Fluvial Systems and Landforms

Chapter 14
Surface
runoff
Precipitation is dominant
source but can also be from
springs or meltwater
Interception slows water
reaching ground
Infiltration lowers surface
runoff
Sheet wash / overland flow
moves downhill into
preferential channels
Eventually reach a stream
 Each individual stream occupies its own
drainage basin (i.e. watershed or
catchment), the expanse of land which it
Drainage basins receives runoff.
Drainage basin: An area of land where all
precipitation that falls will drain or flow
downhill into a specific stream.
Drainage
patterns and
density
Drainage density represents
length of all channels
divided by basin area.
Higher drainage densities
found in arid areas
E.g. while Nile is longer,
Amazon drains more than
twice the area and has 80
times as much discharge
Casiquiare River: the
rare natural canal

Amazon
basin
The Stream
System Stream
ordering

A technique used to describe

quantitatively the position of a
stream and its drainage basin in
the nested hierarchy of
tributaries.

Drainage Basins (or watersheds)

Stream order
First-order stream (1)
Second-order stream (2)
Third-order stream (3)
Mississippi River (10th order
stream)
Amazon River (12th order)
 In the interior Great Basin,
streams have internal drainage
Drainage
basins of the
US
Exterior vs Interior
drainage

Drainage basins are often

critical areas for natural
preservation
E.g. Great Lakes compact

Mississippi River drains into

the Gulf of Mexico
Stream energy and slope
Streams have a greater energy
with a steeper slope

Theoretical stream profile has

a higher gradient near the
source and gentler gradient
near the mouth

Jia (2016) 10.1016/J.ENG.2016.03.008.

 Stream Transportation and Velocity

• A stream’s capacity increases sharply as its velocity rises.

• Faster currents can hold more sediment in suspension.
• The capacity to move bed load also increases with velocity because faster water drags against the bed harder.
• When water flow increases, a stream that is flowing in sand, silt, and gravel will widen and deepen.
• When the flow slows, stream will deposit material in the bed, filling the channel.
Stream Transportation
Solution
Minerals that are dissolved in
water
Suspension
Finest solid particles carried
Saltation
Particles that are heavier and
“bounce” along stream bed
Stream erosion: Abrasion
The larger stronger fragments
become rounded as they travel.
Cobbles and boulders roll over
the stream bed and crush and
grind the smaller grains,
producing a wide assortment of
grain sizes.
Process of mechanical wear is
called abrasion.

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Stream erosion: Hydraulic action
Stream erosion by impact force
of the flowing water upon the
bed and banks of the channel.
It can carve out enormous
quantities in a short amount of
time when river flow is high.

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Stream erosion: Corrosion
Erosion/Corrosion is the
dissolving of rock by carbonic
acid in sea water, and these
Limestone cliffs are particularly
vulnerable to this kind of erosion

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Streamflow hazards

Urbanization and Deforestation

decrease infiltration and therefore
increase runoff
River landscapes: Upper course
Steep gradients lead to fast flow
and a V-shape valley
River landscapes: Middle course
Meandering river
features where
floodplains exist but
river still has clear
boundaries
Point bar
Cut bank
Lower course of river features

Floodplains are very

wide
Oxbow Lake
Meander scar
The Mississippi River
Mississippi / Louisiana border
What mismatches do you see?
Deltas

Where flow is slow, and ocean

currents weak, river deltas
extend outwards into ocean
E.g. Mississippi

Where ocean currents are

strong, much alluvium gets
carried away
E.g. Amazon
Fluvial landforms
Landforms shaped by running
water which picks up particles
and moves them downslope.
Heavy rainfall can lift large
volumes of sediment and carry
them downstream.
Running water erodes
mountains and hills, carves
valleys and deposits sediment
Nearly two billion years of the Earth's geological history have been exposed as
the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer
of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted.
Fluvial Landforms: landforms
shaped by running water
Erosional Landforms: landforms shaped by the removal
of regolith or bedrock by erosion

Erosional Remnant, Mitten Rock, Monument Valley, Arizona,

 Slope Erosion
Depositional Landforms: landforms made by the
Fluvial Landforms: landforms shaped by
deposition of sediment
running water

Water both erodes and

deposits sediments on
landscapes

1. Colluvium
2. Alluvium
Colluvium
Accelerated Soil Erosion
Soil picked up by overland flow can be
carried downslope and accumulate in a
thickening layer known as Colluvium.

• Colluvium: deposit of sediment or rock

particles accumulating from overland flow at
the base of a slope and originating from
higher slopes. Transported via gravity.
Alluvium
Any sediment laid by a
stream (river deposited
material) that is found in a
stream channel or in low
parts of a stream valley
subject to flooding.
Can choke channels of
small streams, making the
stream/river flood.
Alluvial Fan
Gently sloping, conical
accumulation of coarse
alluvium deposited by a
braided stream resembling
an open fan.
They are built by streams
carrying heavy loads of
coarse rock waste from a
mountain or upland region.
The central point of the fan
lies at the mouth of a
canyon or ravine.