Rivers are freshwater systems which drain their catchment area through tributary streams. Let’s take a look at how and why they form. (When man interferes with the course of nature, even a river can end up as straight as an arrow.) The serpentine course of the river is made up of a series of twists and turns called meanders. The deserted meander is now considered an ox-bow lake.If you have ever looked down on a natural river valley, you can’t help but notice that the path of the river is anything but straight. Finally, the meander becomes cut off from the main river body due to deposition, and the shorter route becomes the main route for the river. This allows the river to flow straight through, bypassing the bend of the meander, taking a new and shorter route. They are horseshoe-shaped sections of rivers that become separate from the main river due to continuous erosion and deposition.Īs meanders develop from sustained erosion and deposition, the loops of the meanders become very close. Ox-bow lakes are an extension of meanders. This creates the bends in the river, called meanders. The build-up of sediment here forms a small, gently sloping bank. Therefore, there is less energy on the inner edge of the river. The eroded sediment is carried and deposited on the inner edge of the river, where the water flows at a much slower rate because it is more shallow. This erodes the river to create a deep bend. It is here where erosion takes place because of the fast-flowing, high-energy water. As water flows through a river, it picks up speed where there is the deepest amount of water, this is the outer edge of the river. This is because the formation of meanders requires high amounts of energy. They are mostly found in the middle course of the river. Meanders are basically where the river bends. Meandering river landforms are river landforms that can be formed through both erosion and deposition, these are: Surely, that must be all the river landforms, right? Actually. They can only be seen at low tide, but they are essential environments. Mudflats are areas of deposited sediment found on estuaries. Eventually, after continued erosion at the undercut and the build-up of fallen rocks, a plunge pool forms at the base of the waterfall and the overhang of hard rock breaks off. Erosion takes place and deteriorates the soft rock at a quicker rate, creating an undercut below the hard rock and an overhang where the hard rock is. They form where a layer of hard rock sits above a layer of soft rock. Waterfalls are one of the most beautiful features of rivers they can be found at the upper course of a river (and occasionally in the middle course of a river.) In a waterfall, fast-flowing water flows downwards at a vertical drop. The types of landforms that can form due to erosion are: These are features formed by the wear of material in rivers, also known as erosion. So, what are the different types of river landform examples that occur? Let's see, shall we? River erosional landformsįirstly, let’s take a look at erosional landforms. Deposition largely occurs downstream of a river, from the middle course to the lower course, as there is often less energy in the lower course of a river due to reduced water levels. This is when sediment is deposited along a river to produce different river landforms. Now, let's take a look at depositional processes. Abrasion, attrition, hydraulic action and solution are all different processes of erosion that contribute to forming erosional landforms on a river.
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