Glengca Glory Cenabre BSCS – 4C
Rivers come in lots of different shapes and sizes, but they all have some things in
common. All rivers and streams start at some high point. The high point can be a mountain, hill,
or other elevated area. Water from some source like a spring, snow melt, or a lake starts at this
high point and begins to flow down to lower points. As the water flows down, it may pick up
more water from other small streams, springs or or from rain or snow melt. These streams may
slowly join together to form a larger stream or river. Small rivers and streams may join together
to become larger rivers. Eventually all this water from rivers and streams will run into the ocean
or an inland body of water like a lake. Rivers and streams complete the hydrologic cycle by
returning precipitation that falls on land to the oceans. Ultimately, gravity is the driving force, as
water moves from mountainous regions to sea level. Some of this water moves over the surface
and some moves through the ground as groundwater. As this water flows it does the work of
both erosion and deposition. You will learn about the erosional effects and the deposits that
form as a result of this moving water.
River water makes up only about 0.2 percent of all the fresh water on Earth, it plays a
very important role. Rivers are like roads. They carry water, organisms and important gases and
nutrients to many areas. They also help drain rainwater and provide habitats for many species
of plants and animals. As they make their way to the sea, rivers help shape the features of the
Earth. Rivers are travel routes for people and provide the power for hydroelectric plants.
Freshwater flora and fauna have been declining worldwide due to anthropogenic
alterations to Earth’s rivers and streams. Rivers and streams are often restored by modifying or
removing human induced stressors. River restoration in the form of topographic manipulation is
often needed to remove or modify constraints that limit the potential for natural adjustments in
channel topography that create and maintain physical habitat. Process based river restoration is
an ideology based on restoring the fundamental processes that shape and maintain river
systems. While process based restoration has a strong conceptual basis in achieving successful
restoration.
Raquelyn Y. Lamoste BSCS - 4C
Rivers and streams owe their existence to precipitation, lakes, and groundwater,
combined with gravity and a sloping terrain. When rain falls on the land, often the soil
cannot absorb it all. Much of rain runs off and travels downhill with the aid of gravity,
creating rills (tiny gullies). Many of these rills may meet at some point and their waters
run together to form bigger gullies until all this water reaches a valley or gouges out its
own large channel. When enough water is available to maintain a steady ongoing flow,
a stream or river results. Gravity and the pressure of the flowing water cause the river to
travel until it is either blocked, in which case the water backs up and forms a lake, or
empties into an existing lake or ocean.Most of the precipitation that feeds streams and
rivers comes from runoff. Precipitation may also be stored as ice in glaciers in arctic
regions or on mountaintops. As the glaciers melt, they nourish streams, and the streams
feed rivers. The Rhine River in Germany, for example, obtains much of its water from
the Rheinwaldhorn Glacier in the Swiss Alps. A lake can be a source of river water. If
the land slopes away from the lake at some point and the water level is high enough for
it to overflow, a river or stream may form.
Rivers and streams come in lots of different shapes sizes, but they all have some
things in common all rivers and streams starts at some high point. Rivers and streams
can be an important part of our society they can provide drinking water, transportation
for goods and because of there an edge of an erosion they can have some negative
consequence. Rivers scientifically join in a large drainage area called a watershed and
within this water shed we going to see that river’s kind a like people through life stage.
Ate the same point enters to large body water like a lake or an ocean when that
happens the water slows down it can’t move the sediments anymore instead it drops or
deposits them and when that happen it got something called delta.
