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    RIVER Middle Course Features

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    Rayon Taylor
    In the middle course of a river, the gradient decreases and lateral erosion increases, causing the river to develop wider meanders. Typical features include river cliffs formed by undercutting outer banks and slip-off slopes on inner banks. In the lower course near the sea, deposition is more prominent. Features include flood plains formed by sediment deposition during flooding, and ox-bow lakes formed when neck cuts off meanders.

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    RIVER Middle Course Features

    Uploaded by

    Rayon Taylor
    676 views6 pages
    In the middle course of a river, the gradient decreases and lateral erosion increases, causing the river to develop wider meanders. Typical features include river cliffs formed by undercutting outer banks and slip-off slopes on inner banks. In the lower course near the sea, deposition is more prominent. Features include flood plains formed by sediment deposition during flooding, and ox-bow lakes formed when neck cuts off meanders.

    Original Description:

    THIS SHOWS THE FAEATURES OF THE MIDDLE AND LOWER COURSE OF A RIVER.

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    In the middle course of a river, the gradient decreases and lateral erosion increases, causing the river to develop wider meanders. Typical features include river cliffs formed by undercutting outer banks and slip-off slopes on inner banks. In the lower course near the sea, deposition is more prominent. Features include flood plains formed by sediment deposition during flooding, and ox-bow lakes formed when neck cuts off meanders.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    676 views6 pages

    RIVER Middle Course Features

    Uploaded by

    Rayon Taylor
    In the middle course of a river, the gradient decreases and lateral erosion increases, causing the river to develop wider meanders. Typical features include river cliffs formed by undercutting outer banks and slip-off slopes on inner banks. In the lower course near the sea, deposition is more prominent. Features include flood plains formed by sediment deposition during flooding, and ox-bow lakes formed when neck cuts off meanders.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
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    At a glance
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    The passage discusses various landforms created by river processes including meanders, slip-off slopes, flood plains, ox-bow lakes, levees and deltas.

    Features formed in the middle course include river cliffs, slip-off slopes and meanders.

    Ox-bow lakes are created when a river meander is abandoned and the ends are sealed off.

    River Features found in the Middle

    Course
    In this part of the river, the gradient is not as steep as it was in the upper
    course. Lateral erosion (erosion of the banks) is now more effective than
    vertical erosion. The river develops a wider, more open appearance. Some
    deposition now takes place. Meanders (bends in the river) are more common.
    Typical features found in the middle course are:

    River cliffs and slip-off slopes:


    As a river meanders, the outside banks of the meander are undercut. This
    creates river cliffs. On the inside of the meander, where the water flows more
    slowly, deposition takes place. This gives rise to a gentle slope known as a
    slip-off slope.

    This diagram shows how river cliffs and slip off slopes are formed

     
    River Features found in the Lower Course
    This is the part of the river nearest the sea. Here, the gradient is even gentler.
    The river flows even more slowly and the volume of water is greater.
    Deposition is much more important than erosion in this part of the river. Some
    features usually found in this section are:

    Flood Plain:
    In the middle and lower courses of a river, alluvium is deposited on the valley
    floor, mainly where the river floods. The wide flat deposits which result  are
    known as the flood plain of the river. Flood plains vary from a few hundred
    meters to several kilometers across.

    Diagram showing the flood plain of a river

    Ox-bow lakes:
    These are shallow crescent shaped lakes formed when a meander is
    abandoned by a river. Sometimes a meander becomes so pronounced that
    only a narrow neck of land separates the two ends of it.When the river is in
    flood, this neck is broken and the river starts to flow a shorter, more direct
    route. Deposition takes place, sealing off the ends of the meander and
    creating an ox-bow lake. Take a look at the animation below which shows the
    formation of an ox bow lake.
    Ox-bow lakes:
    These are shallow crescent shaped lakes formed when a meander is
    abandoned by a river. Sometimes a meander becomes so pronounced that
    only a narrow neck of land separates the two ends of it.When the river is in
    flood, this neck is broken and the river starts to flow a shorter, more direct
    route. Deposition takes place, sealing off the ends of the meander and
    creating an ox-bow lake. Take a look at the animation below which shows the
    formation of an ox bow lake.

    .
    Levees:
    When a river is in flood, it deposits material on its flood plain. The heaviest
    material is deposited near the river. After successive floods, natural
    embankments called levees are created alongside the river. This is shown in
    the diagram below.
    Deltas:
    Much of the material carried by a river ends up in the sea. If the conditions are
    favorable, this sediment may accumulate until it rises above the surface of the
    sea. This area of flat land, built up from silt and alluvium where a river flows
    into the sea is called a delta.The build-up of sediment eventually interferes
    with the flow of the river, causing it to split up into several channels called
    distributaries.

    Relatively few rivers have deltas. Deltas form most easily under the following
    conditions:

     when the river carries a large volume of sediment


     when the sea is relatively calm,so the sediment is not carried away by
    waves or strong currents.
     where the sea is not too deep
     when the river flows slowly
     when the vertical difference between high tide and low tide (tidal range)
    is not too great.
    The Nile Delta in Egypt is a piece of land that was built as the Nile dumped
    sediment into the Mediterranean Sea. Take a look at the photo of the Nile
    Delta and the diagram below it.

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