Term
| What are 6 functions of river systems? |
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Definition
| Drain continents, remove weathered material, shape the landscape, distribute mineral nutrients, provide water for human activities, and dilute our wastes |
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Term
| What are the 4 major river regimes? |
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Definition
| Snow & Ice Melt Dominated, Tropical (non-equatorial), temperate oceanic environments, and Equatorial rivers |
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Term
| What's the equation for drainage density? |
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Definition
| Area of Watershed/Area of rivers that can drain it |
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Term
| What are 4 sources of sediment? |
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Definition
| Hillside erosion, gully erosion, landslides, and floodplain erosion |
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Term
| Where is erosion highest? |
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Definition
| In areas with sparse vegetation or high rainfall |
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Term
| Sediment yield per unit area is highest for... |
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Definition
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Term
| What are the 3 types of fluvial transport? |
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Definition
| Bed Load (large sediment, traction/saltation), Suspended Load (fine sediment), and Dissolved Load (products of chemical weathering) |
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Term
| What are two erosional fluvial landforms? |
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Definition
| River valleys and terraces |
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Term
| What are 3 depositional fluvial landforms? |
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Definition
| floodplains, river deltas, and fans |
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Term
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Definition
| Deepest point of a channel |
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Term
| Describe stream order and name 3 contributors. |
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Definition
Used to quantify the relative size and importance of a stream segment to an overall river system.
Horton, Strahler, and Shreve |
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Term
| Describe Strahler's modification to stream ordering. |
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Definition
| All headwaters have an order of one. If segments of equal order join, the order increases by one. If it is a lower order, the overall order doesn't change. |
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Term
| Describe the Shreve link magnitude of stream ordering. |
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Definition
| Headwaters are magnitude one. Every other link is assigned a number based on how many magnitude ones drain into it. |
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Term
| What is a stream's bankfull? |
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Definition
| Size of the channel if it were at full capacity. |
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Term
| What are the four types of channel platforms? |
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Definition
| Straight, Meandering, Braided, and Anastomosed |
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Term
| What are the characteristics of a straight channel? |
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Definition
Typically artificial.
Have a riffle (deposition), pool (erosion), and bar (deposited material). |
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Term
| What are the characteristics of a meandering channel? |
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Definition
| Develop on flat floodplains. Fast waters and erosion at cut bank. Slow, shallow waters and deposition at point bank |
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Term
| What are the characteristics of a braided channel? |
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Definition
Occur when there's an excess of bed and suspended load creating bars.
In mountainous environments. |
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Term
| What are the characteristics of an anastomosed channel? |
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Definition
| Occur over wide plains and over top of clay. Cohesive bed material. Bars are kilometers big. Low stream gradient and power. |
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Term
| What is particle imbrication? |
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Definition
| Long axis tends to be aligned along a common vector due to flow direction. |
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