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8/23/2016 Rivers|Earthprocesses|OneGeologyKids|eXtra|OneGeology

1G Kids

Rivers

All of the earth's rivers contain only Rivers start as very small streams and
about 0.0001% of the earth's water graduallygetbiggerasmoreandmore
waterisadded.Heavyrainsandspring
. That doesn't sound like very
meltwater add so much water to some
much,butriverscandosomeamazing rivers that they overflow their banks
things. andfloodthesurroundinglandscape.

The water in rivers comes from many


different sources. Rivers can begin in
lakesorasspringsthatbubbleupfrom
underground.Other rivers start as rain
ormeltingsnowandicehighupinthe
mountains.

Most rivers flow quickly in the steeply


slopingsectionsneartheirsource.Fast Rivers grow bigger when tributaries
moving water washes away gravel, (smallerstreams)jointhemainriver.
sandandmudleavingarockybottom.
Streams

Somerivershavelotsofsmallchannels
that continually split and join. These

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8/23/2016 Rivers|Earthprocesses|OneGeologyKids|eXtra|OneGeology

arecalledbraidedrivers.Braidedrivers
areusuallywidebutshallow.Theyform
on fairly steep slopes and where the
riverbankiseasilyeroded.

Riverload

Braidedrivers

Rivers flowing over gently sloping


ground begin to curve back and forth
across the landscape. These are called
Some rivers only contain water during
meanderingrivers.
wet seasons or the spring melt. These
arecalledephemeralrivers.

Meanderingrivers

Many rivers have an estuary where


they enter the ocean. An estuary is a
Over time rivers can cut through section of river where fresh water and
bedrock. Rivers flowing over soft seawater mix together. Tides cause
sedimentaryrockscancutdeepgorges waterlevelsinestuariestoriseandfall.
andcanyons.

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8/23/2016 Rivers|Earthprocesses|OneGeologyKids|eXtra|OneGeology

Geologists call river deposits alluvium.


Alluvium is coloured yellow on the
Whenariverreachesalakeorthesea
superficialgeologymapoftheUK.
the water slows down and loses the
Can you find where a river started its
power to carry sediment . The
journey? Hint: The alluvium is narrow
whereriversstartandgetswiderwhere
sediment is dropped at the mouth of
severalriversjointogether.
the river. Some rivers drop so much
sediment that waves and tides can't Togglegeology.

carry it all away. It builds up in layers Staticmap.


formingadelta.
Some deltas are so large that people
can live on them. The Nile delta is a Waterfalls form when the river flows
veryimportantfarmingareainEgypt. over an area with layers of harder and

softer rocks . Soft rocks are


Deltas

quickly worn away while harder rocks


resisterosion.Theresistantlayersform
alipwhichthewatercascadesover.

Ifyoulookatamap ofriversand

streams you can see they make


different kinds of patterns called
drainage patterns. Drainage patterns
tell us something about the land the
riversareflowingover.
Togglegeology.

Staticmap.

Drainagepatterns

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Other waterfalls form when a river


cascadesoveracliff.

Back

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