Theme A: River Enviroments Cheat Sheet

by etait4502 via cheatography.com/81287/cs/19481/

The Drainage Basin: A Component of the 'Hard' Engine​ering Strate​gies 'Hard' Engine​ering Strate​gies (cont)
Water Cycle
Dams The water is pumped out of the river and
The Drainage Basin ** Building a dam or reservoir in the upper stored in temporary lakes. Then it is
On the land, water is stored on the surface course of the river can control the discharge pumped back in after the water in the river

as lakes and rivers. Each river is contained in the river. They will reduce flooding and has returned to normal flow. This strategy is
within its own drainage basin. This is the the resulting reservoir can be used for effective but a large amount of unused land
area of land drained by a river, from its leisure and hydroe​lec​tri​city. The disadv​‐ is needed so it can be flooded.
source to its mouth where it ends by antages of building dams can be:
meeting the sea, or ocean or lake and its 'Soft' Engine​ering Strategies
- high costs of constr​uction and mainte​‐
tribu​tar​ies. The boundary of a drainage nance These strategies are aimed at helping
basin follows a ridge of high land known as people cope with floods. They are generally
- good farmland is flooded
the water​shed. A confl​uence is when a sympat​hetic to the natural landscape, so
- local people are displaced
tributary meets a main river. tend not to damage the river for future
- habitats are destroyed genera​tions, making them more sustai​nable
Diagram of a drainage basin. Levees or Embank​ments than hard flood control methods.
Building high embank​ments along the sides Wash​lands
of the river increases the river's capacity to These are parts of the river floodplain in the
contain any floodw​ater. Levees do reduce lower course that are allowed to flood
flooding but they are expensive to tempor​arily. They are one kind of flood
strengthen and heighten (can be eroded storage area. They cannot be built on and
easily). There will be catast​rophic flooding if are usually used for sports pitches or nature
they are breached. reserves.
Floo​dwa​lls Land-Use Zoning
These walls are built around settle​ments This is where land has different building
The Drainage Basin System
and important factories or roads. They are controls depending on how far away from
quite expensive and do not look very natural the river it is. Land next to the river is not
but are usually effective. allowed to be built on, the next land zone
Stra​igh​tening and Deepening River can be built on only for low risk housing and
Known as chann​eli​sing. By straig​htening the last zone is for high risk buildings such
and deepening the river channel, the cross-​‐ as hospitals, retirement homes and
sec​tional area of the river is increased dangerous factories.

allowing it to contain more water. The Affo​res​tat​ion

straighter channel makes the water move This is re-pla​nting trees in the upper course
faster through that part of the river so it of the river.
does not build up and is less likely to flood.
The Drainage Basin System Diagram This totally changes the ecosystem in the Waterfalls
river and spoils the natural look of the area.
Often further downstream where the river is
not channe​lised, the water builds up and
floods occur there.
Storage Areas
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 Theme A: River Enviroments Cheat Sheet
by etait4502 via cheatography.com/81287/cs/19481/

Ox-Bow Lakes Keyw​ords (cont) Why do channel width and depth

increase? (cont)
Deposition
Waterfall As the diagram below (a) Hydraulic action
shows, the river at - i.e. the force of
Meander
point A is fed by only the water itself.
Slip-Off Slope
two streams whereas This will have the
River Cliff Point B is fed by the greatest effect
Floodplain entire stream when the river is
network. Whilst Point full.
Levees
A has a narrow
Flooding
Keyw​ords channel and is
River Managment Strategies shallow in depth,
Water Cycle
Hard and Soft Engine​ering Methods Point B has a wider
Drainage Basin channel and deeper
Precip​itation River Processes and Landforms water.
Interc​eption Near Source Near Mouth (b) Abrasion - the
Surface Runoff​/Ov​erland Flow bed load bumps
Gradient Steep Gentle
along the river bed
Infilt​ration Depth Shallow Deep
and banks causing
Throug​hflow Width Narrow Wide erosion.
Percol​ation Discharge Low High When rivers have
Ground​water Flow Load Large, Small, a large bed load
Evapot​ran​spi​ration Angular Rounded made up of coarse
material they
Watershed
Methods of Transp​ort​ation Diagram scrape or rub
Source
against the
Tributary channel bed,
Confluence eventually lowering
River Mouth the level of the
bed, creating steep
Gradient
valley sides. This
Depth
Why do channel width and depth is vertical (downw​‐
Width ards) erosion
increase?
Load
1. Stream Ordering 2. Erosion
Discharge
When a stream flows away As a river
Erosion from its source it is known flows
Attrition as a first order stream . downstream
Abrasi​on/​Cor​rasion When two first order it erodes the
streams meet, the result is a channel bed
Hydraulic Action
second order stream and so and banks in
Soluti​on/​Cor​rosion
on. two ways:
Transp​ort​ation
Solution
Suspension
Saltation
Traction
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 Theme A: River Enviroments Cheat Sheet
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Why do channel width and depth Bradshaw Model Diagram Sustai​nable Management of Rivers
increase? (cont)

In sections of the river channel where the

river is flowing especially fast, the water Why does river load become smaller?
itself has enough energy to wash away the 1. Processes of 2. Processes
bank of the river, leading to underc​utting erosion of transp​ort​‐
and collapse. As this is a sideways motion, ation
it is called lateral erosion.
Attrition - as the bed A river uses its
load moves downstream energy to (a)
Stream Ordering Diagram
it bumps off itself. This erode and (b)
reduces the size and transport its
makes the load more load.

Meander in a Cross-​Section rounded with no sharp

edges.
Abrasion - this is when Rivers move
the bed load bumps their load in 4

Why does discharge increase? along the river bed and ways.
banks.
Discharge is calculated by multip​lying cross
Solution occurs all the Traction - the
sectional area by velocity. As width, depth
time, as rainwater and rolling of the
and area increase downstream (due to
therefore river water, is large rocks
erosion), discharge increases. Velocity
slightly acidic. Water along the river
increases downstream also due to a
flowing along the bed. This
reduction in friction - as large angular rocks Meander in a Plan View
channel constantly requires a lot of
break down.
dissolves the surrou​‐ energy and the
As more and more tribut​aries flow into the
nding rock. Some rocks largest bed load
main river. By the time it reaches the mouth
eg. limestone and chalk will only be
it will have gathered water from hundreds of
are most prone to this moved like this
smaller streams, increasing its volume of
type of river erosion. in times of
water.
severe flood.
The Bradshaw Model is another was to
Deposition Saltation - the
show how river charac​ter​istics gradually
bouncing of
change upstre​am/​dow​nst​ream. When the velocity of the river is reduced,
medium​-sized
its energy falls and it can no longer erode
load along the
or transport material. Instead, the load is
river bed.
dropped, starting with the largest and
therefore heaviest particles.
Condi​tions when deposition is likely
- River enters a lake or the sea, slowing its
flow.
- The river floods onto its floodp​lain, where
it flows very slowly.
- There is an area of shallow water,
slowing the river flow
- The load is increased suddenly, eg. after
a landslide.
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 Theme A: River Enviroments Cheat Sheet
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Why does river load become smaller? Case Study - Somerset Levels 2014 Impacts of Flooding
(cont) (cont)
Positive Impacts on Negative
Suspension - the smallest load, like fine - Combin​ation of imperm​eable bedrock and People Impacts on
sand or clay, is held up contin​ually within low interc​eption levels means land is People
the river water. This makes the water naturally at risk of flooding. - Replen​ishes drinking - Spreads
appear opaque. Some rivers carry huge - Southern England recieved 207mm of water supplies, waterborn
quantities of suspended material, eg. rainfall in January 2015 alone. 97% of especially wells. diseases such as
Yellow River in China. rainfall fell in first 15 days of January; chlorea.
Solution - soluble minerals dissolve in the wettest winter of 2015. - Provides sediment - People and
water and are carried in solution. This may - Series of severe winter storms in Southern (or slit or alluv​ium) that animals can be
also colour the water, for example water in England in 2013-14. One of the stormiest naturally fertilises the made homeless
the rivers of the Mournes often appears December's on record and one of the soils of a floodp​lain. and even drown.
yellow​/brown as it is stained from iron windiest since January 1993. - Countries such as - Buildings and
coming off the surrou​nding peat bog.
- High tides cause floodwater to back up Bangladesh and Egypt infras​tru​ctures
along rivers across levels and moors. This rely on floods to help (roads and
Case Study - Somerset Levels 2014
was exacer​bated by the river layers being crops like rice grow. railways) can be
Intr​odu​ction & Spatial Context higher than usual due to recent rains and damaged and
The Somerset Levels are a low lying region because they had not been dredged. destroyed.
in the South West of England. As it has a Human Causes - Can encourage - Crops grown on
naturally high water table and poor drainage innovative solutions in fertile floodp​lains
- The rivers Tone and Parrett had not been
it is prone to flooding. The Winter of 2013- future building design. can be washed
properly dredged in 20 years, leaving
14 saw it experience prolonged flooding eg. houses on stilts, away in a flash
farmland and homes without proper
which was described as "the worst in over a tilting floors and walls flood.
defence from floods. This resulted in
centur​y". Villages were stuck in polluted on ground​floor.
hectares of land being left underwater from
water for 6 weeks. Although the river was
storms in December. Had the river been Positive Impacts on - Can increase
naturally supposed to flood twice every 100
dredged this would have cleared them of Enviro​ment house insurance
years it flooded twice in the last 2 years.
slit, making them wider, deeper and easier costs for house
Physical Causes to maintain. It would have also created holders or make
more capacity to carry away flood waters; it impossible to
draining the floodplain more quickly. insure home.
- In addition, extra water was being sent to - Fish benefit as they Negative
the levels from Taunton and Bridge​water as can breed in the Impacts on
part of a scheme where water is pumped standing floodw​ater. Enviro​nment
away from areas to protect new homes - In dry areas, floods - Flooding can
build on former floodp​lains. Pumping bring relief from wash chemicals
stations couldn't remove water fast enough. drought, providing or sewage into
The enviro​nment agency brought in more drinking water for wild local rivers and
pumps but it was 'too late'. Owen Paterson animals. pollute them.
was slow to respond which made things
worse.
Conc​luding Statem​ent
Both human and physical reasons are to
blame for the prolonged flooding experi​‐
enced in the Somerset Levels from 2013-
14.

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 Theme A: River Enviroments Cheat Sheet
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Impacts of Flooding (cont) Case Study - Missis​sippi River, USA

(cont)
- Wild animals may drown or lose their
habitat during a flood. Eval​uation of Manage​ment
- Missis​sippi River is very important to USA
Case Study - Missis​sippi River, USA as 18million rely on it for water supply.
Back​gro​und​/Sp​atial Context - Current hard engine​ering methods have
The Missis​sippi river is located in the South- been proven to be neither totally effective
East of the USA, with one of the largest nor sustai​nable. The river still floods and
drainage basins in America that drains recent flash floods are blamed on levees
water from a third of the USA and Canada. failing. Also, as river bed silts up alongside
levees, river beds rise and the floodplain
The river is important as a shipping channel
ends up below river level. eg. in New
and is also important for recreation as it is a
Orleans, some areas are 4.3m below river
supply of hydroe​lectric power and a drinking
level.
water store.
- For current and future genera​tions, the
Around 25,000 people were evacuated
lack of silt reaching the land means that the
when it flooded in 2011, damage costs
fertility of the soil is no longer being
estimated at around 3 billion.
naturally completed during the deposition of
Mana​gement Response to Flooding -
alluvium in the floods. Eventually more and
Hard
more artificial fertil​isers will have to be
- Raised levees, levels raised to 15m and added to the soil.
streng​thened to enclose river for a stretch of
- For wildlife, the draining of wetland and
3000km.
lack of silt to maintain the delta are
- Straig​htened river channel - meanders destroying valuable habitats. In the last 75
were cut through over a stretch of 1750km, years, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri and
creating a fast flowing channel. Ohio have each lost more than 85 per cent
- Dams: the flow of the main tribut​aries, of their wetlands.
such as Ohio River, were controlled by over - The soft engine​ering strategy of affore​‐
100 dams. station is ineffe​ctive as not applied over
Mana​gement Response to Flooding - wide enough area and takes too long for
Soft trees to become large enough for noticeable
- Affore​station in upper course, trees have runoff differ​ence.
been planted in areas such as Tennessee - Use of washlands should only be an
Valley to intercept some rainfall and emergency measure as it takes up a large
stabilise soil. area of spaces near cities. The 2011
- Safe flood zone; building has been flooding showed there was a lack of these
restricted in many of the floodplain areas. floodl​ands, as in response the Army Corps
Also, in areas like Rock Island, where of engineers took the decision to explode
houses have already been built on the the levee at Birds Point to create a
floodp​lain, the housing has been bought by makeshift washland that destroyed dozens
the county and demoli​shed. of farmsteads with their crops.

- Washlands; in 2011 the Maganza Spillway Conc​lus​ion

was opened to flood around 2000km In conclu​sion, it seems management of the
squared of farmland in Louisiana, delibe​‐ Missis​sippi is currently not sustai​nable.
rately preventing that water from reaching
the city of New Orleans.
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