Work of a river


 
 
Concept Explanation
 

Work of a river

Work of a river: The running water in the river erodes the landscape. When the river tumbles at sleep angle over very hard rocks or down a steep valley side it forms a waterfall. As the river enters the plain it twists and turns forming large bends known as meanders. Due to continuous erosion and deposition along the sides of the meander, the ends of the meander loop come closer and closer.

1.   In due course of time the meander loop cuts off from the river and forms a cut-off lake, also called an ox-bow lake.

2.  At times the river overflows its banks. This leads to the flooding of the neighboring areas. As it floods, it deposits layers of fine soil and other material called sediments along its banks. This leads to the formation of a flat fertile floodplain. The raised banks are called levees.

As the river approaches the sea, the speed of the flowing water decreases and the river beings to break up into a number of streams called distributaries. The river becomes so slow that it begins to deposit its load. Each distributary forms its own mouth. The collection of sediments from all the mouths forms a delta.

 
 


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