Name : _______________________________ [

Class : [
]

Exercise 1

Date : ______________

Chapter 6 Rivers

The Hjulstrom Curve

Read the instructions carefully before you answer.
The Hjulstrom Curve or Graph is used by hydrologists to find out if a river is able to erode, transport or
deposit its load.
The vertical axis shows the average river velocity in cm per second (cm/s) while the horizontal axis shows
particle size in mm. Note that the scale used for both axes is a logarithmic scale.
The graph shows that a river requires a certain velocity to pick up and move rock particles of different sizes.
When the river velocity drops below the minimum level, the rock particles are deposited.

Label These Terms:

1. Critical erosion velocity: lowest velocity at which grain of a given size can be moved.
2. Settling/fall velocity: velocity falls below certain level particle (fall velocity) will be deposited.

A.

Main Observations regarding the Hjulstrom Curve

1.

The Hjulstrom curve shows that particles of a size around .... require the least energy
to erode, as they are sediments that do not (stick together cohesively).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2.

Sand (between .mm to ..mm) is relatively easily eroded and transported. At a velocity
cm/s, sand will be eroded.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3.

Particles smaller than silt are often . (smaller than 0.01mm) which require a higher
velocity to produce the energy required to split the small clay particles which have.
(stick together cohesively).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4.

Larger particles such as pebbles are eroded at . velocities at more than cm/s
and very large objects such as boulders require the highest velocities to erode such as
cm/s.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5.

When the velocity drops below this velocity called the line of critical velocity, particles will be
or .., instead of being eroded, depending on the river's energy.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6.

Boulders are deposited quickly as the velocity .., and after that as the size of particle
.., the longer it is transported. For example, particles of ..mm are deposited
when the velocity is at .cm/sec, however smaller particles of..mm are deposited when
the velocity is at cm/sec.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------8.

Clay particles stay afloat in water even when there is no velocity at all as they are very...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------9.

Though clay has very fine particle sizes, it requires a river velocity to be transported
compared to sand or silt particles. This is because clay particles tend to . to each other
and thus have a resistance to flowing water.

B.

Answer the following questions using the Hjulstrom Curve in this worksheet

1a.

Identify the relationship between river energy and particle size.

[2 marks]

b.

What speed must the river be traveling at to erode a particle of size 10mm.

[1 mark]

c.

Identify the river process at for a particle size of 1mm with velocity 10cm/sec.
Explain your answer.

[3 marks]

d.

Explain why it is more difficult to erode clay and silt.

[2 marks]

e.

If the speed of the river is 5cm/s, what type of materials would be transported by the river and in
what manner?
[3 marks]