DEPOSITIONAL LANDFORMS

 FLOODPLAIN & LEVEES

 DELTA
 BRAIDED CHANNELS
 DEPOSITION DEPENDS ON:
1. VELOCITY OF RIVER
2. LOADS IT CARRIES.

FORM IN LOWER COURSE OF A RIVER.

 FLOODPLAIN

WHAT?
HOW IT FORMED?
CONDITION OF FORMATION
WHERE FORMED?
 WHAT IS A FLOODPLAIN?
Floodplain-an area of low-lying ground adjacent to a river, formed mainly of river sediments
and subjected to flooding.

Levees-raised banks
On both sides of a river
Channel.

Bluff-steep slopes on both

Edge of a wide floodplain Levees
 River contained within bank
How is it formed? Under normal condition

1. When there is heavy rainfall the river

might overflow it’s bank leading to floods.
The flood water spreads over the large
area on either side of the river, 2. When the flood recedes it
deposit material it carries
the water gradually loses its speed. bank bank on the land leaving behind
(less competence) alluvium on the river banks
and riverbeds.
Bed
4. With repeated flooding deposition of the floodplains
material takes place regularly over a period of 3. The coarse particles are
Levees
time the deposited material such as alluvium Bluff deposited in the river’s
Bluff
create wide flat plains on both sides of the river Alluvium edge because of the heavier
Alluvium weight the finer particles being
and these are called floodplains.
lighter are deposited further
Heavier and coarser materials deposited away inland away from the river
channel.
near to the river formed raised banks
called Levees.
 Countries of UK

er
Floodplain Floodplain

ri v
Scotland

g
in
er
nd

Northern
ea
M

Ireland

England
Wales

Floodplain of river Tay in Scotland

 DELTA
• WHAT?
• CONDITION NEEDED
• HOW IT FORMED?
• TYPES
• EXAMPLES
 WHAT?
• Depositional landforms found at the mouth of a river where the river meets a
body of water with a lower velocity than the river (e.g. a lake or the sea).

Delta –upper case of a Greek letter ‘D’ shape of a triangle

similar to river delta.

Bird’s foot delta of the Mississippi River.

Layers of accumulate sediments (Bed) in a delta.

Bottomset bed Topset Bed

Forebed
 Water enter a large body of water, such sea, deposition occur since velocity decreases and
river becomes less competence.

 Since river meet sea (salted water), clay and silt particles begins to clump together or
flocculate due to an electronic charge developing between the particles by a process known as
flocculation.
Three layers:
 Weight of clay becomes heavy it sink at the bottom of sea bed. The finer sediment such as silt,
and clay deposited at the bottom most layer (bottomset bed), followed by the coarser gravel
and sand on top of the bottomset bed (dip toward the sea with 5 to 25 degree) called
Forebed.
 Followed by also coarse material such as the sand and gravel together with the suspended
load deposited at the surface of the delta. This layer is called topset bed. (horizontally
bedded).
 Since the river is chocked with sediment the river divides into distributaries to make way
toward the sea.
 CONDITION NEED:
• NOT ALL RIVERS FORM DELTAS, FOR A DELTA TO FORM, THE FLOW OF A
RIVER MUST BE SLOW AND STEADY ENOUGH FOR SILT TO BE DEPOSITED AND
BUILT UP.
• NO STRONG WAVES AND CURRENTS THAT WILL WAY MATERIAL AWAY AS
SOON AS IT DEVELOPS, E.G. CONTINENTAL SHELF WITH SHALLOW SEA BED.
• LARGE AMOUNT OF SEDIMENT NEEDED.
Bird’s foot river delta

They extend reasonably far into a body of water and form

when the river’s current is stronger than the sea’s waves.

Mississippi River
Delta, USA. Uncommon because there are very few areas where a sea’s waves are weake
than a river’s current. Delta is called bird’s foot delta because it has a shape
The bird foot.
 Arcuate Delta

Distributarie

Arcuate: Have rounded, convex outer margins e.g.

Nile River.
 Cuspate Delta

Ebro Delta, Spain Cuspate: Where material brought down by a river is

spread out evenly on either side of its channel due to
waves hitting it head on, spreading the deposited
sediment out.
 BRAIDED CHANNEL

 WHAT AND HOW FORMED?

WHERE?
CONDITION
 WHAT & HOW FORMED?

• A BRAIDED RIVER CHANNEL OCCURS WHEN A RIVER IS FORCED TO

DIVIDE INTO SEVERAL CHANNELS WITH ISLANDS SEPARATING THEM. IT
IS A FEATURE OF RIVERS WHICH ARE SUPPLIED WITH LOADS OF SAND
AND GRAVELS.
• THE BANKS MADE FROM THESE MATERIALS ARE UNSTABLE AND THE
CHANNEL BECOMES VERY WIDE IN RELATION TO ITS DEPTH.
• FOR SHORT PERIODS TIME OF THE YEAR, SOME RIVERS CARRY A VERY
HIGH LOAD IN RELATION TO THEIR VELOCITY, E.G. DURING SNOWMELT
PERIODS IN ALPINE OR ARCTIC AREAS.
• WHEN A RIVER’S LEVEL FALLS RAPIDLY, COMPETENCE AND CAPACITY
ARE REDUCED, AND THE CHANNEL MAY BECOME CHOKED WITH
MATERIAL, CAUSING THE RIVER TO BRAID-THAT IS, TO DIVIDE INTO A
SERIES OF DIVERGING AND CONVERGING SEGMENTS.
 WHERE?
• SEMI-ARID AREAS (AREAS WHICH ARE PARTIALLY DRY-RECEIVE 25 TO 50
CM OF RAINFALL ANNUALLY) OF LOW RELIEF WHICH RECEIVE RIVERS
MOUNTAINOUS AREAS.
• GLACIAL OUTWASH PLAINS (LARGE AREAS OF GLACIAL SEDIMENT
DEPOSITED BY MELTWATER STREAMS FURTHEST AWAY FROM THE
GLACIAL SNOUT (END/TOE). THEY ARE FORMED FROM GRAVELS,
SANDS AND CLAYS. THE CLAYS BEING FURTHEST AWAY FROM THE
SNOUT BECAUSE THE SMALLER PARTICLES ARE CARRIED FURTHEST)
• PERIGLACIAL AREAS (GROUND FREEZING HARD BUT SHORT PERIODS
TIME THAWING OCCUR) UNDERLAIN BY PERMAFROST (PERMANENT
FROZEN GROUND)
GLACIAL SNOUT
 CONDITION FOR BRAIDED CHANNEL TO
OCCUR:
• NEED ABUNDANT AMOUNT OF BEDLOAD
• EASILY ERODED BANKS
• HIGH AND VARIABLE DISCHARGES
 Example of A Braided river channel.

Eyots Embankment
(vegetated
Permanet Bars)
Sandbars
Floodplains Floodplains

North
Smaller New Zealand
Channels

Pacific
South Ocean
New
The Waitaki River is another large braided river in the South
Zealand
Island of New Zealand. It drains the Mackenzie Basin and
runs some 110 kilometers south-east to enter the Pacific
Ocean.
 SKETCH DIAGRAM: Embankment
(Eroded bank)

Small Floodplain
Channels

Vegetated
Islands (Eyots)

Sand/gravel bars
Floodplain

Small channel Small channel

diverging converging