1. Rivers

2. Learning Intention
 How people use rivers?
 Why is water and rivers important?
 Why study rivers?
 What is the hydrological cycle?

4. What good are rivers?

7. Why study rivers?
Rivers
In the news
Deaths
Damage
Effect on man
Food
Water

8. Rivers
 Water is an important resource we all need to
live and survive. 70% of our bodies are water.
 We see water all around us in the
sea, lakes, ponds and rivers.
 We are now going to take you on a journey to
find where our water comes from and how
rivers affect our lives.

11. List of Water Uses
 In pairs discuss each persons list of uses
for rivers
 Has people’s reliance on rivers
changed? How?

12. Uses of rivers
Make a spider diagram
 Washing
 Wash hands
 Drinking water
 Swimming
 Bath
 Cooking
 Fishing
 Water sports
 Dams
 Electricity (HEP)
 Crops
 Transport (move things
and people) eg boats
 Sprinklers
 Factories
 Bread
 Water golf courses

13. Top uses of water
Put list of uses for rivers in order of
importance for:
1. Today
2. The past

14. Past uses of water
 No washing machines/ dish washers– wash by
hand
 More travel by boat, few went by plane
 More baths, less showers
 No sprinklers
 Less swimming pools – more swims in the
lake
 No automated car washes
 Fewer golf courses – use a lot of water

15. Our use of water

16. Use water wisely – don’t waste it

17. Write an account
Write an account of your group
discussion. Write about how our use of
rivers has changed over time.

18. Name the features

19.  1. Source: the point at which the river
starts.
 2. Interlocking spurs: where the river
winds between ridges.
 3. Gorge: deep valley caused by
wearing back of a waterfall.
 4. Waterfall: often where the river
crosses a band of harder rock.
 5. 'V' shaped valley: produced in
upper course because the river cuts
down more quickly than the
surrounding slopes are eroded.

20. Upper course features

21. V shaped Valley

22. Name the features

23.  6. Meander: the river starts to
erode from side to side.
 7. River cliff: the river moves
faster on the outside of the bend
and cuts into the valley side. The
erosion undercuts the ground
causing it to collapse, leaving a
cliff.
 8. River beach (Slip-off slope):
the river moves more slowly on
the inside of the bend. It cannot
carry the larger pebbles and
these are dropped here.

24. Name the features

25.  9. Ox-bow lake: during floods the
river cuts through the neck of a large
meander. The outside bend is left as
a shallow lake.
 10. Flood plain: the river is flowing in
a very wide, flat valley. When it
floods, it spreads over the flood
plain.
 11. Levée: during floods the
overflowing river is slowed as it
leaves its bed. Silt is deposited along
the banks first. Over the years the
deposits build up into high ridges.
 12. Estuary: the open mouth of the
river, where it meets the sea.

26. River channel
 A river is fresh water flowing across the
surface of the land, usually to the sea. It
flows in a channel. The bottom of the
channel is called the bed and the sides
of the channel are called the banks.

28. The drainage basin of a river

29. River terms
Source - The source is the beginning of a stream or
river.
Mouth - The mouth is the end of a river, where it
empties into a large body of water.
Tributary - A tributary is a river or stream that flows into
another stream, river, or lake.
Confluence – to the point where a tributary joins a larger
river.
Drainage basin – the area drained by a river and its
tributaries.
Watershed – the boundary of the drainage basin which
is usually a ridge of high land.

31. Give the meanings of these
words
SOURCE
WATERSHED
TRIBUTARY
CONFLUENCE
MOUTH
RIVER CHANNEL
DRAINAGE BASIN
DELTA

32. Answe
rs
SOURCE
The place where a river starts,
usually in high ground. Can be in
the form of a spring, lake or
glacier.
WATERSHED
The area of highland which forms
the edge of a drainage basin.
TRIBUTARY
A small stream which flows into a
larger one, adding water to it
and making it bigger.
DRAINAGE BASIN
An area of land drained by a river
and its tributaries.
MOUTH
The end of a river's course, where
it flows into the sea or a lake.
CHANNEL
The space between the banks of a
river where it flows.
CONFLUENCE
The point where a small stream
flows into the main channel, or
where 2 small streams join.
DELTA
A landform where the mouth of a
river flows into an ocean, sea,
desert, estuary, lake or another
river.

33. Fill in the spaces putting in the missing
terms and the missing definitions
The place where a river
starts, usually in high ground.
Can be in the form of a
spring, lake or glacier.
WATERSHED
TRIBUTARY
An area of land drained by a river
and its tributaries.
MOUTH
CHANNEL
The point where a small stream
flows into the main channel, or
where 2 small streams join.
DELTA

34. Shaping the land
 The river works to shape the land. It
does it in 3 ways:
1. Erosion – wears away the land
2. Transportation – moves the material from one
place to another
3. Deposition – drops the material and builds new
landforms

35. What is erosion?
 Erosion is the wearing away of the land
(like sandpaper)
 Weathering breaks up and weakens the
surface of the rocks while erosion wears
away and removes the loosened material

38. Processes of erosion
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/riverswat
er/river_processesrev1.shtml

39. Processes of Erosion
Erosion involves the wearing away of rock and soil found along
the river bed and banks. Erosion also involves the breaking down
of the rock particles being carried downstream by the river.
There are four main forms of river erosion:
 Hydraulic action - river wears away the river bank from underneath (force of the
water against river banks)
 Attrition - rocks being carried by the river smash together and break into smaller
particles.
 Abrasion - rocks carried along by the river wear down the river bed and banks
 Solution - smaller particles are dissolved into the river.
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/

40. Types of transport

42. Transport
Rivers pick up and carry material as they flow downstream. A river
may transport material in four different ways:
 Solution - minerals are dissolved in the water and carried along
in solution.
 Suspension - fine light material is carried along in the water.
 Saltation - small pebbles and stones are bounced along the river
bed.
 Traction - large boulders and rocks are rolled along the river bed.

43. Rivers need energy to transport material, and levels of energy
change as the river moves from source to mouth.
 When energy levels are very high, large rocks and boulders
can be transported. Energy levels are usually higher near a
river's source, when its course is steep and its valley narrow.
Energy levels rise even higher in times of flood.
 When energy levels are low, only small particles can be
transported (if any). Energy levels are lowest when velocity
drops as a river enters a lake or sea (at the mouth).

44. Deposition
When a river loses energy, it will drop or deposit some of the
material it is carrying.
Deposition may take place when a river enters shallow water or
when the amount of water decreases - for example, after a flood or
during times of drought.
Deposition is common towards the end of a river's journey, at the
mouth.
Deposition at the mouth of a river can form deltas - for example, the
Mississippi Delta

45. The rivers course
Large boulders in
the river.
River narrow and
shallow
Large rocks
in the river.
River
getting
wider and
deeper
Small pebbles in
river.
River at its widest
and deepest.

46. 3 stages of the river
The journey of river from source (where the
river begins) to mouth (where the river ends) is
sometimes called the course of the river. The
course of a river can be divided into three
main sections:
 upper course
 middle course
 lower course

47. Rivers always flow downwards from
highland areas to lowland areas, through
the upper, middle, and finally the lower
course.

48. Upper course
The land is steep here.
River has very little water.
River is narrow and shallow.

50. Continent Longest River Length
Africa Nile River 4,157 miles (6,690 km)
long
Asia Yangtze River 3,434 miles (5,530 km)
long
Australia Murray-Darling
River
2,310 miles (3,720 km)
long
North America Mississippi-
Missouri River
2,540 miles (4,090 km)
+ 2,340 miles (3,770
km) long
South America Amazon River 3,915 miles (6,300 km)
long
Europe Volga River 2,290 miles (3,700 km)
long

51. Erosion
 Erosion involves the wearing away of rock and soil found along the
river bed and banks. Erosion also involves the breaking down of the
rock particles being carried downstream by the river.
 There are four main forms of river erosion:
 Hydraulic action - river wears away the river bank from
underneath
 Attrition - rocks being carried by the river smash together and
break into smaller particles
 Abrasion - rocks carried along by the river wear down the river
bed and banks
 Solution - smaller particles are dissolved into the river
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/riverswate
r/riverprocessesrev1.shtml