River Systems
You will learn:
Where do rivers begin?
How are river systems formed?
What are the parts of a river system?
What is a drainage basin?
The Course of a River
A river is a natural stream of water flowing in a
channel
The source is the place at which a river begins
It may be melting snow from the top of a mountain
or a lake with a stream flowing out from it
Due to gravity, the river flows downhill from its
source
The path that a river follows is called its course
The part of the river near the source is called the
upper course
The middle part of the river is called the
middle course
Near the end of the river is the lower course
The place where the river flows into the sea
or ocean is called the river mouth
The River System
Streams or other rivers may join the course of
a river
They are called tributaries
The point at which a tributary joins the main
river is called the confluence
The river and its tributaries form the river
system
The Drainage Basin
Rivers drain the surrounding area by collecting
surface run-off and directing it to seas or oceans
The area that is drained by the river and its
tributaries is called the drainage basin
The boundary of a drainage basin is marked by
surrounding highlands and is called the
watershed
The Drainage Basin (cont’d)
The watershed
separates one
drainage basin
from another and
is also known as
a divide
Action of Rivers
A river and the sediments it carries can
erode the river bed and its banks
Over time, a channel is cut into the land
The channel eventually deepens to form
a valley
Valleys
One of the results of the action of rivers
The shape of a valley depends on how the
river cuts into the land
In the upper course, the
river is flowing down very
steep slopes
Enough energy to cause
great erosion
Cuts deep into the land and a V-shaped valley
forms
A steep-sided valley with river flowing at the bottom
is called a canyon
In the middle course, the river flows across
less steep land
Cuts less deeply into the
land
Erodes the land
sideways and downwards
Starts to deposit
sediments
Sides of valley becomes
wider
©MPH Education (S) Pte Ltd 2000 Slide 27.4
In the lower course, the land is almost flat
Bends in the river are very pronounced
More sediments deposited
Erosion of bends
continues
Deposition of sediments
along its channel results
in a wide, flat-floored
valley
Rapids and Waterfalls
River flows over alternating bands of hard
and soft rocks
Soft rocks erode faster
Hard rocks jut out
A series of small and short falls develop
These falls are known as rapids
A waterfall is a vertical
flow of fast-moving water
from a great height
Rapids and Waterfalls (cont’d)
A waterfall usually forms when a river flows
over hard and soft rocks
The soft rock is eroded more quickly
A ledge is formed over which water falls
The force of the water is so great that it cuts a
depression or plunge pool at the bottom
Meanders
Curves and bends in the lower course of the
river
Formed when the river erodes sideways and
deposits sediments on the opposite banks of
the curves
Deltas
A river deposits its sediments when it flows
into the sea or a lake
The deposits build up and block any further
movement of the river
A river has to follow other routes called
distributaries
Distributaries branch out from a river
Deltas (cont’d)
A delta is a flat, low-lying area where layers of
sediments have been deposited over time
For a delta to form
The river must be carrying a lot of sediments
Currents along
the coast must
not be too strong
to carry away the
sediments faster
than they can be
deposited
Rivers and the Water Cycle
When it rains, some water
soaks into the ground and some
of it collects, forming streams
and rivers that eventually flow
into the sea. The water that falls
as rain is constantly recycled
because water can change from
a liquid to a gas (a process
known as evaporation) and
back to a liquid again
(condensation). The water from
rivers, seas and oceans is
turned into water vapour by the
sun’s heat and by the wind. This
vapour rises up into the sky and
the cold air there makes the
vapour condense into droplets
and form clouds. These droplets
grow bigger and heavier until
they eventually fall as rain. This
continuous movement of water
is called the water cycle.
Three quarters of planet earth’s surface is covered by
salt water – the seas and oceans. The quarter of the
surface which is land holds more water – this is fresh
and will be found in rivers, lakes or underground.
A river is therefore a very important part of the water
cycle, carrying rain water back to the sea. It can be a
long journey for a raindrop. Rivers can run for many
hundreds of miles. The longest river in the world is the
Nile in Africa. It is 6,700km long. The longest river in
Britain is the River Severn, which is 354km long.
Of course, not all the water flowing down
the rivers is returned to the sea straight
away. Some of the water that we use in our
homes, schools, shops, offices, factories
etc. comes from rivers. When we use water
we remove it from the natural water cycle
and return it to rivers via sewage treatment
systems. This is a manmade cycle.
