The Middle and Lower Course

of a River

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Learning objectives

What are the main processes that operate in the

middle and lower course of a river?
What landforms are found in the middle and lower
course of a river?
How are these landforms created?

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What are the main processes that operate in the

middle and lower course of a river?
Erosion is still an important process.
The river is now flowing over flatter land and so the
dominant direction of erosion is lateral (from side to
side).
The river has a greater discharge and so has more
energy to transport material. Material that is
transported by a river is called its load.
Deposition is also an important process and occurs
when the velocity of the river decreases or if the
discharge falls due to a dry spell of weather.
Why do you think that a river in the middle and lower
course has a higher discharge than near the source?
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How is material transported downstream?

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How is material transported downstream?

Traction

Boulders and pebbles are rolled along

the river bed at times of high
discharge.

Saltation

Sand sized particles are bounced

along the river bed by the flow of
water.

Suspension

Fine clay and sand particles are

carried along within the water even at
low discharges.

Solution

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Some minerals dissolve in water

such as calcium carbonate. This
requires very little energy.
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How is material transported downstream?

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How is material transported downstream?

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Do you know the difference between erosion and transport?

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Deposition

The River Conwy has deposited material in this section of

its course. Suggest reasons why this has happened.

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Learning objectives

What are the main processes that operate in the middle

and lower course of a river?
What landforms are found in the middle and lower
course of a river?
How are these landforms created?

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What landforms are found in the middle and lower course?

1) Meanders
2) Oxbow Lakes
3) Flood plains and
Leves
4) Deltas

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DEPOSITION and
EROSION create
these landforms

DEPOSITION created
these landforms

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Learning objectives

What are the main processes that operate in the middle

and lower course of a river?
What landforms are found in the middle and lower
course of a river?
How are these landforms created?

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Meander = a bend in a river

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Meanders
As the course of a river approaches its
middle stages it flows over flatter land.
Lateral erosion dominates as the river
swings in large bends known as
meanders. Meanders constantly change
their shape and position.
Water is pushed to the outer bend .
This reduces friction with the bed and
banks. So the river has more energy
for transporting material which can
erode the outside bank via abrasion.

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Meanders

Explain the following hypotheses:

The fastest current is always on the outer bend.
All meanders have river cliffs and slip-off slopes.

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A cross section through a meander

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A cross section through a meander

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A cross section through a meander

Meander bend on the River Conwy

Explain why there is more deposition at A rather than at B.

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Oxbow lakes

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Explain the formation of an oxbow lake

new course
of the river

oxbow lake

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When the river floods it

breaks through the thin
Meander
neck
meander
neck
and the
becomes
river
takes thesmaller
easier,
straight course. This
leaves the meander
loop cut off as an
oxbow lake. Over time,
the oxbow lake will
become colonised by
vegetation.

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Explain the formation of an oxbow lake

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Floodplains

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Floodplain formation

Floodplains and leves are formed by deposition in

times of river flood. The rivers load is composed of
different sized particles. When a river floods it deposits
the heaviest of these particles first. The larger particles,
often pebble-sized, form the leves. The sands, silts and
clays are similarly sorted with the sands being deposited
next, then the silts and finally the lightest clays. Every
time the river floods deposition builds up the floodplain.
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Floodplain formation

This is a cross section of a floodplain.

Draw a simple sketch of the diagram and annotate
with the following labels:
leves

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sands

clays and silts

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Delta formation
Deltas are found at the mouth of a
river, where the river meets the sea.
At this point the river is carrying too
much load for its velocity and so
deposition occurs.
The top of the delta is a fairly flat
surface. This is where the coarsest
river load is dropped. The finer
particles are carried into deeper
water. The silt is dropped to form a
steep slope on the edge of the delta
while the clay stays in suspension
until it reaches the deeper water.

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Delta formation

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The mouth of the Rhne

The Grand Rhne

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The Rhnes delta the Camargue

The area of the Rhnes delta is known as the Camargue. It
is an example of an arcuate or fan delta. It has been created
because of the vast amounts of sediment deposited over the
years and the low tidal range of the Mediterranean.
Draw and
label a
diagram of
the Rhne
delta and
explain its
formation.

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Techniques interpreting aerial photographs

Name the river landform shown in this aerial photograph.

What else can you identify?
How can you tell that this is not the upper course of a river?
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Examination question
Study the photograph below:
B
A

C
Name the 3 features labelled A, B and C (3)
Choose one of the features and explain its formation. You
may use diagrams to help you.(6)
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The landforms of a river

Which landforms are missing? Why?

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The landforms of a river

Landforms are primarily caused by:
processes of erosion
processes of deposition
a mixture of erosion and deposition
Which of the following landforms are the result of a
mixture of erosion and deposition?
v-shaped valleys
deltas
waterfalls

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rapids

meanders
oxbow lakes

interlocking spurs
floodplains
leves

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How much do you know about rivers?

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Key ideas
Processes of erosion, transport and deposition operate
to create the landforms of the middle and lower course
of a river.
There are four types of transport: traction, saltation,
suspension and solution.
The main direction of erosion is lateral.
Erosion and deposition contribute to the formation of
meanders and ox-bow lakes.
Deposition is the main process contributing to the
formation of flood plains, leves and deltas.
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