River Landforms

In the upper course of a river is where the river starts (the source) not much discharge, very slow velocity and very sharp riverbed. There are two different landforms, one is the interlocking spurs. This land form is created by the river doesn't have enough power (not travailing at a fast velocity) to erode the valley sides which this leaves the valley sides/spurs interlocking. The river moves round the interlocking spurs until it lowers closer to the middle course. Another land form which occurs at the upper course is waterfalls. It is formed by the soft rock under the resistant rock which gets eroded which makes a start of the waterfall. The velocity of the river gets faster because of the step drop which means even more erosion will occur

These are formed by the meanders eroding the river bank. This makes the neck of land between them narrower. The erosion can go straight through the neck which now makes a straight channel. The bed dries up leaving an ox-box lake, which is a lake which comes off a river but isn’t connected; the remainder of the meander. In the lower course of a river is where the river is at its highest velocity, widest, largest amount of discharge and the smoothest riverbed. There are two different landforms, one is the flood plains. They are the area around a river that gets covered when a flood occurs. When a flood occurs the river water spreads out on the valley floor. It then slows down because more friction is being produced, which this then deposits sediment that it was carrying. This then made the soil more fertile, which then helps the agricultural economy. Another landform in the lower course is levees. These are formed when the river is flooding or breaking its banks and deposited sediment. A levee is a natural embankment of sediment which is deposited on to the river bank. The largest sediment is deposited first on the bank. When more flood occurs the higher the embankments

All rivers receive water from it. The boundaries of the basin are known as the watershed and will usually be marked by areas of higher land. Drainage basins have many different characteristics that influence how quickly or slowly the main river within them responds to a period of intense rainfall. Human activity has the potential to indirectly and directly affect water quantity and the natural flow regime of a river system. Indirect impacts to the hydrologic cycle can result from land-use changes. Direct impacts can result from water diversions, withdrawals and discharges, and from dams (flow regulation and water storage). Changes to the landscape caused by oil sands development can affect hydrologic systems in two major ways, termed closed circuited and non-closed circuited land use. Closed circuited areas include areas where the impacted land is hydrologically isolated from the original drainage area, and no longer contributes flow to the river system. Non-closed circuited land change includes areas that still contribute flows to the river systems, but where vegetation has been removed or other changes affecting water flow have