1. Chapter 14 River Systems and Landforms

3. River Systems and Landforms
Fluvial Processes and Landscapes  
Streamflow Characteristics  
Floods and River Management  

4. Fluvial Processes: stream related processes Alluvium: a general term for the clay, silt, and sand transported by running water. 

5. Base Levels
Figure 14.2

6. A Drainage Basin: a geographical area where precipitation contributes to the discharge of a particular stream
Figure 14.3

7. Continental divide (blue line) separate major drainage basins into Pacific, Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Arctic ocean.
Figure 14.5

8. Streamflow Characteristics
Stream Gradient: decline in elevation from its headwaters to its mouth Stream Erosion  
Stream Transport  
Flow and Channel Characteristics  
Stream Deposition  

9. Stream’s erosion Hydraulic action: the work of water moving material
Abrasion: debris moves with water that mechanically erodes the stream bed

10. Meandering Stream Features
Figure

11. Meandering Stream Profile
Erosion occurs
Deposition occurs
Figure

12. Meandering Stream Development
Oxbow lake: a lake was formerly a part of the channel of a meandering stream, isolated when it was cut off through the neck of a looping meander
Figure

13. Itkillik River, Alaska
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14. Three ways of fluvial transports
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15. Braided Stream: if the load exceeds the stream’s capacity, sediments accumulates as the aggradation and the stream channel builds up through the deposition.
Figure

16. An Ideal Longitudinal Profile
Figure

17. Nickpoint
Figure

18. Retreat of Niagara Falls
Figure

19. Floodplain: the flat, low-lying area along a stream channel that is subject to recurrent flooding alluvial deposits mask the underlying rocks
Natural Levees (French: rising): high elevated land along a stream channel that consists of sand-sized particles
Figure

20. Mississippi River Levee Break
Figure

21. Alluvial Terraces: leveled areas that appear as topographic steps above the stream, created by a stream as it scours with renewed downcutting into its floodplain.
Figure

22. Ganges River Delta
River delta: a triangular-shaped deposited plain formed at the mouth of a river
Figure

23. Nile River Delta
Figure

24. Mississippi River Delta
Figure

25. Mississippi River Delta
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26. Streamflow Measurement
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27. Urban Flooding
Figure