Rivers: Shapers of Earth Landscapes

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From tropical rainforests to deserts, the Earth's surface is shaped by the action of
running water. As raindrops fall, or snow begins to melt, some of the water sinks
into the ground, and through the process of infiltration, eventually adds to the
groundwater supply. Some rain or snow falls directly onto water's surfaces as
channel precipitation. The rest of the water flows from higher to lower ground under
the pull of gravity.
Runoff begins as overland flow after the ground has become saturated. This runoff
may spread into a sheet of water for short distances, then divide into rills and
rivulets in its course toward lower ground. In areas with sparse vegetation or easily
eroded soil, the rills and rivulets combine into larger channels, called gullies.
Eventually, the overland flow either sinks into the ground or finds its way into a
stream.
A stream is a flow of water normally confined to a well-defined channel. Each
stream has a source, or point of origin, and a mouth, or in-point, where it flows into
another stream, into a basin of interior drainage, or into the sea. A stream's size at
any given point along its course can be measured in terms of discharge. Discharge
is the volume of water flowing past a particular point in a given period of time. It is
expressed in cubic meters or cubic feet per second. The amount of discharge often
varies greatly from season to season and from year to year, depending on amounts
of precipitation.
Most streams and humid regions are perennial. This means that water flows in their
channels throughout the year. Most streams in desert regions flow only during and
shortly after rains. These are called ephemeral streams, from a Greek word for
short-lived. A few large rivers, such as the Colorado, the Indus, and the Nile, have
enough water in their channels when they reach dry regions that they maintain a
perennial flow across the deserts. These are called exotic streams, because they
originate in well-watered areas, far from the deserts through which they flow.
Streams vary from tiny trickles that drain very small areas to mighty rivers that
drain enormous regions. Various terms are used locally to describe streams of
different sizes and flow patterns. A river, for example, is thought of as a large
stream, generally with several smaller tributary streams feeding it. Small streams
may be called brooks or creeks, depending on local usage. The word bayou is used
in Louisiana for sluggish streams, some of which flow along old channels of the
Mississippi River. In some regions, a fast-flowing mountain stream is called a torrent.
None of these terms are precise, however, so geoscientists distinguish between
orders of streams. A first-order stream has no tributaries. A second-order stream
has only first-order streams as tributaries. A third-order stream is formed when two
second-order streams join waters, and so on. There are far more low-order streams
than high-water streams. In the United States, for example, there are approximately
a million and a half first-order streams, about 4,250 fifth-order streams, but only 1
tenth-order stream, the Mississippi River.

In addition to being more numerous, low-order streams are generally shorter and
have steeper gradients than high-order streams. Low-order streams also drain
smaller areas. As defined by geoscientists, each stream has its own drainage basin,
or area from which it transports water. This basin is bounded by a drainage divide of
higher ground that separates one stream valley from another. The drainage basin,
or watershed, of a first-order stream is composed only of the valley bottom and
sides that drain into that particular stream. The drainage basin of a major river,
however, includes the drainage basins of all of its tributaries.
Consequently, the higher the order of the stream, the larger the area that is drained
by the stream and its tributaries. A typical first-order stream in North America drains
about 2 and 1/2 square kilometers, whereas the Mississippi and its tributaries drain
320 million square kilometers. A stream system is composed of all the streams that
join in a drainage network to carry water from a drainage basin or watershed. A
majority of stream systems eventually pour their waters into the oceans.
A few, however, terminate in basins of interior drainage. These may contain
landlocked lakes, such as you Utah's Great Salt Lake, or be marked by extensive salt
flats, where waters of ephemeral lakes have evaporated in the desert sun. In all
cases, however, the water flowing through a stream system seeks the path of least
resistance and changes the landscape as it does so.
Processes related to the channelled flow of water are called fluvial processes, after
the Latin word fluvius, which means river. Major fluvial processes involve the work of
running water and modifying landscapes through erosion, transportation, and
deposition of earth materials. Stream systems are highly dynamic. As they cut down
their beds and wear away the materials along their banks, they act as powerful
agents of erosion.
However, no stream can erode its bed any lower than the base level to which it
flows. Streams flowing into the ocean have a base level at sea level. For streams
joining other streams as tributaries, the base level is the water level of the main
stream at the point of confluence. The bottom of a basin is the base level for streets
that drain into interior sumps, some of which, such as Death Valley, are below sea
level. For a stream flowing into a lake, the lake surface is the base level.
Watch a small stream flowing across a sandy beach to reach the sea. As the tide
goes out, thus lowering the base level toward which the stream is flowing, its
gradient and velocity increase as it cuts deeper into the sand. The stream's load of
sand, meaning the amount of material it can move, increases as it erodes its bed
and banks. A few hours later, as the tide comes in, the base level is raised and the
stream drops some of its load.
Base levels may change through time, thus affecting the streams work as an agent
of erosion and deposition. Over long periods of time, world sea levels change,
creating major changes in stream system dynamics, especially in their lower
reaches.
During any given time period, rates of erosion vary from one stream to another, and
also along the course of any single stream, depending on such factors as the

stream's volume, velocity, the kind of rock over which it flows, and the cutting tools
in its load. The bedload, which may remain in place when the stream is low, is
composed of the material pushed downstream by the force of running water. Large
pieces of rock move by sliding and rolling down the streambed. Lighter rock
materials may move down a streambed by saltation, meaning that they jump and
bounce downhill as they are pushed by the moving water.
The sand, gravel, larger stones, and other material pushed along by the water serve
as cutting tools. They grind away, or abrade, materials along the stream's bed and
sides. As rocks tumble downstream, their sharper edges are worn off. This produces
rounded stones of all sizes. Gradually, rocks are reduced in size through the process
of abrasion until they are turned into sand or even smaller fragments.
Streams carry very small particles or sediments, such as silts and clays, in
suspension. A murky or muddy color generally indicates a large sediment load in
suspension. Dissolved minerals are carried downstream in solution. These materials
are added to the flow as running water chemically dissolves soluble minerals and
rocks, such as sandstone or limestone. The amount of load a stream can carry
depends on its volume and its velocity. The larger a stream and the faster it flows,
the more load it can carry. A large, deep river flows with high velocity. It can carry
large loads in suspension, even when the gradient of its bed is low.
The gradient, or slope of a streambed, is its vertical drop over a given unit of
horizontal distance. Gradient strongly affects velocity. With a given amount of
discharge, the steeper the gradient, the greater the velocity. Turbulent flow is
irregular, with currents moving in many directions. Turbulence is increased by steep
gradients and high velocity, as well as by roughness in the stream bed. As rafters
know, streams may flow gently along for miles, then suddenly froth into rapids in
places where the streambed gradient steepens, usually as a result of flow over
erosion-resistant rock layers.
A waterfall occurs where the riverbed makes a distinct vertical drop. Steep drops in
elevation along a stream course, with the steeper section downstream, are called
knick points. These drops are sometimes due to faulting, or the uplifting of the
regions where the stream originates. Knick points also indicate areas where the
river is cutting through layers of resistant rock. Rivers flowing over resistant rock, as
at Niagara Falls, erode headward, or upstream, as bed erosion wears back the cliffs.
Headward erosion is also common at the head of stream valleys, and may, through
time, result in a lengthening of a valley as gullies cut into the higher ground
between watersheds.
As a stream begins downcutting its bed, it typically has many rapids and waterfalls
along its course. Most of the stream's energy is used to smooth out irregularities in
its gradient. A swift-flowing stream, with many cutting tools, may carve its bed
down rapidly, thus forming a steep-sided gorge or canyon. Such stream-cut valleys
typically have v-shaped profiles, as seen here in the Grand Canyon of the
Yellowstone River.
Falls have developed where the Yellowstone River flows over an intrusion of igneous
rock that is much more resistant to erosion than the loosely consolidated volcanic

debris and lakebed sediments up- and downstream. Although the valley remains
narrow at the bottom as the river continues cutting down, it widens at the top.
Canyons with nearly vertical walls are sometimes found in plateau regions. This
happens when a stream cuts rapidly through rocks to great depths, as seen here
along the Little Colorado River. Due to the composition of the rocks, along with the
dry climate, the widening of the valley through weathering and mass wasting takes
place very slowly. At Arizona's famous Grand Canyon, the walls form a series of cliffs
and slopes. This formation developed because of the differential resistance to
erosion of various rock layers as the Colorado River cut down more than a mile into
the rocks of the Colorado Plateau.
A fast-moving stream flowing down a steep gradient spends most of its energy
deepening its bed. As a river carves out its downward course toward base level, it
develops a relatively smooth concave-shape profile and begins to maintain a
balance between its transportation capacity and its sediment load. As gradient
declines, the stream develops a curving course, eroding the sides of its channel and
widening its valley in a process called lateral erosion, or sidecutting. As lateral
erosion continues, the river's curves, or meanders, become more pronounced as the
valley floor widens. At each bend, the current swings against the bank at the
outside of the curve, eroding it rapidly.
On the inside of each curve, velocity is low and materials are deposited to form
sand or gravel bars called point bars. As the process continues, the meander loops
become more extreme and eventually the stream breaks through the narrow neck
of a meander, thus forming a cutoff. Most of the flow goes through the shorter,
steeper cutoff route. As sediments are deposited along the old entrances to the
meander, the cutoff loop becomes completely detached from the stream. The waterfilled remnant of a former channel is called an oxbow lake. Gradually, the stream
broadens its valley as it meanders back and forth across the nearly level valley floor
that it has created. This valley floor is known as the flood plain. The streambed, or
channel, is that area generally covered by running water. In navigation, the term
channel is used in a more restricted sense to refer to the deepest part of a riverbed.
The stream banks are the edges of the streambed. When a river contains so much
water that it overflows its banks, it is in flood stage. The flattish land on either side
of the river which receives this overflow is part of the flood plain. Some rivers in
low-lying humid areas frequently overflow their banks, inundating the lower parts of
their flood plains. The flood plain is filled with deposits of alluvium, left in old river
channels and deposited by floods. Flood plains are usually important for agriculture
because of the richness of alluvial soils.
Even in nearly level terrain, the edge of the flood plain is usually marked by a
relatively steep slope or a line of bluffs. Flood plains along the lower reaches of
large rivers, such as the Mississippi, are characterized by numerous bends and
oxbow lakes. In their lower courses, many streams are more important as agents of
deposition than as agents of erosion. If a stream is carrying its maximum load,
deposition of materials will take place whenever, and/or wherever, a reduction in
the velocity or volume occurs. A sluggishly flowing stream, which receives more

load from its tributaries than it can carry, tends to drop much of the load along its
bed. Such streams are said to be overloaded.
Streams, such as the Platte River, that wind in and out between many sandbars and
islands are called braided streams. Braiding also occurs when a stream flows
through an area with much coarse, loose material. As streams periodically overflow
their banks and spill out over flood plains, they deposit the load carried in
suspension.
Heavy deposits of sediment are found along the banks because of the sharp
reduction in velocity at the channels edge during flooding. This creates natural
levees that rise higher than the adjacent flood plain. Along great rivers, such as the
Mississippi and the Rhine, natural levees have been augmented by much higher
man-made levees. Although levees reduce the frequency with which water spills out
over the flood plain, they also force the river to drop most of its flood load in its
channel. This builds up the riverbed until the stream may actually flow higher than
the surrounding plain.
When a river enters a relatively quiet body water, such as a lake or the sea, it
completely loses velocity and deposits all of its sediments near its mouth. In this
satellite view of the mouth of the Mississippi, one can see the sediment plume
extending far out into the Gulf of Mexico. As the river drops its load, the sediments
may form a fan-shaped deposit, called a delta. As shown in this satellite view the
snow-covered Yukon Delta, rivers divide into numerous distributaries as they flow
across their deltas. This happens because sediments block the channel and the river
seeks other paths to the sea. Unlike tributaries, distributaries flow away from the
main stream.
Not all rivers form deltas where they meet the sea. Materials dropped by small
streams flowing into the open ocean are soon swept away by waves and currents. In
other cases, rivers reach the sea through estuaries, or drowned mouths, that are
formed when sea levels rise or when coastal areas are lowered. In these estuaries,
salt water moves far upstream during high tides. When the tide goes out, large
expanses of mud flats typically surround the fresh water flowing out to sea through
the river channel.
Ultimately, some of the water flowing out to sea is returned to the atmosphere
through evaporation from the ocean surface. Eventually, this moisture vapor
condenses. As clouds form, the water reaches the land again in the form of
precipitation. Thus, a watershed is an excellent example of an open system with
materials and energy moving through it.
Water enters a system through precipitation and leaves either through evaporation
or when the stream system that drains the basin flows into the ocean. The
movement of water in the stream transforms its potential energy into kinetic energy
that enables the water to carry its load of sediment.