River Basins

The Hydrological (Water) Cycle

•97% of the world’s water is
contained in the oceans.
•2% of the world’s water is stored
as ice and snow.
•That leaves just 1% is either fresh
water on land or water vapour

•As the amount of fresh water is

limited, it has to be recycled over and
over again. This is known as the
hydrological cycle.
•As no water is added or lost from
the hydrological cycle it is called a
closed system.
Hydrological Cycle
 The Drainage Basin System
Definition: A drainage basin is the land area or catchment
area drained by a single river and its tributaries. An
imaginary line called the watershed separates one
drainage basin from another. The watershed usually
follows a ridge of high land; any water falling on the other
side flows into an adjacent drainage basin.

• The drainage basin forms part of the hydrological

cycle, but unlike the hydrological cycle it is an
open system. This is because and open system has:
– INPUTS where water enters the system through
precipitation (rain and snow)
– OUTPUTS where water is lost to the system either by
rivers carrying it to the sea or through
evapotranspiration. (Evapotranspiration is the loss of
moisture directly from rivers or lakes – evaporation, or
from vegetation – transpiration.
 The Drainage Basin System
• Within the system are stores and transfers (flows)
• STORES are places where water is held, eg: in lakes, on the surface, in soil
and in rocks underground.
• TRANSFERS are processes by which water flows or moves through the
system, eg: infiltration, surface runoff, throughflow, percolation.
 Diagram of a typical drainage system.

Source River Basin

Tributary

Confluence

River Watershed

Channel Mouth Sea or Lake

of river
From its source, a river flows downhill. This is because of the Earth's gravity. Small trickles of
water join up to form a stream. The amount of water in the stream increases steadily as more
streams, called tributaries, join it. Eventually the stream becomes big enough to be a river.
A drainage basin is all the land that supplies a
river and its tributaries with water. If you could
look down on a river from above, you would see
that it branches. This is called a drainage
pattern. The shape of the pattern depends on
rocks, soil, climate and the changes made to the
river. Radial drainage happens when streams
flow down from a central high point, such as a
mountain top. Other rivers, such as the Amazon,
form a pattern like the branches of a tree. This

is called dendritic drainage.

Rivers and their tributaries can form many

other types of drainage patterns. Parallel
drainage happens when streams flow in valleys
that are parallel to one another. This might
be.because movements in the Earth, millions
of years ago, made the rocks 'fold' into
parallel lines. Trellis drainage is common
where massive layers of sedimentary rock
have 'slipped'. Streams flow in channels that
are parallel to each other, and tributaries join

the streams at right angles.

•The force of a river depends on 2 things - the energy and the volume of the river.
Energy = Speed + volume
•The steeper it is the faster it flows.
•Speed can be reduced by friction and turbulence, so a lot depends on the nature
of the river bed. This is related to two things:
•the material it is made of
•the cross sectional shape of the river bed.
•The most efficient shape is where the depth is equal to half the width W = 2D
A wide shallow channel
means little erosion, but
often plenty of deposition
because of increased
friction which slows down
the flow.

A narrow, deep channel

increases the speed of
the water and so the
amount of erosion
increases and
deposition decreases.
Corrasion, otherwise known as abrasion, is
the grinding of rock fragments carried by
the river against the bed and banks of the
river. This action both widens and deepens
the channel. The power of the grinding is
especially powerful in floods when large
fragments of rock are carried along the
river bed eroding the bed and the banks.
Solution, also known as corrosion, is the
process by which river water reacts
chemically with soluble minerals in the
rocks and dissolves them.
For example, when a river stream flows
over an area of limestone (calcium
carbonate), it erodes the limestone by
reacting chemically with it and dissolves it.
Attrition is the knocking of rock
fragments in the water against one
another. The fragments are
broken into smaller pieces and
become smoother along the
process.
Hydraulic action is the breaking
down of rocks and dragging them
away from the bed and banks by
the force of the running water
itself. When water from a fast
moving stream enters cracks in a
rock, the force breaks up the
force into pieces.
• Some rivers have greater volume than others. There are four factors
that influence volume.
Vegetation
The presence of vegetation affec ts the ra te a t whic h
water is intercepted and is able to infil tra te the ground.
If an area is covered with vegeta tion, the vegeta tion will
intercept the rain and allows some of i t to infiltra te into
the ground. As a resul t, there w ill be less water as surface
runoff into the river and so the volume of water into the
river will be lowered. On the other hand, in an area with
no vegeta tion, there will be no interception and li ttle
infiltra tion into the ground. This will resul t in more wa ter
as surface runoff into the ri ver and so the volume of the
water is higher than tha t of a vegeta ted a rea.
Drainage basin size
A larger d rainage basin will have a greater volume of
water. This is because there is a greater a mount of
tributaries b ringing water to the river resul ting in a
higher surface runoff.
Drainage Ba sin refers to the area drained by a river and
its tributaries.
Permeability of rocks
The permeability of rocks i s determined by the size of the pores
between the rock particles. If the rock has small pores, water cannot
easily infiltra te into the rock and thi s means that the rock i s
impermeable. On the other hand, if the roc k ha s large pores, water can
easily infiltra te and thus the rock is permeable. When wa ter flows
through an area of i mpermeable rock, little water infil trates the
ground, as a resul t there is high surface runoff and leads to a high
volume of flow of water.
Climate
The a mount of precipitation and temperature affec ts the volume of
river. During dry season, a river channel may be al most empty
therefore the volume is low. During the wet season, the volume will be
high and water may overflow the c hannel and flood the surrounding
land.
Tempera ture also plays a pa rt in influencing the volume of rivers. When
the tempera ture is high, there is more evapora tion and transpira tion
which reduces the a mount of water in the river.
The three factors that influence the velocity of a river are the river
gradient,channel roughness and channel shape.
Gradient Channel Roughness Channel shape

A river flowing down a In figure A, the channel The shape of the

steep slope or is smooth while that in
gradient has higher figure B is rough or
velocity than one uneven with boulders on
which flows down a the river bed as well as
gentler gradient. For rocks that protrude out
example, the speed from the bank. A river
of flow in a river that that flows through such a
plunges down a steep river has to overcome
slope in the form of a such obstacles and
waterfall is much therefore there will be
higher than the speed more friction and the
of flow in a river that velocity of the river is
winds down a gentler reduced.
slope.
channel or its cross
section affects the
wetted perimeter. The
wetted perimeter
refers to the extent to
which water is in
contact with its channel.
The greater the wetted
perimeter, the greater
the friction between
the water and the banks
and the bed of the
channel, and the slower
the flow of river.
Diag A. Diag B.
In figure A, the channel is smooth while that in figure B is rough
or uneven with boulders on the river bed as well as rocks that
protrude out from the bank. A river that flows through such a river
has to overcome such obstacles and therefore there will be more
friction and the velocity of the river is reduced.
• Wetted perimeter is calculating by
adding the length and the breadth of
the channel in contact with water.
• A river uses its energy to carry or transport eroded
materials such as mud, sand, boulders and dissolved
materials. These materials are called its load. River
transport their load by four processes. These
processes are:

Saltation | Traction | Solution | Suspension |

• A river uses its energy to carry or transport eroded materials such as mud, sand,
boulders and dissolved materials. These materials are called its load. River
transport their load by four processes. These processes are traction, saltation,
suspension and solution.

•Larger particles like pebbles and boulders roll and slide along the river bed.

•Dissolved materials containing minerals like calcium and sodium are carried in the
water. Trying to look out for these type of load in a river? Too bad, they cannot be seen
by a naked eye.

•Smaller particles such as clay, silt and fine sand are carried along without contact with
the river bed.  Materials carried in suspension usually forms the greatest part of the
total river bed.