Queen’s College

Social Studies Department

Geography
Grade 10
Landforms in the Middle & Lower Course
of the River
Objectives

At the end of this lesson students will:

• Identify three characteristics of the middle course of the river.
• Describe at least two features found in the middle course of the river.
• Identify three characteristics of the lower course of the river.
• Describe at least two features found in the lower course of the river.
 Middle Course of the River
• In the middle course of the river, alluvium in deposited on the valley
floor, mainly when the river floods.
• The river has more energy and a high volume of water.
• The gradient here is gentle.
• Lateral (sideways) erosion has widened the river channel.
• The river channel has also deepened.
• A larger river channel means there is less friction, so the water flows
faster.
 Flood Plains
In the middle and lower course of the river, alluvium is deposited on the
valley floor, mainly when the river floods. The wide flat deposits that
results are the floodplain of the river.
Floodplains varies from a few hundred metres to tens of kilometres across.
Close to the sea, the floodplains of several rivers may merge imperceptibly
together, as on the American coast of the Gulf of Mexico, or in the
coastlands of Guyana and Suriname
Some floodplains may be wetlands with poor drainage while others are
used for agriculture or urban development. There is some risk of flood
damage unless the river flow is controlled for flood protect, as with the
Caroni River in Trinidad.
Flood Plains
 Meanders
When the river flow across a flat valley or floodplain, they do not run in a
straight line. They naturally adopt a meandering course, with regular smooth
curves. Meanders are produced like this:
1. There is a part of a river channel where the current is flowing fastest.
2. Where the course of a river is straight, the zone of fastest flow follows a spiral
pattern as it moves down stream.
3. One the fastest flow is close to one bank of the river, that section of the bank is
eroded more quickly.
4. Because of this, the course of the river begins to curve.
5. The curves become more pronounced until there is a well-developed pattern of
meanders in the floodplain.
6. Meanders take a regular shape. As a rule, the length of each meander is about
ten times the width of the river channel.
Meander in The Amazon
Parts of a Meander

Convex Side

Concave Side
 River Cliff and Point Bar
• As a river goes around a bend, most of the water is pushed towards the
outside. This causes increased speed and therefore increased erosion
(through hydraulic action and abrasion).
• The lateral erosion on the outside bend causes undercutting of the
bank to form a river cliff.
• Water on the inner bend is slower, causing the water to deposit the
eroded material at the edge of the river. This is called a point bar.
• The gentle slope on the inner bank of the meander is called a slip-off
slope (or sometimes river beach).
 The Lower Course of the River
• The valley is close to sea level.
• The river carries sediments from the whole basin and deposit it in the
floodplain or sea.
• Here, the gradient is even gentler.
• The river flows even more slowly, and the volume of water is greater.
 Oxbow Lakes
An oxbow lake is a small, curved lake formed from an abandoned meander of
the river.
Erosion of the banks on ac side of the curve may result in a meander with a
narrow neck. This may then be cut off in a flood, as the river finds a shorter and
faster course.
When this happens, the following process occurs:
At first, the core of the former meander forms an island. The older meander
becomes a crescent shaped channel of almost stagnant water, known as a cut-off.
Silt is deposited at each end of the cut-off, so that the oxbow lake is formed.
Eventually, the oxbow lake is filled in with alluvium and other material. A slight
depression is all that remains.
Oxbow Lakes
Oxbow Lake in the Amazon
 Levees
A levee is a raised riverbank built up from alluvial deposits.
Along the lower course, the riverbank- and even the river itself- may
sometimes be higher than the floodplain. The raised area is called a levee.
After a period of heavy rain, the river is swollen with flood water, which
contains sediment form higher up the valley. The river floods the flat ground
along the valley floor.
The flood waters move more slowly than the main channel and cannot carry
as much sediment. Most of the sediment is deposited quite close the main
river channel.
When the flood waters recede, a thick deposit of mud is left along the
riverbanks. After this process has been repeated many times, a levee is
formed.
 Braided Channel
• A braided river has a very wide and usually shallow channel, made up of
many interlaced branches, which divide and rejoin each other. Between
these are shifting bars, usually sand or gravel. These maybe stabilized
as elongated river islands, which are covered with vegetation.
• Braided channels are formed where:
• There is plentiful supply of eroded material from upstream, particularly
coarse material, such as sand and gravel.
• The discharge varies widely- between periods of floods, when material
is transported easily, and periods of low water, when it is deposited.
• The river has a steep gradient.
 Delta
• A delta is an area of flat land built up from silt and alluvium where a river flows
slowly into a sea or lake. Many deltas are triangular in shape.
• Deposition is aided when a river flows into the sea, because tiny clay particles
clump up together in salty water and sink.
• Distributaries are channel branch off from the main river of a delta. The
distributaries usually make a fan shaped pattern.
• Deltas are formed easily under these conditions:
• The river carries a large volume of sediment
• The sea is relatively calm, so the sediment is not carried away by the waves.
• The sea is fairly shallow.
• The tidal range is not to great.
Delta may eventually form in the Essequibo
River
Yallahs River
Upper Course Lower Course