods Severity
 Vegetation
Physical barrier
Loosen the soil-roots-permeability
Water absorption
Magnitude and frequency of floods
 Flooding is intimately related to the amount
and intensity of precipitation and runoff
 Small floods- more frequently
 Large floods- less frequently
 Frequency
 Re-occurrence interval floods
 R=N+1/M

Where R= Recurrence interval

N= Number of years of record
M= Rank of individual flow
 Frequency calculation
 The highest flow for nine years of data for
the stream is 283 cubic meter/sec, so rank is
1,
 R=N+1/M= 9 + 1/1= 10,
 Which means that a flood with a magnitude
equal or exceeding 283 can be expected
every after 10 years.
 Hydrographs
 Fluctuations in stream stage or discharge
over time can be plotted on a hydrograph
 Hydrographs spanning long periods of time
are very useful in constructing a picture of
the normal behavior of a stream and of that
stream’s response to flood-causing events