RIVER CHANNEL PROCESSES

& LANDFORMS, FLOOD &

MANAGEMENT
(1) RIVER PROCESSES.
(2) DEPOSITION & SEDIMENTATION
(HJULSTROM CURVE)
(3) VELOCITY & DISCHARGE
(4) PATTERNS OF FLOW
(5) CHANNEL TYPES
(6) CHANNEL LANDFORMS
(7) FLOOD (CAUSES, IMPACT AND
MANAGEMENT)

RIVER PROCESSES:
Three river processes:
1. Transportation
2. Deposition
3. Erosion

RIVER TRANSPORTATION
The load is transported by 4 ways:
(i)
Saltation: when pebbles, sand and gravel (bedload) are lifted up
by current and bounced along the bed in a hopping motion.
(ii)

Traction: when largest boulders and cobbles (bedload) roll or

slide along the bed.

traction

saltation

(iii)

Suspension: very fine particle such as clay and silt (suspended

load) are dislodged and carried by turbulence in a fast flowing
river.

(iv)

Solution: water flowing within a river channel contains acids (e.g.

carbonic acid from precipitation) dissolve the load such as
limestone in running water and removed in solution.

solution

suspension

River deposition
Deposition: when velocity begins to fall, it has less energy and no
longer had competence and capacity to carry all its load so largest
particles, materials begins to be deposited.
When occur?
1.
Low discharge during period of low precipitation
2.
Less velocity when river enter sea or lake.
3.
Shallow water occurs on inside of a meander.
4.
The load suddenly increase (debris from landslide)
5.
River overflow its bank so velocity outside channel is reduced.
(resulting in floodplain)

River erosion.
Erosion: wearing away of river bed and bank.
There are four main process of erosion:
(i)
Corrasion: occurs when the river picks up materials and rubs it
along its bed and banks, wearing them away by abrasion,
effective during flood. Major method by which river erodes both
vertically and horizontally.
Landforms: potholes. (turbulent eddies in the current can swirl
pebbles
around to form potholes that are hollows in river bed and
pebbles are
likely to become trapped)

potholes

(ii)

Attrition: As bedload moved downstream, boulders collide with

other material and the impact may break the rock into smaller
pieces. In time angular rocks become increasingly rounded.

(iii)

Hydraulic action: The sheer force of the water as the turbulent

current hits banks (outside of meander) pushes water into cracks.
The air in cracks compressed, pressure increased and in time
bank will collapse.
Cavitation: is a form of hydraulic action caused by bubbles of air
collapsing.

(iv)

Solution/corrosion: This process in independent of river discharge

and velocity. It is related to chemical composition of water e.g.
concentration of carbonic acid and humid acid.

Hjulstrom curve

Hjulstrom curve

The Hjulstrm curve is a graph used by hydrologists to determine whether

a river will erode, transport or deposit sediment. The graph takes sediment
size and channel velocity into account.

The curve shows several key ideas about the relationships between erosion,
transportation and deposition.
The Hjulstrm Curve shows that particles of a size around 1mm require the
least energy to erode, as they are sands that do not coagulate. Particles
smaller than these fine sands are often clays which require a higher velocity
to produce the energy required to split the small clay particles which have
coagulated.
Larger particles such as pebbles are eroded at higher velocities and very
large objects such as boulders require the highest velocities to erode. When
the velocity drops below this velocity called the line of critical velocity,
particles will be deposited or transported, instead of being eroded,
depending on the river's energy.

Velocity and Discharge:

Discharge: is the amount of water
originating
as precipitation which reaches the channel
by surface runoff, throughflow and baseflow.
Q = AX V
(Q: discharge, A: cross-sectional area and
V: velocity)

Velocity:
1. Velocity: speed of a river (m/s)
2. Velocity of a river is influence by 3 factors:
(i) Channel shape in cross-section.
(ii) Roughness of the channels bed and
banks.
(iii) Channel slope.

Patterns of flow
As water flows downhills under gravity, velocity decreases.
This is not only due to friction found along river bed and
banks, but also internal friction of water and air resistance
on the surface. There are two patterns of flow:
1.Laminar flow : horizontal movement of water
(rarely found), common in lava flow.
2. Turbulent: a series of erratic eddies, both vertical and
horizontal, in a downstream direction.

3. Helicoidal flow: a corkscrew movement, in

a meander.
It is responsible for moving material from the
outside of one meander bend and
depositing
on the inside of the next bend.

Channel types

(a) Straight channel

(b) Braided channel
(c) Meander channel

Straight channels

Braided channel
What? A braided stream has islands/eyots of deposited material within the channel.
Description:
Overall channel is straight with eyots and smaller channels.
It rapidly and frequently change position.
When?
It occurs when the load contain high proportion of coarser sands and gravel.
Area:
Semi-arid environment.
Braided reach of Lillooet River,
southwestern British Columbia.

WHAT? Bends in course of a river channel.

Meander
Meander

HOW OCCUR?
1. Begin when a river approaches its middle course & gradient channel
is less steep.

2. It results from helicoidal flow with faster current spirals downstream in

corkscrew fashion. Movement result in erosion on outside bend of meander to
form river cliff and deposit on inside bend called slip off slope.
CHARACTERISTICS:
1. River cliff on outside of bend and gentle
sloping slip- off slope called point bar on
inside of bend of meander.

Read textbook (Geography An integrated approach, Waugh, D., p:79)

write briefly formation of Meander and ox-bow lake.

Riffle
Riffle and
and pools
pools
Riffles: deposition of a coarse material that create
areas of shallow water.
Pools: areas of deeper water between riffles.
Pools and riffles developed in section along river channel
which create different gradient of channel.
Coarse pebbles create steeper gradient than eroded pools.

Fluvial landforms
Effects of fluvial erosion:
1.
(a) V-shaped valleys
A river erode vertically by traction or saltation which resulted in a steepsided valley called a V-shaped valley.
Steepness of valley sides depend of factors such as:
(i)
Climate: valley are steeper where there is sufficient rainfall. (for
mass movement and allow river to transport bedload and erode
vertically)
(ii) Rock structure: resistant, permeable rocks such as limestone
produce vertical sides.
(iii) Vegetation: it helps to bind soil together and keep the hillslope
more stable.

(b) Interlocking spurs

It forms because the river is forced to follow a winding course around
the protrusions of the surrounding highland, resulting in spurs interlock.
Interlocking spur.

2. Water fall:
A waterfall form when a river, after flowing over relatively hard rock
meets a band of less resistant rock flow over the edge of a plateau.
Over a period of years, the edges of this shelf will gradually break away
and the waterfall will steadily retreat upstream, creating a gorge of
recession

Havasu fall, Arizona.

(3) Rapids:
Rapids develop where the gradient of the river bed increases without a
sudden break of slope (as in a waterfall) or where stream flows over a
series of gently dipping bands of harder rock. Rapid increase the
turbulence of a river and hence its erosive power.

Effect of fluvial deposition.

Deposition of sediment takes place where there is a decrease in energy
or an increase in capacity which makes the river less competent to
transport its load.
It can occur anywhere from upper course, where boulders may be left,
to the mouth where fine clays may be deposited.
FLUVIAL LANDFORMS:

Floodplains:
A floodplain is a mostly flat area of land bordering a river subjected to
periodic flooding. It is made of silts and sands which have been
deposited over many years by the river.

(2) Levees
When river overflows its banks, the increase in friction produced by the
contact with the floodplain causes material to be deposited. The
coarsest material is dropped first to form a small, natural embankment
(levee) alongside the channel. During subsequent periods of low
discharge, further deposition will occur within main channel causing
bed of the river to rise and the risk of flooding to occur.

Floodplains and levees.

(3) Braiding channels:

For short periods of year, some rivers carry a very high load in relation
to their velocity e.g. during snow melt periods in Alpine or Arctic areas.
When a rivers level falls rapidly, competence and capacity are
reduced, and channel become chocked with material, causing the river
to braid ( divide into a series of diverging and converging segments)

Braided channels.

(4) Delta:
It is composed of fine sediment which is deposited when a river losses
energy and competence as it flows into an area of slow moving water
such as a lake or sea. The shape resembled that of delta, the fourth
letter of the Greek alphabet (
)
Delta provide worlds fertile land, while shallow and frequently changing
river channels hinder navigation.

There are three types:

(a) Arcuate (fan-shaped delta) : having rounded, convex outer margin e.g.
Nile.
(b) Cuspate (tooths delta) : where material brought down by a river is spread
out evenly on either side of its channel. E.g. Tiber
(c ) Birds foot: where the river has many distributaries bounded by sediment
and which extent out to sea like the claws of a birds foot.e.g. the
Mississippi.

Arcuate delta e.g. River Nile.

Birds foot e.g.Mississippi river.

Cuspate delta e.g. Tiber.

FLOOD

Causes
Causes
Impact
Impact
Management
Management
Case
Case studies
studies

Flooding
CAUSES
CAUSES(Human
(Humanand
andphysical
physicalfactors)
factors)
(I)
PHYSICAL
FACTORS:
(I) PHYSICAL FACTORS:
When
Whendoes
doesflooding
floodingoccur?
occur?

Water
overflows
Water overflowsriver
riverbanks
banksonto
ontosurrounding
surroundingarea.
area.

Occur
Occurwhen
whenwater
wateravailable
availableisismore
morethan
thaninfiltration
infiltrationcapacity.
capacity.
When
Whendoes
doeswater
wateroverflow?
overflow?
1.1.
Intense
Intenseprecipitation
precipitation
2.2.
Prolong
Prolongrainfall
rainfallininsaturated
saturatedsoil.
soil.
i.e.
i.e.clay
clayprone
pronetotooverlandflow
overlandflow(smaller
(smallerpores)
pores)
Soil
Soilalready
alreadysaturated
saturatedthus
thusreduce
reduceinfitration
infitrationcapacity.
capacity.(prone
(pronetotoflood)
flood)
3.3.Sudden
Suddenincrease
increaseinintemperature
temperature(rapid
(rapidsnow
snowmelt)
melt)
(II)
(II)HUMAN
HUMANFACTORS:
FACTORS:
1.1.
Dam
burst
Dam burst
2.2.
Land
Landuse
use(drainage
(drainagesystem,
system,digging
diggingditch,
ditch,ploughing
ploughingup
upand
anddown
downslope)
slope)
3.3.
Urbanisation
Urbanisation(land
(landmade
madeimpermeable
impermeableininroad
roadbuilding)
building)
4.4.
Deforestation.
Deforestation.

IMPACTS AND FLOOD MANAGEMENT

Read from textbook below, draw a mind map/concept map

Impact
Impactofofflooding
flooding(case
(casestudy:
study:uk
ukand
andbrazil)
brazil)
Reference:
Reference:AS
ASGeography
GeographyPallister
PallisterJ.J.&&Bowen,
Bowen,Ann,
Ann,p:p:34-38)
34-38)
Flood
Floodmanagement
management(Colorado
(Colorado&&Bangladesh)
Bangladesh)
Ref:
Ref:AS
ASGeography,
Geography,Pallister
PallisterJ.J.&&Bowen,
Bowen,Ann,
Ann,p:39-43)
p:39-43)