Transcript Rivers - CONGeography

Rivers
Learning Intention
How people use rivers?
 Why is water and rivers important?
 Why study rivers?
 What is the hydrological cycle?

Starter
Write down 5 words that come to mind
when I say the next word
Rivers
What good are rivers?
Why study rivers?
Water
Effect on man
In the news
Rivers
Damage
Deaths
Food
Rivers

Water is an important resource we all need to
live and survive. 70% of our bodies are water.

We see water all around us in the sea, lakes,
ponds and rivers.

We are now going to take you on a journey to
find where our water comes from and how
rivers affect our lives.
List of Water Uses

In pairs discuss each persons list of uses
for rivers

Has people’s reliance on rivers
changed? How?
Uses of rivers
Make a spider diagram

Washing
 Wash hands
 Drinking water
 Swimming
 Bath
 Cooking
 Fishing
 Water sports
 Dams

Electricity (HEP)
 Crops
 Transport (move things
and people) eg boats
 Sprinklers
 Factories
 Bread
 Water golf courses
Top uses of water
1.
2.
Put list of uses for rivers in order of
importance for:
Today
The past
Past uses of water







No washing machines/ dish washers– wash by
hand
More travel by boat, few went by plane
More baths, less showers
No sprinklers
Less swimming pools – more swims in the
lake
No automated car washes
Fewer golf courses – use a lot of water
Our use of water
Use water wisely – don’t waste it
Write an account
Write an account of your group
discussion. Write about how our use of
rivers has changed over time.
River features
The River’s journey

Write an account of the river’s journey
from its beginning (source) to its end
(mouth)

Use Video
Points from Video









3 courses
Boulders
Shallow
Waterfalls
V shaped valley
Narrow, wider, very wide
Shallow
Floodplain, Tributary,
Meanders, Ox-bow
lakes, Pebbles
Source, Mouth




Erosion
Transport
Deposition
Floodplains
Name the features

1. Source: the point at which the river
starts.

2. Interlocking spurs: where the river
winds between ridges.

3. Gorge: deep valley caused by
wearing back of a waterfall.

4. Waterfall: often where the river
crosses a band of harder rock.

5. 'V' shaped valley: produced in
upper course because the river cuts
down more quickly than the
surrounding slopes are eroded.
Upper course features
V shaped Valley
Name the features

6. Meander: the river starts to
erode from side to side.

7. River cliff: the river moves
faster on the outside of the bend
and cuts into the valley side. The
erosion undercuts the ground
causing it to collapse, leaving a
cliff.

8. River beach (Slip-off slope):
the river moves more slowly on
the inside of the bend. It cannot
carry the larger pebbles and
these are dropped here.
Name the features

9. Ox-bow lake: during floods the
river cuts through the neck of a large
meander. The outside bend is left as
a shallow lake.

10. Flood plain: the river is flowing in
a very wide, flat valley. When it
floods, it spreads over the flood
plain.

11. Levée: during floods the
overflowing river is slowed as it
leaves its bed. Silt is deposited along
the banks first. Over the years the
deposits build up into high ridges.

12. Estuary: the open mouth of the
river, where it meets the sea.
River channel

A river is fresh water flowing across the
surface of the land, usually to the sea. It
flows in a channel. The bottom of the
channel is called the bed and the sides
of the channel are called the banks.
The drainage basin of a river
River terms
Source - The source is the beginning of a stream or
river.
Mouth - The mouth is the end of a river, where it
empties into a large body of water.
Tributary - A tributary is a river or stream that flows into
another stream, river, or lake.
Confluence – to the point where a tributary joins a larger
river.
Drainage basin – the area drained by a river and its
tributaries.
Watershed – the boundary of the drainage basin which
is usually a ridge of high land.
Give the meanings of these
words
SOURCE
WATERSHED
TRIBUTARY
CONFLUENCE
MOUTH
RIVER CHANNEL
DRAINAGE BASIN
DELTA
Answe
rs
SOURCE
The place where a river starts,
usually in high ground. Can be in
the form of a spring, lake or
glacier.
WATERSHED
The area of highland which forms
the edge of a drainage basin.
TRIBUTARY
A small stream which flows into a
larger one, adding water to it
and making it bigger.
DRAINAGE BASIN
An area of land drained by a river
and its tributaries.
MOUTH
The end of a river's course, where
it flows into the sea or a lake.
CHANNEL
The space between the banks of a
river where it flows.
CONFLUENCE
The point where a small stream
flows into the main channel, or
where 2 small streams join.
DELTA
A landform where the mouth of a
river flows into an ocean, sea,
desert, estuary, lake or another
river.
Fill in the spaces putting in the missing
terms and the missing definitions
The place where a river starts,
usually in high ground. Can be in
the form of a spring, lake or
glacier.
WATERSHED
TRIBUTARY
An area of land drained by a river
and its tributaries.
MOUTH
CHANNEL
The point where a small stream
flows into the main channel, or
where 2 small streams join.
DELTA
Shaping the land

The river works to shape the land. It
does it in 3 ways:
1.
2.
3.
Erosion – wears away the land
Transportation – moves the material from one
place to another
Deposition – drops the material and builds new
landforms
What is erosion?

Erosion is the wearing away of the land
(like sandpaper)

Weathering breaks up and weakens the
surface of the rocks while erosion wears
away and removes the loosened material
Processes of erosion
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/riverswat
er/river_processesrev1.shtml
Processes of Erosion
Erosion involves the wearing away of rock and soil found along
the river bed and banks. Erosion also involves the breaking down
of the rock particles being carried downstream by the river.
There are four main forms of river erosion:

Hydraulic action - river wears away the river bank from underneath (force of the
water against river banks)

Attrition - rocks being carried by the river smash together and break into smaller
particles.

Abrasion - rocks carried along by the river wear down the river bed and banks

Solution - smaller particles are dissolved into the river.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/
Types of transport
Transport
Rivers pick up and carry material as they flow downstream. A river
may transport material in four different ways:




Solution - minerals are dissolved in the water and carried along
in solution.
Suspension - fine light material is carried along in the water.
Saltation - small pebbles and stones are bounced along the river
bed.
Traction - large boulders and rocks are rolled along the river bed.
Rivers need energy to transport material, and levels of energy
change as the river moves from source to mouth.

When energy levels are very high, large rocks and boulders
can be transported. Energy levels are usually higher near a
river's source, when its course is steep and its valley narrow.
Energy levels rise even higher in times of flood.

When energy levels are low, only small particles can be
transported (if any). Energy levels are lowest when velocity
drops as a river enters a lake or sea (at the mouth).
Deposition
When a river loses energy, it will drop or deposit some of the
material it is carrying.
Deposition may take place when a river enters shallow water or
when the amount of water decreases - for example, after a flood or
during times of drought.
Deposition is common towards the end of a river's journey, at the
mouth.
Deposition at the mouth of a river can form deltas - for example, the
Mississippi Delta
The rivers course
Small pebbles in
river.
Large boulders in
the river.
River narrow and
shallow
Large rocks
in the river.
River
getting
wider and
deeper
River at its widest
and deepest.
3 stages of the river
The journey of river from source (where the
river begins) to mouth (where the river ends) is
sometimes called the course of the river. The
course of a river can be divided into three
main sections:

upper course
 middle course
 lower course
Rivers always flow downwards from
highland areas to lowland areas, through
the upper, middle, and finally the lower
course.
Upper course
The land is steep here.
River has very little water.
River is narrow and shallow.
Continent
Longest River
Length
Africa
Nile River
4,157 miles (6,690 km)
long
Asia
Yangtze River
3,434 miles (5,530 km)
long
Australia
Murray-Darling
River
MississippiMissouri River
2,310 miles (3,720 km)
long
South America
Amazon River
3,915 miles (6,300 km)
long
Europe
Volga River
2,290 miles (3,700 km)
long
North America
2,540 miles (4,090 km)
+ 2,340 miles (3,770
km) long
Erosion

Erosion involves the wearing away of rock and soil found along the
river bed and banks. Erosion also involves the breaking down of the
rock particles being carried downstream by the river.

There are four main forms of river erosion:

Hydraulic action - river wears away the river bank from
underneath

Attrition - rocks being carried by the river smash together and
break into smaller particles

Abrasion - rocks carried along by the river wear down the river
bed and banks

Solution - smaller particles are dissolved into the river

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/riverswate
r/riverprocessesrev1.shtml