1. Tributary

2. Delta

3. Alluvial Fan

4. Drainage Basin

5. Drainage Basins or watersheds are separated by
high elevations

7. Mississippi River Drainage Basin

8. Stream Velocity

10. Gradient or Slope

11. Discharge

12. Channel

18. River and Glacial Valleys
River Valley
Glaciated Valley

19. Floodplain

21. Stages of River/Stream
Development

22. The Ideal Stream Cycle (W.M. Davis, 1880)
Not a Literal Time Sequence
Youth
Maturity
Old Age
Rejuvenation  

23. Youth V-Shaped Valley Fast Current Pot holes common Rapids Waterfalls
No Flood Plain
Drainage Divides Broad and Flat, Undissected by Erosion
Valley Being Deepened
General Agreement on this stage, lots of examples
Youth

24. Maturity (Early) V-Shaped Valley Beginnings of Flood Plain
Sand and Gravel Bars
Sharp Divides
Relief Reaches Maximum
Valleys stop deepening
General Agreement on this stage, lots of examples

25. Maturity (Late) Valley has flat bottom Narrow Flood Plain
Divides begin to round off
Relief diminishes
Sediment builds up, flood plain widens
River begins to meander
Many geologists believe slopes stay steep but simply retreat.
Maturity (Late)

26. Old Age Land worn to nearly flat surface (peneplain)
Resistant rocks remain as erosional remnants (monadnocks)
Shallow gradient
Slow current
Rivers meander across extremely wide, flood plains
Ox bow lakes
Levees
Deltas
Old Age

27. Rejuvenation Some change causes stream to speed up and cut deeper.
Uplift of Land
Lowering of Sea Level
Greater stream flow
Stream valley takes on youthful characteristics but retains features of older stages as well.
Can happen at any point in the cycle.