In rivers, erosion is concentrated within the river channel. Moving water erodes by hydraulic action, corrasion,
corrosion, abrasion and attrition, cutting into the bedrock and carving characteristic landforms, which vary
according to their position along the graded profile.
As the load increases by continued erosion, the river cannot carry it all, especially when and where the current
slackens. So, there are landforms of deposition as well as of erosion.
For convenience of description, these landforms can be assigned to the
- upper course (near the source) - downcutting but no lateral erosion
- middle course (middle reaches) - downcutting and lateral erosion
- lower course (near the mouth) - lateral erosion but no downcutting
Features of the upper course:
- steep-sided, V-shaped valley
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Features of the middle course:
Features of the lower course:
A well-developed flood plain, near to the mouth of the river, is almost flat - a peneplain. On the side of the
river channel, there may be
a natural embankment (which may be built up artificially)
Somewhere, there must be one part of the peneplain which is
the last to be eroded,
Geopix Study Guide "River Landforms"
- gives a full image of each of these and other examples;
- describes the main land forms associated with rivers and river valleys;
- describes the origin of these features.
The River Landforms Study Guide contains the following pages:
'River Landforms' is part of the Geopix Weathering and Erosion Study Guide CD.
To order this CD go to the Geopix Online Store
