Chapter 16
The Fluvial Processes
The Fluvial Processes
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Fundamental Concepts
Stream Systems
Stream Channels
Valleys
Stream Rejuvenation
Theories of Landform Development
Fundamental Concepts
Water running over the land contributes more
than any other process to shaping the land.
Valleys & Interfluves
Drainage Basins
Valleys and Interfluves
VALLEY:
a long depression in the
surface of the land that
usually contains a river
INTERFLUVE:
The region of higher land
between two rivers that
are in the same drainage
system.
Drainage Basins
Hydrologic unit consisting of a part of the surface of the earth covered by a
drainage system made up of a surface stream or body of impounded surface
water plus all tributaries. The runoff in a drainage basin is distinct from that
of adjacent areas. A river basin is similarly defined.
Stream Systems
 Stream
Order
 Erosion and Deposition
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Overland Flow and Streamflow Erosion
Transportation and Stream Load
Deposition
 The
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Role of Floods
Discharge
Perennial, Intermittent, and Ephemeral
Streams
Stream Order
Streamflow Erosion
Stream Load
Intermittent Streams
Stream Channels
 Channel
Flow
 Channel Patterns
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Straight
Sinuous
Meandering
Braided
 Drainage
Patterns
Channel Flow
Faster at middle
& surface
Confined to channel, to
defined stream beds.
Has 3D characteristics
Height, gradient, gravity,
friction forces
Fastest at surface
Channel Pattern:
Straight and Meandering
Channel Pattern: Braided
Drainage Patterns
Trellis Pattern
Responds to topography
Alternating bands of hard
& soft strata
Dendritic Pattern
•Most common
•Tree like, branch like
Tributaries at angle < 90°
Flat = Dendritic
Folding = Trellis
Radial-Centripetal-Annular
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Radial: streams descend
from cone i.e. volcano
 Centripetal: streams
converging in a basin
 Annular: either dome or
basin - exposed bands of
tilted hard and soft rock
Valleys
 Valley
Deepening
 Valley Widening
 Valley Lengthening
 Valley Deposition
 Floodplains
Base Level
Knickpoints
Lateral Erosion
Headward Erosion
Stream
Capture
Largest Deltas & Deltaless Rivers
Figure 16-28
Floodplain Development
Floodplain Landforms
Figure 16-32
Stream Rejuvenation: Stream Terrace
Entrenched Meanders
Theories of Landform
Development
 The
Geomorphic Cycle
 Crustal Change and Slope Development
 Equilibrium Theory
Equilibrium Theory
Stream Processes and Floodplains
Oxbow Lakes