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Mans Interference in River Processes 1

Dams built on the Colorado River in the USA have significantly impacted the river's natural processes. The 15 dams along the river, including the massive Hoover Dam, have disrupted the river's ability to transport sediment and alter erosion and deposition patterns. By blocking sediment flow, dams trap sediment behind reservoirs and cause deposition upstream while depriving downstream areas of fertile alluvium. This has negatively impacted ecosystems, agriculture, and habitat along the lower river. The altered flow also leads to increased erosion downstream in some areas. Thus, while dams provide benefits like flood control and hydroelectric power, they have substantially interfered with the Colorado River's natural fluvial dynamics.

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32 views2 pages

Mans Interference in River Processes 1

Dams built on the Colorado River in the USA have significantly impacted the river's natural processes. The 15 dams along the river, including the massive Hoover Dam, have disrupted the river's ability to transport sediment and alter erosion and deposition patterns. By blocking sediment flow, dams trap sediment behind reservoirs and cause deposition upstream while depriving downstream areas of fertile alluvium. This has negatively impacted ecosystems, agriculture, and habitat along the lower river. The altered flow also leads to increased erosion downstream in some areas. Thus, while dams provide benefits like flood control and hydroelectric power, they have substantially interfered with the Colorado River's natural fluvial dynamics.

Uploaded by

isaamhussain
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Mans interference in river processes – dams

how human activities have impacted on river processes

River processes are also called fluvial processes

River processes are 1. erosion, 2. transportation, and 3. deposition.

Human activities are anything that humans do that interferes with the natural course of
the river

Examples are man -made levees and DAMs.

A dam is a wall built across a rivers channel

Man sometimes interfere with rivers because we use them to generate electricity.
Electricity generated this way is called Hydro Electrical Power or H.E.P

Most Dams are built to control flooding or to generate H.E.P

The effects on processes are

1. It effects the process of deposition as the rivers load is dropped behind the dam
and not downstream.
2. It effects the process of transportation s the river no longer transports its fertile
alluvium downstream to flood plains
3. It effects the process of erosion because the river now has more speed and power
to erode downstream where it should deposit

River processes are erosion transportation and deposition


These processes continually reshape the landscape over which the river flows.
Human processes are anything that interferes with the natural course of the river,
Examples are man- made levees and DAMs.

One of the ways man tries to control river processes is to build dams. A dam is a wall built
across a rivers channel that stops the river flowing.
Dams are used to control a river and manage its flow. Example include the Colorado river in
America which has 15 dams along its course, the biggest of these is the Hoover dam
The three gorges dam on the Yangtze river in china is the biggest and most powerful dam in
the world.
How human interference effects river processes

Dams or walls across the river controlling its flow on the Colorado river in usa effect river
processes of erosion transportation and deposition
Example the hoover dam

The Colorado river flows through 7 states in the USA. This is the most heavily developed
river system in the world. There are 15 dams on the Colorado river from where it rises in
the Rockies and flows into the sea in the gulf of California in Mexico.

Uses 7 of these dams are used 1. to generate HEP-hydro electrical power. Which is used to
supply energy to the cities of los angles
2. The hoover dam was built to irrigate millions of acres of farmland and
3. to control seasonal flooding. It also provide HEP to the cities nearby .it is also used as a
4. reservoir for drinking water, in order to supply its major cities- these has made settlement
in once arid (very dry) southwest of America possible
Building dams effects the river transport-erosion and depositional processes.

Transportation - Building dams across a river to control flooding interferes with the
ability of the river to carry its load of source to sea. As dams block the river water builds up
behind it, called a reservoir, the river does not transport its load instead it deposits it behind
the dam. Therefore it effects the process of deposition as now it deposits in its upper
course.
This sediment increases the volume of water behind the dam and the water begins to
evaporate- increased evaporation causes the salt content to rise and destroys(kills fish) the
ecosystem in the river.
Also fertile alluvium is no longer transported in the lower stages of the river and there is no
deposition or flooding . this is a Negative effects and the prevents the formation of fertile,
alluvium rich soils to farms downstream of the dam. Though floods have stopped, farmers
are now forced to purchase expensive fertilisers to keep their farms productive.
The volume of water has decreased greatly and all the water is used up before it gets to its
delta in the gulf of California. The once fertile delta is now a marsh land.

The erosion process has also been affected, so when the water is released through the
other side of the dam, the flow is irregular and can cause an excess of hydraulic action and
vertical erosion. This causes more fertile sediment to be eroded away from flood plains
downstream. Because of this lack of sediment and excess of hydraulic action, the river
becomes lower than the floodplains and this is called entrenched channels .(grand canyon)
human have impacted greatly on this river

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