A Study of the River Tees.

in the north of England. It is about 120km long. It starts in the Moorlands/Pennine hills, where the ground is 700 m above sea level. Look at page 3.  This is the source. The mouth of the river is the North Sea. There is no better way to describe the source of the river Tees other than showing it through a river basin. The river basin is the land over which the river travels and where the rain gathers and flows into tributaries. This is surrounded by a boundary called a watershed. Look at page 7.  The landscape changes on the way down. Near the source there are no humans and farming is impossible. Look at page 8.  This is because; here the snow stays on the ground for about 3-5 months a year. It also rains a lot which brings a lot of cool weather. The ground here never dries up. It is just like a very soggy carpet. This place is ideal for a river source. This is because; as it is wet, water trickles down hills gathers up and the river soon starts to take shape. The first man made feature along the river is further down the Tees valley. This is a reservoir. The next man made feature along the Tees valley is the boundary line, which marks the end of the moorland and the beginning of farming. It is still very damp and cold for crops to grow. It is also too high for crops to grow. Only kind of farming you can find is sheep farming. The first farm along the Tees valley is about 370 m above sea level. Now the air is getting warmer. The best bit of scenery is the waterfall. It is a break in the smooth course. To describe it even better, it is like a step. This is how a gorge is formed. The overhang collapses. The splash back erodes the softer rocks behind the waterfall. This causes a deep plunge pool to form at the base of the waterfall. The collapse causes the waterfall to retreat upstream. The waterfall then flows over the more resistant cap rock. This is how a gorge of recession is formed. Look at page 5. This is the tallest waterfall in Britain. The rocks below the waterfall are; whinsill and limestone. Limestone is right at the bottom and whinsill is nearer the top. Look at page 4.  Humans quarry the whinsill, pound them into chippings and us them for roads. Humans use whinsill because it is very hard. As you travel further down, the temperature starts to get warmer and warmer. The landscape is now suitable for pastoral farming and arable farming. Now riverside towns begin to form. A main road bridges the river. There is no impression of a valley now. Sweeping curves called meanders are beginning to form. Inside on of the meanders there is a town called Yarn. This is the river’s most important port. There is a lot of shipbuilding here. Yarn eventually stopped being the most important port, when Stockton took its place. Stockton was considered more important than Yarn because in 1771 there was a massive bridge built across it. It was also the largest industrial region. Stockton was also closer to the sea. The main export in Middlesbrough is Iron ore and the main export in Stockton is coal. Look at page 9.  Although the meanders were a great view from above, there was one problem. Whilst traveling in little boats, you can go through the meanders but not with big barges. This became a major problem. Eventually in the 19th century, they diverted the river into a straight line. It was like artificial channels. Look at page 9.     CONCLUSION  The River Tees is a river situated in the North of England, which has the Pennines as its source and the North Sea as its mouth. It has the longest waterfall in Britain.  The landscape during the course of the river changes. The types of farming along the river are sheep farming, arable farming and pastoral farming. It has a lot of curving meanders. The river throughout the time has been diverted to make traveling down it much easier. The main exports along the river are salt, coal and oil.