Rivers, Drainage and Landforms: notes

Rivers

• Water cycle: evaporation, condensation, precipitation, run off and infiltration.
• Drainage basin: the land drained by a river and its tributaries, edged by a watershed.
• Erosion: hydraulic action, abrasion, attrition, solution. Transport: traction, saltation, suspension, solution.

Landforms

• Upper course: steep, V shaped valley, waterfalls and rapids (Victoria Falls on the Zambezi).
• Middle course: wider valley, meanders form.
• Lower course: flat floodplain, oxbow lakes, levees and a delta where the river meets the sea.
• Oxbow lake: a cut off meander loop.

Other

• Floods: controlled by dams, levees and planting trees.
• Groundwater: water stored in porous rock, reached by wells and boreholes.