Back to FlashcardsSocial Studies / Geography: Rivers Part 2
Geography: Rivers Part 2
This deck covers key concepts related to river geography, including terms like capacity, competence, and various processes and features associated with rivers and flooding.
What is capacity?
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Key Terms
Term
Definition
What is capacity?
Maximum amount of things a river can carry - overall weight
What is competence?
The maximum size of a thing a river can carry
How do levees form
In a flood larger material is deposited on the banks and over many floods it builds up to be levees
What's an estuary
The tidal part of the river where the channel broadens out as it reaches the sea
What's a tidal bore?
Huge waves that move up the river than can damage vegetation and banks
What are mudflats?
Laters of mud from depositions where there's less velocity
Related Flashcard Decks
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
What is capacity? | Maximum amount of things a river can carry - overall weight |
What is competence? | The maximum size of a thing a river can carry |
How do levees form | In a flood larger material is deposited on the banks and over many floods it builds up to be levees |
What's an estuary | The tidal part of the river where the channel broadens out as it reaches the sea |
What's a tidal bore? | Huge waves that move up the river than can damage vegetation and banks |
What are mudflats? | Laters of mud from depositions where there's less velocity |
What's a delta | A flat area of sand and silt built out into the sea |
How do deltas occur? | When a particular river is carrying a large load and it reaches the sea the velocity slows and drops the load |
What's the valley like in all the courses? | Upper course - v shape
Middle course - u shape
Lower course - much wider u shape [ - that shape on turned 90 degrees |
What are the human causes of flooding? | Deforestation, farming, channelisation, urbanisation, |
What are the physical causes of flooding? | Snow melting, rain, impermeable rock |
What's interception? | When water is absorbed by vegetation |
What's infiltration | When water is absorbed into the ground |
What's transpiration | Where plants evaporate water from leaves |
What's percolation | Some water goes deeper in the ground and is slowly transferred back to the river or sea |
What's through flow | When water infiltrated the soil and moves more slowly back to the river than surface run off |
What's groundwater | Water that has infiltrated the ground and is found in cracks and spaces in the soil and rocks |
What's surface run off | Water that directly flows back into the river |
In hydrography a what is the base flow? | The starting and finishing flow of the river either side of the increased discharge |
What's lag time | Time between peak rainfall and peak discharge |
What's the rising limb? | The increasing discharge as water enters channel |
What's the falling limb | Fall in discharge back to base flow |
What is a dam | Built to control discharge and holds back water, very expensive but can be a source of drinking water |
What's afforestation | Planting trees to slow down the flow of water towards the river channel and allow more interception |
What's levees or embankments | Increase the maximum area of the river channel allowing it to hold more water |
What's floodplain zoning | Consider the flood plain and try to build in areas far or elevated from the river |
What's channelisation | Building concrete banks and straightening the river to reduce friction and allow the water to flow quicker |
What's a flood warning system | Allows evacuation of areas likely to flood and reduces damage as people can prepare |
What are retention ponds | Ponds that allow runoff to me temporarily stored |
What are energy levels like in upper course | A lot of gravitational potential energy so vertical erosion, not enough energy to carry big rocks in water so rolled along bed |
What are middle course energy levels like | More kinetic energy do more transportation
Less gravitational potential energy so lateral instead of vertical erosion |
What's energy in the lower course like | No gravitational potential so mainly lateral erosion a lot of deposition due to slow velocity |