Rivers

These are a rough diagram of river parts:

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.
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.
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.

Name: Dinesh Manoharan