Drainage Basins
DRAINAGE BASINS . System 2. Definitions 3. The process at work THE GLOBAL WATER BALANCE SYSTEM DRAINAGE BASIN * Varies time to time, never stays the same. * All inputs must exit as stream flow, evapo-transpiration, or through sub surface flow. (Usually shown as a hydro graph) * Storage, in the ground, in the soil. (sub surface) * Surface storage- lakes, sea, puddles etc. HYDROGRAPH Cumecs, amount of cubic metres of water flow past water in a second. Always difference between peak rainfall and peak discharge, which is known as lag time. Base flow- river level maintained by ground water and through flow. Surface runoff, is really rare. Bank full condition- maximum amount of water that a river can hold. Discharge is the velocity of the river times its volume. It is the amount of water in the river passing a given point at a given time, measured in Cumecs. Velocity is the speed of the river. Measured in metres per second Volume is the amount of water in the river. It is the cross sectional area of the rivers channel measure in square metres. FACTORS AFFECTING THE RESPONSIVENESS OF A RIVER . RELIEF- the steeper the slopes the lower the rate of infiltration and the faster the rate of runoff when the soil is saturated. 2. ROCK TYPE- run off will occur quickly where the impermeable rocks are exposed at the surface or quickly when they underlay soils. Soils with
Investigation of the distribution and abundance off reshwater invertebrates in the Tillingbourne River at Abinger Hammeron Thursday, 17th of October 2002
Investigation of the distribution and abundance of freshwater invertebrates in the Tillingbourne River at Abinger Hammer on Thursday, 17th of October 2002 Introduction My research is about the distribution and abundance of freshwater invertebrates in the Tillingbourne River at Abinger Hammer at Surrey, England. Invertebrates are living organisms without backbones therefore there must be a number of factors, which affect the way they live and reproduce. The distribution of an invertebrate is partially affected by its environment. I chose to observe which species of invertebrates lived in the middle and at the edge of the riverbed- the river being their habitat. I feel that the three most important abiotic factors that contribute to the distribution and abundance of such invertebrates are the flow rate i.e. the velocity of the water, the temperature and the oxygen levels. As well as measuring these three things I did a kick sampling to see which different species I would be able to find in the invertebrates' habitat- the river. There were also various safety measures we took such as wearing gloves and waterproof clothing to protect us from any harmful diseases. We were instructed to handle all equipment gently and accurately to ensure that the results are as accurate as possible. The weather that day was quite sunny that day, which was useful for us because the sunlight
The Cairngorms, a mountain wilderness
Question 4 - The Cairngorms, a mountain wilderness The Cairngorms Mountains are a gigantic open space range of mountains. There are so many uses and attractions for visiting tourists. There is a purpose built town called Aviemore. It was built in 1966 and today has over 2000 inhabitants. Aviemore is on about the lowest land in the Cairngorms, alongside runs a river that has many tributaries and runs a course with many meanders and changes. There is lots of water in the Cairngorms, possibly left over from the glaciers that once occupied the mountains, thousands and thousands of years ago. There are 5 very noticeable lochs to be seen in this area of the Cairngorms, along with many other smaller lakes and lochs. The biggest loch is Loch Morlich, which is about 1 sq. kilometre. The loch goes down 10m deep, this is not the deepest, that title goes to Loch Emich which goes down a massive 40m. Loch Morlich is situated in a large woodland called Queen's forest; this is only half of the massive woodland near Aviemore the other half is called Rothiemurchus. The Cairngorms is famous for its mountains as it has many peaks over 1000m. The mountains have some of the steepest slopes in Britain. In some places the ground level raises over 500m in under a kilometre of land. There are many cliffs because of this; these make brilliant viewpoints. People and tourists try to make the best
In this assignment I'm going to explain how flooding on the river Lea is a natural phenomenon, which needs to be managed effectively.
FLOODING ON THE RIVER LEA IS A NATURAL PHENOMENON WHICH NEEDS TO BE MANAGED The catchments area of the river Lea covers 1,420 square kilometers of land. It has a length of 85 kilometers (23 miles) which is from the source to the mouth. The source is in the north west of Luton in the Chiltern Hills and the mouth is a meander which leads to the Thames (the Bow Creek). The lower course of the river Lea is tidal because it has waves coming in from the Thames. 10% of the lakes connecting to the river Lea are tidal. The River Lee or River Lea (both spellings are in general use) is a river in England. It originates at Luton in the chalk beds of the northeast Chiltern Hills and flows generally east and then south to London where it joins the River Thames. Once an important commercial waterway, certain sections were canalized as part of the River Lea Navigation. Another artificial channel, the New River was constructed to take clean water to London from the Lee and its catchments areas and bypass the polluting industries that had developed in its downstream reaches. The New River is a man made waterway in England, opened in 1613 to supply London with fresh drinking water. It starts in between Ware and Hertford in Hertfordshire and travels 20 miles down to Stoke Newington. Among the districts it flows through are (from north to south). The River Lea Navigation is a canalized river
Study the downstream changes of Loughton Brook.
Produced by: Farris I. Ashraf Table of Contents Header Page number Introduction 3 Methodology 7 Results 24 Analysis 41 Evaluation 44 Bibliography 47 For my Geography coursework I have chosen to study the downstream changes of Loughton Brook. Loughton Brook is situated in Epping Forest. The reason why I have chosen Epping Forest as my site of study is because I have visited it in a school field trip. In addition to that the features of Loughton Brook are all present within a relatively smaller area compared to a large river like the Thames which would have been impractical to study. Also it would have been dangerous to explore rivers of such an immense size especially during that specific time as water levels were high due to the showery season. Epping Forest is situated in the borough of Enfield. It lies near Waltham Abbey and Buckhurst Hill. The forest is a large Crescent of land stretching from Wansted in the south to Epping in the North. Epping Forest can be found on the same Ordnance Survey map as the settlements of Harlow, Bishop's Stortford, Chelmsford and Braintree in Hertfordshire and Essex. The forest is part of the green belt land that forms a ring around the conurbation of Greater London. Epping Forest lies between the River Lea and River Roding and Loughton Brook flows south into the latter. The River Roding flows south alongside the M11 motorway
River Management Case Study on The Mississippi.
Assignment 5 - River Management Case Study For a named river basin a. outline the ways in which this river has been managed by man b. explain the effects this has had upon the rivers features and processes. The River Mississippi: The Mississippi along with the Colorado is one of the most managed rivers in the world. It is one of the longest rivers in the world as it stretches 3800km across North America from Canada to the Atlantic Ocean. Along this very long stretch much management has taken place. Even though the management of the river isn't as great as the Colorado its importance economically is much greater. The watershed of the Mississippi occupies 41% of the USA so its importance is huge. Flooding of the Mississippi would mean huge economic and environmental damage so there is great necessity to manage it to a great degree. The river is used for navigation to export 60% of all grain in the USA. Many large cities rely on the Mississippi for their water supply. But the use of the river for water has bad effects. There is great risk of flooding in these cities, a bit of a double edge sword. The worst of this flooding was in 1993. The Mississippi has been adapted and managed much throughout history and has accounted for the growth of major cities along its path. The Mississippi is very unique as the management is present all along its 3800km path, which for a river
Rivers Survey.
Rivers Survey Introduction On Monday 28th of September we ventured to Dunston Beck. We went to Dunston Beck in order to conduct a river study. The undertaking of a river study was for Geography Coursework that would contribute to our final GCSE mark. Dunston Beck was not chosen on the spur of the moment but for a variety of reasons. The main reason in fact was that Dunston is a relatively local village to Sleaford. Dunston is just over half way between Sleaford and Lincoln. Due to Dunston being local this gave us plenty of time to conduct our river study. Also the source of Dunston Beck is positioned right on the Lincoln Edge. A Simple Map of Lincoln Edge and The Geology of Lincolnshire. Dunston Beck was also chosen because of its array of river features. Observable Features. These include: River cliffs Meanders Slip Off Slopes Slumping Juncas Grass Vegetation Springs Ox Bow Lakes Tributary Old River Channel Braiding It was easy to see why Dunston Beck was chosen as it embraced all those features listed above situated in the same place. It gave us a chance to test a vast array of hypothesis in the same day. To better Dunston Beck would be extremely hard. The location of Dunston Beck can be seen clearly on the following maps. Aims Of Study. The aim of our study was to create and test numerous hypotheses. When we had reached Dunston
Investigate how the river Breamish's characteristics change from source to mouth.
Aim In our enquiry we are going to investigate how the Breamish's Characteristics change from source to mouth. We are going to see which aspects of the river will change. The aspects that we will be measuring are going to be whether or not the velocity, bedload, bedload shape or width will change as the river travels from the source to the mouth. Identifying questions and issues I have decided to examine and measure the changes in the rivers velocity, width, rock classes. I will be measuring these as different points downstream. We will be split into different groups, some will be measuring at the source, some at the mouth and some half way in-between. I am expecting that the rivers velocity will increase from the source to the mouth. The river will become faster flowing because of erosion, which will cause the bedload to become smoother, this means there is less friction acting on the water. This will make it flow faster and more freely. I predict that the river will become wider from the source to mouth. My reasoning behind this is that lateral erosion will cause the banks to wear down, meaning that the river will become wider as the river moves downstream. The final thing that I have decided to examine from the source to the mouth is the rock classes. I will examine the rocks at the all the different sites, I will be using a chart to mark down which class they are.
Water flows faster and is deeper on the outside edge of a meander curve
Geography Coursework Introduction - Aims and Objectives Purpose of study and general theory The purpose of this study is to decide whether the hypothesis 'water flows faster and is deeper on the outside edge of a meander curve' is true or not. To do this I have collected a lot of data about the river Wye. I will use this data such as bed load samples, width of the river depth of the river to create cross sections, velocity (measured in 2 different ways), and gradient. I will also use field sketches and maps of the areas. The field sketch on the following page shows Group 3, Site B. This is an example of a hand drawn map of the area that we studied. In it there is all the relevant detail that we could see these are things like where we saw the biggest sediment, if there was any overhanging branches or vegetation at the edge of the river. We also identified if it was possible (in some cases we couldn't see) where the fastest flow looked to be. Other things we drew were pipes and that were intercepting slightly with the river's flow. I think that many people would be interested in and benefit from this study. People such as younger students who want to know about rivers and how they work, or even just to find out how to study the river. It would also be of interest to anyone who has a particular interest in geology or it could even be to the interest of the Buckinghamshire
For One Named Drainage Basin, discuss the Strategies and the Benefits of River Restoration or Ecological Management.
For One Named Drainage Basin, discuss the Strategies and the Benefits of River Restoration or Ecological Management. The restoration of the Kissimmee river in Central Florida began in 1999.After a severe flood in the 1940's a strategy was implemented in 1962 to use channelisation to straighten a 90km long drainage canal. Within the canal, there were storage lakes and various water control features. The aim of channelisation was to straighten the river, which reduced the length from 160 to 90 kilometres the effect of this is an increase in discharge and reduced flooding on the floodplain as water stayed in the drainage basin for eleven days and channelisation reduced it to one day. It was designed to control the river and prevent flooding. The channelisation had many effects on the ecosystem, which meant that its biodiversity decreased, for example, loss of wetland habitats causing 92% fewer birds in winter. Two thirds of the floodplain wetlands were drained and the nutrients were no longer absorbed. This had severe effects on the hydrosere such as the vegetation cover however; they quickly noticed that the wildlife habitats were being severely affected. As a result, the river had become stagnant thus causing a loss of animal species. It was finished in 1971 but four years later in 1975, the Kissimmee Restoration Act was passed to help the area to be sustainable both
