ERS120H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Oxbow Lake, Bed Load, Suspended Load
Document Summary
Watershed: the area drained by a stream and its smaller streams (tributaries) Stream discharge: volume of water that passes a given point in one second: discharge (m3) = width (m) x depth (m) x velocity (m/s) Greatest discharge of a river is at #5 because all the basins of the water shed filters down at the mouth of the river and into the ocean. Gradient: change in elevation of the stream over a horizontal distance. Bed load rolling, sliding, saltation, of larger grain material colliding with smaller rocks and constantly in contact with the river bed. Suspended load made of fine particles (silt and clay) entrained in the flow. Dissolved load consists of ions from mineral weathering. Decreased discharge: less transport and more deposition. Rivers meanders because velocity of material flowing is different, thus deposition. Increased discharge: more transport and erosion builds us at a point bar, and erodes and a cut bank causing a river bend.
