RIVERS

AN INTRODUCTION

DEFINITIONS
Drainage Basin the area drained by a river and its

tributaries. Water reaches rivers from rainfall and from

water flowing over land (surface runof) and through soil
and rocks (throughflow and groundwater flow). All of
the rainwater that falls on a drainage basin is carried to
the sea by the tributaries and main channel of one river.
Tributary a smaller river which joins a bigger river,

usually at an acute angle. In the case of tributaries that are

part of a trellised drainage pattern, the tributaries join
at right angles.
Confluence where two rivers meet.

Definitions
Source where the river starts.
Mouth where the river meets the sea. Most rivers

flow downhill to the mouth.

Discharge the volume of water flowing within the
river channel past a certain point and at a certain
time. It is measured in cubic metres per second
(m/sec) or cumecs. The discharge of a river can
vary considerably in areas with a wet and dry
climate or in areas which receive snowmelt in
spring. Tributaries add water to the main river so the
discharge increases further downstream, nearer the
mouth. (Remember the Bradshaw Model)

Drainage Basin

All

rivers receive a
water supply and the
area of land that this
comes from is known
as a drainage basin.
The boundaries of the
basin are known as the
watershed and will
usually be marked by
areas of high land.

Water Divide

Water Divide

Two

adjacent
drainage basins are
separated from each
other by a water
divide usually an
area of high land.

The Bradshaw Model

The Bradshaw Model is a geographical model that

shows how a river's characteristics change and

vary between the lower and upper courses.
The left side represents the source of the river in

the upper course and the right side represents the

mouth.
The model looks at discharge, occupied channel

width, channel depth, mean velocity, volume of

load, load particle size, channel bed roughness and
gradient.

The Bradshaw Model

River Variables - Discharge

Discharge: The volume of water that passes through a stream's cross

section in a given time period.

Discharge = cross-sectional area x velocity
The cross sectional area of the river is:

average river depth x river width.

This gets larger as the river progresses from the source to the mouth,

therefore, as the cross sectional area increases so to does the discharge.

River discharge increases as water enters the river channel from

tributaries, surface runoff, throughflow and baseflow across the drainage

basin.

Variables in a River

River Variables - Velocity

Mean Velocity: This is the speed the river is travelling at

and is measure in m/s.

Velocity increases as a river progresses towards the mouth

(although commonly believed otherwise) as more water is

added to rivers via tributaries. This means that less of the
water is in contact with the bed of the river and the banks so
there is less energy used to overcome friction. Hence rivers
flow progressively faster on their journey downstream.
In the upper course of the river, the cross sectional area is

smaller and therefore, velocity is lower with a lot of energy

lost due to friction.

River Variables Velocity

(2)
Gradient can have an impact on velocity
Rivers tend to be very shallow and narrow in their upper

courses, which increases the friction acting on the water and

slows it down despite the steep gradient.
Velocity is also highly variable from location to location on a
river, and is highly influenced by channel shape or form.
Wider shallow channels have larger wetted perimeters (so
more friction) and hence flow slower than narrower deeper
channels.
Velocity profiles also differ between symmetric and
asymmetric.
The white foam that appears as the river flows is due to
friction and does not indicate the speed of the water.

A cross-section of a river will show that the velocity

varies from one side to the other.

The lowest velocities are found where the river is
shallow and so friction is greatest.
The maximum velocity is found near the rivers
surface where the channel is deep. At this point,
friction with both the air and the channel is minimal.
This point is often directly above the riversthalweg.
Thalweg: A line running along a rivers profile linking
its deepest points. A rivers fastest flow normally runs
along it.

River Variables Velocity

(3)

Uniform Channel
Velocity

Asymmetric Channel
Velocity

River Variables
Roughness (1)
Channel Bed Roughness: Decreases as the

river flows from the upper to lower course of

the river.
Increased

roughness causes the wetted

perimeter to be higher in proportion to the
area of the river. This increases friction and
reduces the velocity of the river.

Pebbles, stones and boulders on the beds and

banks increase the roughness of the channel.

River Variables
Roughness (2)

River Variables - Gradient

Gradient: The gradient of the river decreases from

source to mouth.
The sources of rivers are often found at watersheds
(high ridges of land separating adjacent drainage
basins from each other) and the water starts to flow
downhill.
This changes because the river changes from eroding
vertically at the source, to laterally further
downstream (together with the effects of deposition
further downstream too).
The changes in gradient are related to discharge
which increases as the gradient decreases.

River Variables - Load

Load: this is the total mass of material

transported by a river.
The way in which material is moved depends
on its size. There are downstream changes in
the amount and the mean particle size of
load.
Type of load

Bed load

Type of particles

Sand, pebbles

Suspended load Clay and silt

Dissolved load

Diameter of particles

How they are transported

Over 0.1mm

Saltation and
traction

0.001 - 0.1 mm

Suspension

Soluble material -

Solution

River Variables Load (2)

Thecompetenceof flowing water (or the river) is the

maximum size of particle that the river can transport.

Thecapacityof a river is not the amount of water it
contains (this is the discharge) but the maximum amount
of load that the river can transport.
Therefore, a river's competence increases as the water
velocity increases. At low velocities only clay and silt can
be transported. As the velocity increases, larger particles
such as sand and pebbles, can be transported. However,
the relationship between velocity and the size of particles
transported is not a simple positive correlation.
This relationship is seen in a Hjulstrm Curve

River Variables Load (3)

The mean particle size decreases with distance downstream. This is

not because the competence of the river has decreased. Instead

smaller particles have become a proportionately higher component
of the load. Why?
More time for erosion - the major source of pebbles and stones in the

river is from the river's upper course. The further these rocks are
carried downstream, the more time there will have been for them to
have been eroded by attrition and abrasion. Abrasion and attrition
makes rocks both smaller and rounder.
More time for weathering - much of the river's erosion occurs at times

of high discharge. During times of low flow, stones are stored on the
beds or banks. The longer the stones spend in storage, the longer they
will be affected by weathering processes (such as frost shattering).
Sorting - the river sorts particles of different sizes. Smaller particles are

carried at lower velocities. These particles remain in the water flow

during periods of low flow when larger particles are deposited.

Hjulstrm Curve

The
relationship
between
erosion,
transport
and
deposition of sediment
is complex and can be
shown
by
theHjulstromdiagram.

River Variables Cross-Sectional

Area
Cross sectional area is another useful measure, and

it shows in m the surface area of a river from bank to

bank.
This can be calculated in 2 ways:
the average depth can be multiplied by the width to

provide an approximate but not perfect measurement.

If you have enough depth measurements, you could plot
an accurate to scale cross section on graph paper and
from that you will be able to calculate a more accurate
cross sectional area.
The CSA should increase downstream as water feeds

into main streams from tributary rivers.

River Variables Wetted Perimeter

Wetted Perimeter: is the linear measure of

how much water contact there is with the bed

and the banks of a river.
This should increase downstream aswater

feeds into main streams from tributary rivers.

River Variables Hydraulic Radius

Hydraulic

radius is a measure of how

efficient the channel is at transporting water
and sediment.

According to the Bradshaw model, this should

increase as the stream increases in size and

thus power, and the channel bed should get
less rough/turbulent due to the effect of
erosion.
Hydraulic Radius is calculated by dividing

The Schumm model

Long Profile
Gradient refers to how steep an area of land

is.
The long profile of a river shows the change
in gradient of the land through which a river
flows. Rivers usually start on high land and
flow downhill to the sea.
In the upper course, rivers flow down steep
gradients to reach lower land.
The lower course is more gentle as the river
is closer to sea level. When the river reaches
sea level, the channel flows over flat land.

Cross-Sections or CrossProfiles
A river cross-section or cross-profile shows the shape of a

river channel andvalley at certain points in the rivers course.

The cross profile of a river changes as it moves from the upper
to lower course as a result of changes in the rivers energy and
the processes that the river carries out.
The river bed is the bottom of the channel.
The river banks are the sides of the channel.
When the water reaches the top of the banks the river is at
bankfull and the volume of water is bankfull discharge.
If bankfull discharge is exceeded, the water flows over the top
of the banks and onto the surrounding channel. This is a flood.

Cross-Sections or CrossProfiles
In the upper course, the valley and channel

are narrow and deep as a result of the large

amount of vertical erosion and little lateral
erosion.
The sides of a rivers valley in the upper
course are very steep earning these valleys
the nicknameV-Shaped Valleysince they
look like a letter V.
The rivers valley can be anything from a few
meters to a few hundred metres in width
depending on the geology and structure but
the channel rarely more than 5m or 6m wide.

Upper Course Valleys

Cross-Sections or CrossProfiles
In

the middle course, the valley has

increased in width due to an increase in
lateral erosion but its depth hasnt changed
significantly because vertical erosion has
slowed down.
Similarly, the channels width has increased
but its still roughly the same depth.
The land to either side of the channel in the
valley is now the rivers floodplain and the
valleys sides are much more gentle.

Middle Course Valleys

Cross-Sections or CrossProfiles
In the lower course the valley is now very

wide (often several kilometres) and the

floodplain has increased greatly in size.
The channel is a little wider but not much

deeper.

Lower Course Valleys

Lower Course Valleys