FLUVIAL CYCLE

LANDFORMS ASSOCIATED WITH FLUVIAL CYCLE

Geomorphology

DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY
UNIVERSITY OF GUJRAT
 Fluvial Cycle

River
A river is a natural stream of water, usually fresh water flowing towards an ocean, a lake or
another stream. A river is a component of the water cycle. There is no general rule that defines
what can be called a river.

Common Terms regarding River

1. Source – The place where a river begins

2. Course – The route the river takes to the sea
3. Tributary – A small river that joins a larger river
4. Confluence – The point where the tributary joins the river
5. Mouth – The point where the river enters the sea
6. Estuary – The part of the mouth that is tidal
7. Basin – The area of land drained by a river
8. Watershed – The high ground separating one river basin from another
The River’s Journey

Rivers usually begin in the mountains. They flow downhill onto flat land and into the sea.

The Stages of a River’s Journey

As the river flows from its source to the sea it goes through 3 stages. These are,

• The Upper or Youthful Stage

• The Middle or Mature Stage
• The Lower or Old Stage
Youth
A few consequent streams exist and a few subsequent streams are trying to develop valleys by
random head ward erosion. These valleys may be “V shaped. The depth of these valleys depends
on the height above sea level. Inter- stream divisions are broad, extensive, irregular and may
have lakes. Rapids, water-falls, gorges, river capture are characteristic features. Floodplain is
generally absent, but may exist along the trunk stream. Overall, a highly uneven relief exists.
Most of its energy is used to erode (wear away) the landscape. This erosion (wearing away)
occurs in 4 ways.

1. Hydraulic Action – The force of the moving water wears away the banks and bed of the
river.
2. Abrasion – Small stones carried by the river wear away at the banks and bed of the river.
3. Attrition – The small stones in the river are worn down and broken up as they hit off
each other.
4. Solution – Rocks and soil are dissolved by acids in the water.

Maturity
This stage is marked by well- integrated drainage system with a few streams trying to adjust
through softer beds. Broad valleys result from continuous horizontal erosion. Meanders are a
characteristic feature and valley floor width is more than the meander belt width. The inter-
stream divides are sharp and the upland is reduced. Rapids and waterfalls are absent. Floodplain
development is a prominent feature. Maximum relief exists overall.

Erosion breaks off particles of rock and soil from the bed and banks of the river. They are carried
along by the river and are known as the Load. The load is carried from upland to lowland areas.
This process is called River Transportation. This is done in the following ways.

1. Rolling- The large stones are rolled along the bed of the river
2. Bouncing- The smaller pebbles are bounced along the bed of the river
3. Suspension- Light material like sand and silt are carried along (floating) in the water
4. Solution- Dissolved materials are carried along by the river

Old Age
The streams are more numerous than in youth but less as compared to maturity. With increasing
deposition valley broadening dominates. Meanders are highly developed with ox-bow lakes, and
floor width is more than the meander belt width. The inter-stream divides are highly reduced.
Lakes and marshes may be present. The successive floodplains join to form a pen plain. Delta
formation is characteristic of old age at the mouth of the river. Mass wasting is dominant and,
overall, minimum relief is evident.

Landforms of the Youth Stage

1. River Valleys
2. Waterfalls Rapids & Cascades
3. Pot Holes
4. Gorge or Canyon
5. Cuestas
6. Domes & Ridges
7. Interlocking Spurs
8. River Capture or River Piracy
9. Gulleys/ Rills

River Valleys
The extended depression on ground through which a stream flows throughout its course is called
a river valley. At different stages of the erosional cycle the valley acquires different profiles. At a
young stage, the valley is deep, narrow with steep wall-like sides and a convex slope. The
erosional action here is characterized by predominantly vertical down cutting nature. The profile
of valley here is typically ‘V’ shaped. As the cycle attains maturity, the lateral erosion becomes
prominent and the valley floor flattens out. The valley profile now becomes typically ‘U’ shaped
with a broad base and a concave slope. A deep and narrow V shaped valley is also referred to as
gorge and may result due to down cutting erosion and because of recession of a waterfall. Most
Himalayan Rivers pass through deep gorges (at times more than 500 meters deep) before they
descend to the plains. An extended form of gorge is called a canyon. The Grand Canyon of the
Colorado River in Arizona (USA) runs for 483 km and has a depth of 2.88 km. A tributary valley
lies above the main valley (Hanging Valley) and is separated from it by a steep slope down
which the stream may flow as a waterfall or a series of rapids.
Waterfalls
A waterfall is simply the fall of an enormous volume of water from a great height, because of a
variety of factors such as variation in the relative resistance of rocks, relative difference in
topographic reliefs; fall in the sea level and related rejuvenation, earth movements etc. For
example, Jog or Gersoppa falls on Sharavati (a tributary of Cauveri) has a fall of 260 meters. A
rapid, on the other hand, is a sudden change in gradient of a river and resultant fall of water.

Pot Holes
The kettle-like small depressions in the rocky beds of the river valleys are called pot holes which
are usually cylindrical in shape. Pot holes are generally formed in coarse-grained rocks such as
sandstones and granites. Potholing or pothole-drilling is the mechanism through which the
grinding tools (fragments of rocks, e.g. boulders and angular rock fragments) when caught in the
water eddies or swirling water start dancing in a circular manner and grind and drill the rock
beds of the valleys like a drilling machine. They thus form small holes which are gradually
enlarged by the repetition of the said mechanism. The potholes go on increasing in both diameter
and depth.
Gorge or Canyon

A canyon is also known as a steep-sided gorge, having vertical side down-slope and down
cutting of tens of hundreds of feet (meters) from upper sides to bottom.

Cuestas

Sometimes stream erosion removes the soft rock strata first, leaving a low ridge with one fairly
steep and other very gentle slope, such landform is known as Cuestas.
Domes & Ridges

The erosion of syncline and adjacent anticlines (downward slope) produces a series of parallel
ridges and valleys of zigzag terrain. Where sedimentary strata have been pushed upward, to form
a dome, stream erosion also produces, a characteristic landscape called domes and ridges.

Interlocking Spurs

The rivers flows it meets areas of hard rock. It cannot erode these so it flows around them. This
creates a zigzag course.

River Capture or River Piracy

A subsequent stream may encroach upon the territory of the neighboring stream, might even rob
its headwaters. So, that the less successful consequent stream is diverted into the more powerful
stream. This process is known as River Piracy or River Capture.

Gulleys /Rills
Gulley is an incised water- worn channel, which is particularly
common in semi-arid areas. It is formed when water from
overland-flows down a slope, especially following heavy
rainfall, is concentrated into rills, which merge and enlarge into
a gulley. The ravines of Chambal Valley in Central India and
the Chos of Hoshiarpur in Punjab are examples of gulleys.
Landforms of the Mature Stage

The depositional action of a stream is influenced by stream velocity and the volume of river load.
The decrease in stream velocity reduces the transporting power of the streams which are forced
to leave additional load to settle down. Increase in river load is effected through (i) accelerated
rate of erosion in the source catchment areas consequent upon deforestation and hence increase
in the sediment load in the downstream sections of the rivers; (ii) supply of Glacio-fluvial
materials; (iii) supply of additional sediment load by tributary streams; (iv) gradual increase in
the sediment load of the streams due to rill and gully erosion.

In the Mature Stage the river begins to slow down, and so it begins to deposit some of its load. It
creates the following features.

1. Alluvial Fan
2. Wide River Valley
3. Meanders
4. Ox-Bow Lake
5. Flood Plain
6. Terraces

Alluvial Fans and Cones

When a stream leaves the mountains and comes down to the plains, its velocity decreases due to
a lower gradient. As a result, it sheds a lot of material, which it had been carrying from the
mountains, at the foothills. This deposited material acquires a conical shape and appears as a
series of continuous fans. These are called alluvial fans. Such fans appear throughout the
Himalayan foothills in the north Indian plains.
Wide River Valley

In the mature stage the river moves from side to side and the valley becomes wide and flat.
Weathering and Mass Movement continue to wear away at the sides of the valley.

Meanders
A meander is defined as a pronounced curve or loop in the course of a river channel. The outer
bend of the loop in a meander is characterized by intensive erosion and vertical cliffs and is
called the cliff-slope side. This side has a concave slope. The inner side of the loop is
characterized by deposition, a gentle convex slope, arid is called the slip-off side.
Morphologically, the meanders may be wavy, horse-shoe type or ox-bow/ bracelet type.
Meanders are bends in a river that form as a river’s sinuosity increases. The sinuosity of a river is
a measurement of how much a river varies from a straight line. It’s a ratio between the channel
length and displacement (straight line distance) between two points in the river’s course:

Sinuosity = Channel Length/ Displacement

Sinuosity’s of 1 means that the channel is perfectly straight while a sinuosity greater than 1
means that the river meanders.

Flood Plain

A flood plain is the flat area of land on either side of the river. After heavy rain the river
sometimes floods. The water spreads out over the land on either side of the river. When the river
retreats it leaves behind a thin layer of alluvium. After many floods a thick layer of alluvium is
created. This is very fertile soil.

Terraces
Stepped benches along the river course in a flood plain are called terraces. Terraces represent the
level of former valley floors and remnants of former (older) flood plains.

Landforms of the Mature Stage

In the Old Stage the river is carrying lots of sand and silt. It is now flowing over flat land and so
it is moving slowly. Therefore it begins to drop off its load. This is called deposition. Like
erosion in the Youthful Stage, deposition also creates many features or landforms.

1. Ox-Bow Lakes
2. Natural Levees
3. Delta Plain
4. Delta
Ox-Bow Lake
Sometimes, because of intensive erosion action, the outer curve of a meander gets accentuated to
such an extent that the inner ends of the loop come close enough to get disconnected from the
main channel and exist as independent water bodies. These water bodies are converted into
swamps in due course of time. In the Indo-Gangetic plains, southwards shifting of Ganga has left
many ox-bow lakes to the north of the present course of the Ganga.

Natural Levees
These are narrow ridges of low height on both sides of a river, formed due to deposition action of
the stream, appearing as natural embankments. These act as a natural protection against floods
but a breach in a levee causes sudden floods in adjoining areas, as it happens in the case of the
Hwang Ho river of China.

Levees are raised banks of deposited material found along the banks of the river. When the river
floods and spreads out over the floodplain, the heaviest material is deposited close to the river.
Over time and after many periods of flooding this deposited material forms levees along the
banks of the river.
Deltaic Plains

At the end stage, where rivers flow into quite bodies of water such as lakes and oceans, their
velocity is dissipated and their load deposited.

Delta
A delta is a tract of alluvium usually fan-shaped, at the mouth of a river where it deposits more
material than can be carried away. The river gets divided into two or more channels
(distributaries) which may further divide and rejoin to form a network of channels.

Formation of Delta
1. Sediment is deposited when the load-bearing capacity of a river is reduced as a result of the
check to its speed as it enters a sea or lake.

2. At the same time fine clay particles carried in suspension in the river coagulate in the
presence of salt water and are deposited. The finest particles are carried farthest to
accumulate as bottom-set beds; coarser material is deposited in a series of steeply sloping
wedges forming the forest beds; and the coarsest material is deposited on the braided surface
of the delta as top set beds.

Depending on the conditions under which they are formed, deltas can be of many types.

1. Arcuate or Fan-shaped
This type of delta results when light depositions give rise to shallow, shifting distributaries and a
general fan-shaped profile. Examples: Nile, Ganga, Indus.
2. Bird’s Foot Delta
This type of delta emerges when limestone sediment deposits do not allow downward seepage of
water. The distributaries seem to be flowing over projections of these deposits which appear as a
bird’s foot. The currents and tides are weak in such areas and the number of distributaries lesser
as compared to an Arcuate delta. Example: Mississippi river.

3. Estuaries
Sometimes the mouth of the river appears to be submerged. This may be due to a drowned valley
because of a rise in sea level. Here fresh water and the saline water get mixed. When the river
starts ‘filling its mouth’ with sediments, mud bars, marshes and plains seem to be developing in
it. These are ideal sites for fisheries, ports and industries because estuaries provide access to deep
water, especially if protected from currents and tides. Example: Hudson.

4. Cuspate Delta
This is a pointed delta formed generally along strong coasts and is subjected to strong wave
action. There are very few or no distributaries in a cuspate delta. It has curved sides because of
an even deposition of material on either side of the mouth.
 Drainage Pattern

1. Dendritic

When a region is homogenous offering no variation in the resistance to the flow of water,
the resulting streams run in all directions without definite preference to any one particular region.

2. Trellis

The trellis drainage pattern is develops when the underlying rock is strongly folded or
sharply dipping. The longer streams will have preference to one particular orientation and the
other tributaries will have an orientation and the tributaries will have an orientation at right
angles to this.

3. Radial

The drainage pattern from dome Mountains and volcanoes is of radial type where the
streams emanate from a central focus and flow radially outward.

4. Parallel and Sub parallel

The internal geological structure of the land, sometimes the parallel and sub parallel
patterns are formed. The most of the streams run in the same direction is the main characteristic
feature.

5. Annular

The streams, which form in the weaker strata of the dome mountain, indicate
approximately circular or annular pattern. The annular pattern may be treated as a special form of
trellis pattern.

6. Rectangular

A region consisting of many rectangular joints and faults may produce a rectangular
drainage pattern with streams meeting at the right angle.

7. Pinnate

In pinnate stream pattern, all the main streams run in one direction with the tributaries
joining them at an oblique angle.