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 River Rejuvenation
Rejuvenation is the renewal of a river’s energy in response in a river
valley.ie the river becomes young again.

Rivers are always attempting to reach a state of dynamic equilibrium*

where erosion, deposition & transportation are in perfect balance.
• Rejuvenation occurs when there is either a
fall in sea level relative to the level of the
land or a rise of the land relative to the sea.
This enables a river to renew its capacity to
erode as its potential energy is increased.
• Usually it is vertical erosion which is
renewed in a zone/part where initially the
rivers erosive power had extinct.
 Base level

• This is the lowest point to which a river can flow

& erode (usually sea level)*
• Local base level occurs when a river meets a
larger river, reservoir or lake
• Base level is the height or altitude to
which a river flows before it either joins
another river or reaches the sea. If base
level falls, a nick or step called a knick
point is formed in the river’s long profile.
Therefore, the down stream gradient of
the river increases.
Causes of river rejuvenation

1. dynamic change
2. eustatic change
3. static change
 1. Dynamic change
• Involves an upward movement of the land
raising the height of the river above sea
level (base level).
• This alters the long profile of the river,
increases the gravitational potential of the
river and therefore increases the energy
available (to erode and transport material)
 Dynamic change
Why does the land rise?
• Orogenesis (Mountain building)
Compression from plate movement at convergent
boundaries builds mountains (eg. Alps, Andes,
Himalayas). Resultant uplift (usually along fault lines)
raises river (relative to base sea level), steepens river
gradient, and increases energy.*
 Dynamic change
Why does the land rise?
• Isostatic rebound
18000 years BP (the last glacial maximum*) ice sheets covered
much of the northern & southern land masses.
The weight of this ice was enough to depress the crust beneath.**
The mantle aesthenosphere flowed away under this pressure.
The melting of the ice sheets (10000years BP) removed this
weight. The mantle flowed back & caused uplift. *** This
rejuvenated rivers as they rose up with the land. Its still happening!
 2. Eustatic change
Eustatic changes affect the volume of water in the oceans.

• This fits to rejuvenation as an actual fall or rise in global sea level or

base level, linked directly to the temperature of the Earth.

• In warmer periods there is less ice and the water is warmer, so

expands and sea levels rise. 

• In colder periods the ocean water is colder so

contracts and sea levels fall.
• *
• This involves the amount of water in the oceans. This causes an
actual fall in sea level.
 Eustatic
• Change of ocean level may be due to
glacio-eustatism, with a consequent
decrease or increase in the amount of
ocean water, to ocean floor spreading or
to changes in the capacity of ocean basins
due to infilling by sediment.
 3. Static change
• Not linked to base level change.
• These are the result of the river’s ability to
erode more due to :
– Changes in load transported by the river
– Increase in discharge due to increased rainfall
– Increased discharge through river capture
Static change – changes in load
• In glacial times melt water streams carried large
volumes of material and deposited them in wide
open valleys.
• Huge discharge and large volume of
unconsolidated debris meant deposits grew high.
• Post glaciations, deposits fell & rivers’ energy
could be re-deployed for eroding.*
• The lack of load enabled valleys to be slowly
eroded – cutting through the deposits
 Static change – increase in
discharge
• Climate change may bring increased
discharge
• Increased precipitation or rivers merging
could link to a progressive lowering of the
long profile
• Additional flow brings additional energy
which resulting in greater erosion and
deposition
How does rejuvenation affect
rivers?

The restart of erosion and reduction in

deposition, provoked by a fall in base
level, leads to the formation of landforms
that would not ‘normally’ be found in rivers.
 Eustatic effects (landforms)

• Sea level rise (from warmer periods)

Fjords & Rias (drowned valleys)
 Eustatic effects (landforms)
• Sea level fall = raised beaches, abandoned cliffs,
erosion surfaces created at the coast, and adjustments made
to river valleys:

• Knick points & waterfalls

• River terraces
• Incised & entrenched meanders

These occur as the river attempts to regrade its

long profile to a normal concave shape.
 Knick Points
• A sudden break or irregularity in the long profile
of a river. Can be sharply defined, (such as
waterfalls) or barely noticeable.
• Erosion at the mouth of the river cuts down into
the land and slowly cuts the profile down to sea
level (base level) from the mouth and
subsequently upstream.
• Knick point is the point at which this process has
reached upstream.*
 Horseshoe Falls, Niagara

The falls are a knick point formed by slower erosion

above the waterfall than below*
Knick point
Rapid vertical erosion after an increa
potential energy after uplift of land…
 River terrace
They are the remains of former flood plains that lie
far above the extent of present day flooding as a
result of vertical erosion caused by rejuvenation.

The terraces themselves are often made from

fluvial material previously dumped by the river to
create the earlier floodplain.

These terrace deposits are broadly horizontal

layers of gravel, sand and finer sediments. As
base level has changed, the river has gained
more potential energy and its erosive power
increased vertically
River terrace
 Incised Meanders
• If a rejuvenated river occupies a valley with
well developed meanders, renewed down
cutting results in them becoming incised
(deepened).
• There are two types of incised meanders
i.e.. entrenched meanders and ingrown
meanders
• If incision is rapid, the valley will be
symmetrical with steep sides and a gorge
like appearance – this is known as an
entrenched meander.
 Entrenched meanders

Entrenched meanders have a symmetrical valley

cross profile.
The both sides of the valley have steep slopes
and the river is found in the middle of a winding
gorge or valley.
Uplift of the land is more rapid than the vertical
erosion of the river. As a result the cross
section is symmetrical because there has been
no meander migration
 Entrenched
• The valley sides are kept steep by a
combination of vertical erosion, the hard
rock and lack of weathering and mass
movement in the dry region.
 Entrenched Meanders
San Juan River, southeastern Utah
The Goosenecks of the
San Juan River in
southeastern Utah are
textbook examples of
entrenched river
meanders, where a lazy
meandering river was
"trapped" as the
surrounding plateau (the
Monument Upwarp) rose
up over millions of years
while the canyon kept
cutting down.
 Ingrown Meanders
Ingrown meanders have a asymmetrical
valley cross profile. On one side of the
valley has a gentle slope with an expanse
of flat land on the valley floor. The
opposite side of the valley has steep
sloping sides.
 Ingrown
When incision is slower and more lateral
erosion is occurring, an ingrown meander
may be produced.
The valley becomes asymmetrical, with
steep cliffs on the outer bends and more
gentle slip-off slopes on the inner bends.
Ingrown Meander on the River
Wye, Tintern Abbey
(Note the asymmetrical valley profile)

River Cliff

Slip-off slope
Ok, that’s it – now you really do
know all about river rejuvination

!
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