Rivers

Question 1

What features could mean that the river has a high risk of flooding?

Answer 1

• Heavy rain
• No trees
• Impermeable rocks
• Lots of surface runoff
• Frozen ground

Question 2

What features could mean that the river has a low risk of flooding?

Answer 2

• Light rain
• Permeable rock
• Not much surface runoff
• Forest
• Dams

Question 3

What are the four types of erosion?

Answer 3

• Attrition
• Solution
• Corrasion or Abration
• Hydraulic action

Question 4

What is the highest waterfall in the UK located on the River Tee’s?

Answer 4

• High Force Waterfall

Question 5

How is a waterfall formed

Answer 5

1. Hard impermeable rock can’t be eroded
2. The water erodes the soft permeable rock via corrosion and abrasion
3. The hard rock is eventually undercut and it collapses into the plunge pool
4. This moves the waterfall back upstream leaving behind a gauge

Question 6

How are interlocking spurs formed?

Answer 6

• The river erodes the landscape in the upper course via corrosion and abrasion.
• It winds and bends to avoid areas of hard rock. This creates interlocking spurs

Question 7

How are meanders formed?

Answer 7

• Erosion and deposition

Question 8

What is the key term that is used for the cork screw motion in the outer bend of the in meanders?

Answer 8

• Helicordal flow

Question 9

State the four methods of river transportation?

Answer 9

• Traction (rolling of boulders and pebbles along the river bed)
• Saltation (Particles bounce along river bed)
• Suspension (When fine particles are held in water while its moving)
• Deposition (Where material gets deposited)

Question 10

How is a Levee formed?

Answer 10

• When the river overflows its banks, the velocity decreases and sediment is deposited
• Coarser sands are dropped closer to the river and finer silts are carried further.
• Over the years, Levee are raised

Question 11

How is a floodplain formed?

Answer 11

• When a river floods, it deposits silt
• Layers of silt build up to provide a thick layer of fertile alluvium
• This makes the land perfect for farming

Question 12

State some hard engineering techniques and some postive and negative things about them?

Answer 12

• Dams and Reservoirs: Positive/ Lots of power produced, controls flooding. Negative/ Expensive, Causes landslides
• Straighening meanders: Positive/ Shorter distance, Ships can get through. Negative/ Less capacity in river, Unatural, Expensive.
• Embankments: Positive/ Holds more water, looks ok. Neagtive/ Expensive, Unsustainable

Question 13

State some soft engineering techniques and some postive and negative things about them?

Answer 13

• Flood warnings and preparation: Positive/ Gives people knowledge that a flood is coming, good for wildlife. Negative/ Not always accurate, floods happen quickly.
• Floodplain zoning: Postive/ Looks natural, good for wildlife. Negative/ Limited places you can build

Question 14

How much of the UK is moorland enviroment?

Answer 14

• 1/4 of the enviroment in the UK is moorland

Question 15

What was one of the most important ports in the industrial revolution located on the river Tee’s?

Answer 15

Stockton

Question 16

What did they use to make Stockton more assecible and why?

Answer 16

• There were to many meanders between Stockton and the sea
• This prevented big ships from getting through
• As the victorians wern’t enviromentaly freindly, they used meander straightning to create a 3km artificial line from Stockton to the sea.

Question 17

What are some landforms you would find in the upper course of a river?

Answer 17

• Large angular bedload
• Lots of abrasion
• Interlocking spurs
• V-shaped valleys
• Waterfalls

Question 18

What are some landforms you would find in the middle course of a river?

Answer 18

• Meanders
• Ox-box lakes
• Farmland
• Levees
• Floodplains
• Smoother and smaller bedload

Question 19

What are some landforms you would find in the lower course of a river?

Answer 19

• Silt and fine particles in bedload
• Farmland
• Industry (shipping)
• Seal Sands (on Tee’s) based on estuary and has been reclaimed
• Estuary (where it gets tidal)

Question 20

What two things change the cross profile of a river?

Answer 20

1. Verticle erosion
2. Lateral erosion

Question 21

Where does deposition occur in rivers?

Answer 21

• Inside of bend

Question 22

What are the three courses of a river?

Answer 22

• Upper course
• Middle course
• Lower course

Question 23

Define Traction

Answer 23

• Large particles like boulders are pushed along the river bed by the force of the water

Question 24

Define suspension

Answer 24

• Small particles like silt and clay are carried along by the water

Question 25

Define Saltation

Answer 25

* Pebble sized particles are bounced along the river bed by the force of the water

Question 26

Define solution

Answer 26

* Soluble materials dissolve in the water and are carried along

Question 27

How is a floodplain formed?

Answer 27

1. Flood plain is the wide valley floor on either side of a river which gets flooded 2. When a river floods, the water slows down and deposits the eroded material that it's transporting. This builds up the flood plain (makes it higher. 3. Meanders migrate downstream flattening out the valley floor 4. The deposition that happens on the slip off slopes of meanders also builds up the flood plain