Fluvial landforms are natural shapes and features formed by the action of rivers and streams. These landforms result from the processes of erosion, transportation, and deposition of sediments by flowing water.
Key fluvial processes include:
- Erosion: Water cuts into the riverbed and banks, shaping valleys and creating features such as V-shaped valleys and gorges.
- Transportation: Sediments are moved downstream by rolling along the bottom, floating in the water, or dissolving in it.
- Deposition: When water flow slows, sediments settle, forming various depositional landforms.
Common fluvial landforms include:
- V-shaped valleys: Steep, narrow valleys carved by river erosion in the upper course.
- Meanders: Curved bends in the river formed by erosion on outer banks and deposition on inner banks.
- Oxbow lakes: U-shaped water bodies formed when meanders are cut off from the main river channel.
- Floodplains: Flat, fertile areas on either side of a river formed by deposited sediments during floods.
- Deltas: Triangular landforms created at river mouths where sediment is deposited as water enters a slower body of water.
- Levees: Raised embankments alongside rivers formed by sediment deposits from floodwaters.
- Alluvial fans: Fan-shaped deposits created where rivers flow from steep valleys onto flat plains.
These landforms are continuously reshaped by the shifting balance between erosion and deposition, influenced by water speed, sediment supply, and the landscape’s slope. They play important roles in supporting ecosystems, agriculture, and human settlements.
Weathering
Lakes:Inland Flowing Water Bodies
River Stages:Middle Course of the River – Meanders & Ox-bow Lakes
Watershed: An Area of Land that Drains Water to the Lowest Point
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