Erosion is a natural process which is usually made by rock and soil being loosened from the earth's surface

at one location and moved to another. The process begins with a process called weathering

Waves in oceans and other large bodies of water produce coastal erosion. The power of oceanic waves is huge, large storm waves can produce 2000 pounds of pressure per square foot. The pure energy of waves along with the chemical content of the water is what erodes the rock of the coastline.

The erosive power of moving ice is actually a bit greater than the power of water but since water is much more common, it is responsible for a greater amount of erosion on the earth's surface. Glaciers can perform to erosive functions - they pluck and abrade

Erosion by wind is known as aeolian (or eolian) erosion (named after Aeolus, the Greek god of winds) and occurs almost always in deserts. Aeolian erosion of sand in the desert is partially responsible for the formation of sand dunes. The power of the wind erodes rock and sand.

Water is the most important agent in erosion. It erodes as running water in streams. However, water in all its forms is erosional, even raindrops. Raindrops creates splash erosion that moves tiny particles of soil, while waters in rivers can create a valley.

Water erosion may be viewed as starting with the detachment of soil particles by the impact of raindrops. The kinetic energy of the drops can splash soil particles into the air.

The splash and overland-flow processes are responsible for sheet erosion, the relatively uniform degradation of the soil surface. Sheet erosion is difficult to detect except as the soil surface is lowered below old soil marks on fence posts, tree roots are exposed, or small pillars of soil capped by stones remain.

Gully erosion may occur if turbulence in the flow is strong enough to dislodge particles from the bed and banks of the channel

Mass movement of soil as either slow or downward creep of the soil mass or a landslide is an important mechanism delivering soil to the streams in steep canyons with unstable side slopes.

 RAINFALL

REGIME VEGETAL COVER SOIL TYPE LAND SLOPE LAND USE

Sediment moves in the stream as suspended sediment in the flowing water and as bed load, which slides or rolls along the channel bottom. Saltation is used to describe the movement of particles which seem to bounce along the bed.

The settling velocity of suspended particles in still water is approximated by Stokes Law:

Where and g are densities, r is the radius of the particle, and is the absolute viscosity of water

For many years, analysis of bed-load transport has been based on the classical equation of du Boys

Where Gi is the rate of bed-load transport per unit width of stream, Y is an empirical coefficient depending on the size and shape of particles, o is the shear at streambed, and c is magnitude of shear at which transport begins

Because of the uncertain accuracy of instruments for bed-load measurement; a widely-used approach made by Einstein is used; who defines the intensity of bed-load transport as:

And the flow intensity as

Hydraulic action of the water itself moves the sediments Water acts to corrode sediments by removing ions and dissolving them Particles in the water strike bedrock and erode it

lateral erosion erodes the sediment on the sides of the stream channel down cutting erodes the stream bed deeper headward erosion erodes the channel upslope.

SEDIMENTATION

Sedimentation
is the tendency for particles in suspension to settle out of

the fluid in which they are entrained, and come to rest against a barrier. This is due to their motion through the fluid in response to the forces acting on them: these forces can be due to gravity, centrifugal acceleration or electromagnetism. In geology sedimentation is often used as the polar opposite of erosion, i.e., the terminal end of sediment transport. In that sense it includes the termination of transport by saltation or true bedload transport. Settling is the falling of suspended particles through the liquid, whereas sedimentation is the termination of the settling process.

Classification of sedimentation
Type 1 sedimentation is characterized by particles

that settle discretely at a constant settling velocity. Type 2 sedimentation is characterized by particles that flocculate during sedimentation Type 3 sedimentation is also known as zone sedimentation.

SEDIMENT MEASUREMENT
the

most common test used in sediment measurement is the deep integrated hand sampler, which is commonly used in small streams.

a good sampler must cause minimum disturbance of

stream flow, avoid error from short-period fluctuations in sediment concentration; and give result which can be related to the velocity measurements.

SEDIMENT RATING CURVE

A sediment rating curves relating suspended

sediment discharge and water discharge is commonly used to estimate sediment load. Numerical expression or graphical curve that describes the quantitative relationship between stream discharge and the sediment transported by a particular stream.

SEDIMENT YEILD OF A CATCHMENT

The average annual sediment production from a

catchment is dependent on may factors, such as the ff.:

CLIMATE SOIL TYPE LAND USE

TOPOGRAPHY
PRESENCE OF RESERVOIRS

RESERVOIR SEDIMENT
The rate at which the capacity of a reservoir is

reduced by sedimentation depends on:

QUANTITY OF SEDIMENT INFLOW

THE PERCENTAGE OF THIS INFLOW TRAPPED

IN THE RESERVOIR THE DENSITY OF THE DEPOSITED SEDIMENT

RESERVOIR SEDIMENT

RIVER BASIN

RIVER BASIN

RIVER BASIN

The land area that is drained by a river and its tributaries. The Mississippi River basin, for example, is a vast area that covers much of the central United States from the central ranges of the Appalachian Mountains in the east to the eastern ranges of the Rocky Mountains in the west, funneling toward its delta in southern Louisiana and emptying into the Gulf of Mexico.

USES OF RIVER BASIN IN HYDROLOGY

is a logical unit of focus for studying the movement of water within the hydrological cycle , because the majority of water that discharges from the basin outlet originated as precipitation falling on the basin. A portion of the water that enters the groundwater system beneath the drainage basin may flow towards the outlet of another drainage basin because groundwater flow directions do not always match those of their overlying drainage network.

PARTS OF THE RIVER BASIN

Water Shed: A piece of land where water from rain and the melting of ice drains into a larger body of water. Includes the streams, rivers and channels. Tributaries: A stream or river that flows into a main or parent river. It does not directly flow into a large body of water like an ocean or lake, but instead connects up to a river that does. Distributaries: A stream or river that branches off of the main or parent river. It then can lead to a larger body of water, or in some cases it might steal so much water from the parent river that it becomes the main. Yazoo Streams: A stream that runs parallel to a river, and eventually joins up to it. Confluence: The meeting of two or more bodies of water. It usually refers to the tributary of two rivers or streams meeting up but sometimes it can be two channels, or a channel and a lake.

PARTS OF THE RIVER BASIN

Estuary: A partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers flowing into it and an open connection to the sea. It is prone to both ocean and river influences. Braided Stream: A stream with many small shallow channels that divide and recombine many times creating a braided pattern. They form when a sediment load is too heavy and it has to be deposited along the channel. Groundwater: Water that is located beneath the surface of the Earth in pores in the soil.

USES OF RIVER BASIN IN HYDROLOGY

Measurement of the discharge of water from a basin may be made by a stream gauge located at the basin's outlet.

OTHER USES OF HYDROLOGY

Drainage basins are important elements to consider also in ecology. As water flows over the ground and along rivers it can pick up nutrients, sediment, and pollutants. Like the water, they get transported towards the outlet of the basin, and can affect the ecological processes along the way as well as in the receiving water source. Drainage basins are the principal hydrologic unit considered in fluvial geomorphology. A drainage basin is the source for water and sediment that moves through the river system and reshapes the channel.