FLUVIAL LAND FORMS

INTRODUCTION
• Around 71% of area is cover by water in the form of lakes, seas, rivers and
oceans.
• Water is considered to be a most powerful agent for geological change.
FLUVIAL LAND FORM
• The processes enacted by streams are called as fluvial processes. The word
"fluvial" is derived from the latin word fluvius, which means river.
• The world fluvial is used to denote the running water as streams or rivers.
• Fluvial processes entail the erosion, transportation, and deposition of earth
materials by running water.
• Fluvial processes and fluvial landforms dominate land surfaces the world
over, as opposed to the limited effects of glacial, coastal, and wind processes.
STREAM
• Small surface bodies of water flowing in channels of their own is called streamlets
and streams.
• Many streams flowing through a big area and ultimately joining to form a single
major channel of flow take the shape of the river.
SOURCES OF STREAM WATER
• Run-off: Water flow above the surface of earth, it is big source for streams and rivers
• Subsurface water: Absorbed water by soil and rock, which has been infiltrated into
the ground
• Aquifer: water above impermeable soil or rock strata
• Glacial melt water: frozen water in the form of glaciers, which covers more than
10% of water on earth
RIVER PROFILE
• Tendency of rivers is to flow towards sea (from origin to final destination).
• Rivers have the longitudinal (lengthwise) profile
• The mountainous region where rivers originates is called as Head region
• The location where the rivers enters into the sea is called as Mouth.
 CONT…

• Flow speed is much higher at head region, it results in cutting down the hardest
rock and forms deep and narrow valleys (ex. Gorges and canyons).
• At middle region stream becomes mature as it carries load to carry down.
• Rivers changes it course where the obstruction is very hard to remove. Erosion
takes place only at selective (weak) locations.
• The process in which the river changes it course (direction) is knows as
Meanders
• Meanders are the typical feature if mature river.
 FACTORS AFFECTING GEOLOGICAL WORK OF RIVER

• Channel : well defined path of river

• Velocity: water travel distance per unit time within its channel, it varies from
10 cm/sec to 1000 Cm/sec
• Gradient: vertical fall of stream level with respect the travel distance of water
flow
• Discharge: volume of water passes from particular location per unit time
• Competence: capacity of river to carry or transport the material in flow
direction
• Flow type: laminar and turbulent flow have variation in the degree of
disturbance
METHOD OF RIVER EROSION

• The running water performs its erosive work in five ways:

• Hydraulic action, cavitation, abrasion, attrition and corrosion.

Hydraulic action (pressure):

Running water has enormous force in it, when it strikes the stream bed
on its banks it may loosen the rocks, lift it and easily transport it. It acts as a
wedge when strikes the crack or fractures in the rock bed by widening and
loosening it. Thus, Hydraulic pressure is also reckoned as an important means of
erosion.
• Cavitation
It is a distinct and rare type of hydraulic action performed by running
water. At the location of waterfall there is a spontaneous change from a liquid to
vapour state and back to liquid state at that point. Such a change results in
virtual sucking out of the material at the impinging point thereby creating holes
and depressions that continue deepening with the passage of time.
• Abrasion
Running water when armed with sand, silt and other sediments acts as
very effective means of erosion of the river bed. In the upper reaches the river
with a steep gradient carries a lot of such materials which act as a tool and are
effective in carving huge valleys, gorges and canyons. In contrast if the river is
free of these sediments the erosion by abrasion is minimal and the river would take
much longer time to erode its bed.
• Attrition:
When the stream loads (pebbles, sand, silt etc) move together, they cause
their own wear and tear by colliding with one another. This rounding and
shaping of these pebbles and boulders amongst themselves is called attrition.
• Corrosion
The slow but steady chemical (especially solvent) action of the stream
water on the rocks is expressed by the term corrosion. The extent of corrosion
depends much on the composition of rocks and also on the composition of flowing
water. Thus, all rocks are not equally susceptible to corrosive action of stream
water. Limestones, gypsum and rock salt bodies are soluble in water to varying
degrees. The stream may hardly corrode sandstones, quartzites, granites and
gneisses.
EROSIONAL LANDFORMS DEPOSITIONAL LANDFORMS

• POTHOLES • ALLUVIAL FANS AND CONES

• RIVER VALLEYS • NATURAL LEVEES
• CANYON AND GORGE
• FLOOD PLAIN
• WATERFALL
• CHANNEL AND SAND BARS
• STREAM TERRACES
• DELTA D
• STRUCTURAL BENCHES
• RIVER MEANDERS
• OXBOW LAKES
POTHOLES
• Potholes are variously shaped depressions of
different dimensions that are developed in the riverbed
by excessive localized erosion by the streams.
• The potholes are generally cylindrical or bowl shaped
in outline and range from a few centimeters to many
meters in diameter as well as in depth.
• These are commonly formed in the softer rocks
occurring at critical location in the bedrock of a
stream.
• Pothole may be formed a simple plucking out of a
rock projection at the riverbed by hydraulic action.
This produces a small depression.
• A localized abrasive action on an enhanced scale
within those depressions leading to their further
deepening and widening.
RIVER VALLEYS
 RIVER VALLEYS

• It is typically a low-lying area of land, surrounded by

higher areas such as mountains or hills.
• It can also be seen as a path between two mountains, or a
depression in a single mountain.
V shaped valley
• Deep cutting and erosion by rapid flow of the stream
carves out a valley that resembles the English letter V.
The V shaped valley has a deep and narrow bottom (or
valley) floor with steep valley sides.
• Mass movement and weathering of rocks are effective in
shaping the valley.
 CANYON AND GORGE

• Gorges are very deep and narrow

valleys with very steep and high
walls on either side. Their length
varies considerably, from a few
meters to several kilometers at a
stretch.
• Canyons is a specific type of
gorge where the layers cut down
by a river are essentially
stratified and horizontal in
attitude.
WATERFALLS

• It is found in the youth stage of a river where there

are areas of hard and soft rocks.
• These are defined as magnificent jumps made by
stream or river water at certain specific parts of
their course where there is a sudden and considerable
drop in the gradient of the channel.
• In a waterfall, the stream literally falls (instead of
flowing) from a considerable height before
acquiring normal flow again at a lower level. The
velocity of water at the point of fall increases
tremendously.
• Gently upstream sloping strata of alternate hard
and soft characters are favourable for formation
of waterfalls, rapids and cascades.
 STREAM TERRACES

• These are bench like ledges or flat

surfaces that occur on the sides of
many river valleys.
• From a distance, they may appear as
succession of several steps of a big
natural staircase rising up from the
riverbank.
• They may be made up of hard rock
or of soft rock, but the essential thing
is that they look like steps.
 STRUCTURAL BENCHES

• Step like sequence of geomorphic

surfaces.
• Differential erosion of alternately
arranged hard and soft Rocks
forming step-like valleys known as
structural benches.
 RIVER MEANDERS

• When a stream flows along a curved, zigzag

path acquiring a loop-shaped course, it is said to
Meander.
• The term is actually derived from the meander
river in Greece that shows this Phenomenon in a
very prominent manner.
• The process of development of zigzag type of
Channel for itself is called river meandering.
• Meanders are developed mostly in the middle and
lower reaches of major streams.
 OXBOW LAKES
• In the advanced stages of a meandering stream only relatively
narrow strips of land separate the individual loops from each
other.
• During high-water times, as during small floods, when the
stream acquires good volumes of water, it has a tendency to
flow straight, some of the intervening strips of land between
the loops get eroded.
• The stream starts flowing straight in those limited stretches,
thereby leaving the loop or loops on the sides either
completely detached or only slightly connected.
• These isolated, curved or loop shaped areas of the erstwhile
river, which often contain some water still supplied from the
same river, are called oxbow lakes.
ALLUVIAL FANS AND CONES

• Alluvial fans and cones. These are cone

shaped accumulations of stream deposits
that are commonly found at places where
small intermittent streamlets coming
down from hill slopes enter the low lands.
• The term alluvial fan is used when the
slope of the deposit is below 10º and
alluvial cone when the slope is in the
range of 10°-50°.
NATURAL LEVEES

• These are essentially riverbank deposits

made by a river along its banks during floods.
These may be defined as broad elongated
ridge shape deposits running all along the
banks of a river in such a way that they
contribute to the height of the bank.
• Natural levees generally slope away from the
riverbank.
• The levees are produced due to deposition of
a part of flood sediments along the banks.
 FLOOD PLAIN

• An area of low, flat land along a stream or river, formed mainly of river
sediments and is subject to flooding.
 CHANNEL AND SAND BARS

• An elongate accumulation of sand,

lying parallel to the shore.
• An elevated region of sediment that
has been deposited by the flow.
• Sandbars are formed by the
interaction of river inputs, tidal
forces and wave action.
• They are formed during high water
levels during storms or high tides.
 DELTA

• Deltas are defined as alluvial deposits of

roughly triangular shape that are
deposited By major rivers at their
mouths, i.e. Where they enter a sea.
• The term delta was first used by
Herodotus, some 2500 years ago, for the
delta shaped deposit of the river nile (in
egypt) at Its entry into the mediterranean
sea.
• The bottom set beds which form the base of the delta and are characterized by a
gentle Seaward inclination. These are generally made up of fine-sized
particles. As indicated by their Inclination, these beds are made at the very
initial stages of delta development.
• The fore-set beds. These are the intermediate layers and often show very steep
inclination. The Fore-set beds are made up of thick layers of sand and clay,
• the top-set beds are relatively thin layers also showing gentle slopes over the
fore set beds. These are laid down on the fore set beds again and again during
subsequent flooding
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