Table of Contents
What happens when a river flows down a mountain?
A river in the mountains or hills will usually have a deep and steep V-shaped valley as the fast moving water cuts away at the rock as it flows downhill. The fast moving river picks up pieces of rock and carries them downstream, breaking them into smaller and smaller pieces of sediment.
What causes streams to flow downhill?
Water flows downhill due to Earth’s gravity (force of attraction between two masses) pulling it. Streams, like rivers, are gravity-driven bodies of moving surface water that drain water from the continents.
How do rivers change the land through which they flow?
Streams and rivers erode and transport sediment. They erode bedrock and/or sediment in some locations and deposit sediment in other areas. Moving water, in river and streams, is one of the principal agents in eroding bedrock and sediment and in shaping landforms.
What is a flowing water model?
Integrated Water Flow Model (IWFM) is a computer program for simulating water flow through the integrated land surface, surface water and groundwater flow systems. Surface water flow can be simulated as a simple one-dimensional flow-through network or with the kinematic wave method.
What factors influence water flow?
Factors Affecting a River’s Velocity
- Channel Shape. The shape of the channel affects the velocity of a river.
- Volume of Water. The volume of water that flows through a river within a given amount of time — known as the discharge — also affects its velocity.
- Smooth and Rough Channels.
- Riverbed’s Gradient.
How are streams different from rivers and mountains?
Stream and River Erosion. As a stream moves water from high elevations, like mountains, towards low elevations, like the ocean, which is at sea level, the work of the stream changes. At high elevations, streams are just beginning streams that have small channels and steep gradients.
What happens when a river overflows its channel?
When a river floods or overflows its channel, the area where the stream flows is suddenly much broader and shallower than it was when it was in its channel. This slows down the velocity of the stream’s flow and causes the stream to drop off much of its load.
How does the elevation of a stream affect its level?
The higher the elevation, the farther the stream is from where it eventually meets the sea. Base level is the term for where a stream meets sea level or standing water, like a lake or the ocean. Streams will work to downcut their stream beds until they reach base level.
How are streams and rivers driven by gravity?
A stream is flow of water, driven by gravity, in a natural channel, on land. A small brook in a meadow and the Amazon River are both streams. It is interesting to watch water on a recently bulldozed construction site with a slope. At first the water saturates the ground and begins to flow downhill across the surface of the slope in a thin sheet.