Rapids
are areas of shallow, fast-flowing water in a stream. Rapids tend to form in younger streams, with water flow that is straighter and faster than in older streams.
What is a flowing river called?
A river can be wide and deep, or shallow enough for a person to wade across. A flowing body of water that is smaller than a river is called a
stream, creek, or brook
.
What is it called when a river flows fast?
Rapids
are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a run (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a cascade. … A Class 5 rapid may be categorized as Class 5.1-5.9.
Which part of a river is fastest?
1.
Toward the middle of a river
, water tends to flow fastest; toward the margins of the river it tends to flow slowest. 2. In a meandering river, water will tend to flow fastest along the outside bend of a meander, and slowest on the inside bend.
What are the 3 types of streams?
- Alluvial Fans. When a stream leaves an area that is relatively steep and enters one that is almost entirely flat, this is called an alluvial fan. …
- Braided Streams. …
- Deltas. …
- Ephemeral Streams. …
- Intermittent Streams. …
- Meandering Streams. …
- Perennial Streams. …
- Straight Channel Streams.
When two rivers meet what is it called?
A confluence occurs when two or more flowing bodies of water join together to form a single channel. … Confluences occur where a tributary joins a larger river, where two rivers join to create a third or, where two separated channels of a river, having formed an island, rejoin downstream.
What is the largest watershed in America?
The Mississippi River watershed
is the biggest watershed in the United States, draining more than three million square kilometers (one million square miles) of land.
What is a river outlet called?
The other end of the
river
is
called
its source or headwaters. The entire area drained by the
river
is its watershed, or drainage basin.
Where is erosion greatest in a river?
The earthen floodplains of river valleys
are much more prone to erosion than rocky flood channels, which may take centuries to erode.
What is a middle course of a river?
In the middle course the
river has more energy and a high volume of water
. … As the river erodes laterally, to the right side then the left side, it forms large bends, and then horseshoe-like loops called meanders. The formation of meanders is due to both deposition and erosion and meanders gradually migrate downstream.
Why is a river wider at its mouth than at its source?
It’s well known that
rivers increase in size
as they transport water from their source in their headwaters to the mouth. The river channel becomes wider and deeper and as a result its cross-sectional area increases. … In the upper course of the river bedload is larger and more angular.
Are streams faster than rivers?
As a
stream flows faster
, it can carry larger and larger particles. … At flood stage, rivers flow much faster and do more erosion because the added water increases the stream’s velocity. Sand, silt and clay size particles generally make up the suspended load for a stream (Figure 10.2).
At what point does a stream become a river?
Over 80% of the world’s waterways are estimated to be these first- through third-order or headwater streams. Going up in size and strength, streams that are classified as fourth- through sixth-order are medium streams, while anything
larger (up to 12th-order)
is considered a river.
How do streams start?
Streams need two things to exist:
gravity and water
. When precipitation falls onto the ground, some water trickles into groundwater, but much of it flows downhill across the surface as runoff and collects into streams. … As smaller streams flow downhill, they often merge together to form larger streams.
What is it called when three rivers meet?
A confluence
can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); or where two streams meet to become the source of a river of a new name (such as the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers at Pittsburgh, forming the Ohio); or where two separated channels of …
What is the other name for river Godavari?
The river is also known as
Dakshin Ganga and Gautami
. The Manjra and Indravati rivers are its major tributaries.
