Draw a picture of a river feature and explain how it formed

Draw a picture of a river feature and explain how it formed

Draw a picture of a river feature and explain how it formed

There are 3 main features you could draw: waterfall, meander of delta. We recommend you do a waterfall for this type of question. You can find pictures of all of these in a Geography text book or good encyclopedia. Here are the main facts and labels you need to know:

Waterfall:

  • The rock on the top of the waterfall is a hard rock, it is good to give an example such as Limestone
  • The rock underneath and behind the waterfall is a soft rock which can be easily worn away. Again, a good example of this is shale

HOW THE WATERFALL FORMS:

  • A step is present in the soft rock which forces the water downwards
  • The water starts to erode as it is pushed down and creates a plunge pool
  • The water keeps eroding and the waterfall gets bigger
  • At this point the water starts undercutting the soft rock behind the waterfall
  • This process continues and hard rock is broken off as the waterfall retreats
  • Spray from the waterfall undercuts more
  • A good example is Niagra Falls.

Meander:

  • Meanders may seem very simple but it is important you can label them and get all the facts in for maximum marks
  • If something is in the way of a stream or river it has to go round it for example a tree or a rock
  • After this first bend, the river hits the outside of the bend with more and more force to erode the river bank and enlarge the meander
  • The eroded material is deposited on the inside of the bend >>> label this as the river beach
  • This process continues >> The meander gets bigger and bigger until finally the river cuts through and meets at the other side.
  • This is an oxbow lake.

Delta:

  • Deltas are formed at the end of rivers (river mouth) as it flows into the sea
  • Rivers carry a lot of sediment (mud)
  • The river flows into a calm sea
  • This slows the river down
  • Which makes the river drop its sediment
  • This deposited sediment builds up over years creating a delta
  • The river is forced to split up
  • The smaller rivers made by deltas are called distributaries
  • Examples of Deltas are Nile Delta, Ganges Delta
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