WORKS OF RIVERS,

AND SEA AND THEIR

WIND
ENGINEERING IMPORTANCE
Lesson 7
Baculo, Ashley,
Baliwag, Aubrey
Binondo, Binondo, Zara
Veronica C. Canono,
Ryan
RIVER
S
■ As the rivers have a beginning which is called head. The place where as river ends
in the sea or lake is called mouth. In all the cases, the slope of the rivers at the
head is high so that it can carry all the materials (the coarse and fine weathered
products) from the parent rocks down.
■ The slope slowly decreases and in the plains it is smaller. Thus the shape of
the slope from the head to the mouth is concave (facing the sky)
 PLAYFAIR’S
(FUNCTION
LAW OF A
RIVER) John Playfair
 WHO IS
JOHN
•
PLAYFAIR?
Scottish Geologist and mathematician

• March 20, 1748, Benvie,

Forfarshire, Scot.

• Died July 20 1819, Burntisland, Fife

• Explanation and expansion of ideas

on uniformitarianism.

• He was the first to propose that a river

cuts its own valley and was also the first
to recognize the transport role of
glaciers.
PLAYFAIR’S
LAW
(FUNCTION OF
A RIVER)
• This law indicates how deep valleys
and landforms have been formed.

• These landforms have been formed by

the three geologic functions of the
rivers:
GEOLOGIC FUNCTIONS OF THE
RIVERS
EROSION
TRANSPORTATIO
N DEPOSITION
EROSION

■ The erosion is one of the most expressive features of river which is turbulent
with
currents in all directions. Most rivers carve the river valley by erosion.
■ The river erodes in four main ways:
1. Attrition
2. Corrosion
3. Corrasion
4. Hydraulic action
HYDRAULIIC
ACTION
■ The waves crash against rock and compress the air in the cracks.
■ This is the force of the water of the fast flowing rivers that can dislodge
materials from the river banks and river beds.
CORRASION
(ABRASION)
■ Eroded particles in the water scrape and against the rock (cliff), removing small
pieces.
■ This is the abrasive force producing a mechanical erosion of rocks by the
sediments the river carries.
ABRASION: THREE
FACTORS
■ If the transported materials is hard in relation to the bed, the bed gets affected
and
wears down.
■ If both are hard then the bed gets polished
■ If the bed is harder the bed is not affected.
ATTRITIO
N
■ Eroded particles in the water ash into each other and break into
smaller pieces. Their edges gets rounded off as they bash into
each other.
■ This is due to the rubbing of the particles being carried by the
river when they are thrown at each other.
CORROSION
(SOLUTION)
■ In this process the water dissolves particles of the river
banks or bottom and carries them in solution.
■ Weak carbonic acid in sweater dissolves rock like chalk and
limestone.
TRANSPORTATION
OF ERODED
MATERIALS
TRANSPORTATION OF
ERODED MATERIALS
■ The materials that have been eroded have to be transported down the river.
There
are ways in which the river can transport the materials dislodged by it.
1. Dissolved Load
2. Suspended load: the fine particles of Sand silt and clay can remain in
suspension.
3. Bed Load: The large-sized materials settle to the bed of the river and move
along the bed by rolling, sliding or by sudden movement (saltation). This
bottom load is also called the traction load.
DEPOSITION (ALLUVIAL
DEPOSITION)
■ When the velocity of water in river is not enough to carry the load of soil particles
it has been carrying, it deposits the load at the places of low velocity. This usually
happens in the regions where the slope of the river bed becomes gentle.
■ These Function act on the following three physical processes involved in
the formation of river valleys, namely:
1. Deepening of the river valley
2. Lengthening or shortening of the river valley
3. Widening the river valleys
CARRIED OR DEPOSITED PARTICLES
BY RIVER WATER
■ Different particles of soil require different
velocities.
1. For them to be sourced by water
2. For them to be carried in water
3. To be deposited on their path.
Figure 10.
Fields of
erosion,
transportation
and deposition
of
river
sediments in
the flow of
rivers.
STREAM
CYCLE
Juvenile or Youth Stage (Upper
Course)
■ This is the stage of high downward vertical erosion. It develops the following
characteristic formations:
a) V- shaped valleys
b) Gorges and canyons
c) Rapids and cataracts (Rapids of greater dimensions are known as
cataracts)
d) Waterfalls
e) Holes
f) Piracy (Capturing of a streamlet that flowed into one river another stream
that flows into another river)
■ EXAMPLE:
Maturity Stage (Middle
Course)
■ This is the middle course of a river where the gradient is gentler and the river
valley
becomes wide, leading to the following features:

a) Meanders
b) Flood plain
Meanders
■ The term meander is derived from river Meanderz in Turkey, which flows in loops.
■ In the wide plains the river may be made to bend and take a curve due to
some obstructions.
■ Then the velocity around the outside bend becomes very much higher and
hence the river cuts down the river bank.
■ As the velocity inside the bend being less, deposition of fine particles takes
place which is shown.
■ The clay deposits are found more on the inside of the river bends where the
velocity is low.
■ As erosion cuts away bank on one side and deposition takes place on the
opposite side, the river migrates laterally and produces a meandering river
EXAMPLE
:
Flood
plain
■ The flood plains occur in the middle course of the river that has formed its
maturity. The valley characteristics are absent and the river flows along a wide
and flatter region. Overflow of the banks and flooding happens during floods. This
leaves behind deposits of silt on both sides. These are called flood plains
EXAMPLE:
The following are the geomorphologic features of this region:

Levees- : The natural embankments formed by the river in the flood plains are called
levees. As the floodwater in the river spills on the flood plains it loses energy and
coarse materials are deposited at the edges. Over the years raised edges are formed
which are called levee
Oxbow lakes- The meandering river can cut across the flood plain and form the
oxbow lakes. The oxbow lakes can develop into swamps in course of time.
Braiding- When the river reaches the end of the middle course the river deposits
more and more of the load it has been carrying and may break up into a network of
interconnected channels resembling the strand of a braid. This happens more often
towards the beginning of the old stage of the river.
■ EXAMPLE
:
OLD AGE (Lower
Course)
■ In the last stages of the river just before it joins the sea or lake, the flow becomes
gentle as the slope of the river in considerably reduced. If it joins the sea, there are
waves, sea currents and also change in the salinity of water. The suspended
material is deposited. If the amount of material is not large then it will be carried
away by the sea by its currents and waves. This is what happens to the small rivers
on the west coast of peninsular India. However if the rivers are large like those
which flow into the Bay of Bengal and the amount of suspended materials carried
by river is very large, a large amount of the suspended materials will be deposited
at the mouth of the river to form deltas.
- Delta-Building:

■ The subject of delta-building is very interesting and can be explained as follows.

The deposition of material at the mouth of the river and into the sea materially
increases the length of the river. This decreases the slope and hence more
deposition happens. For example, if the slope was 2 ft in 90 miles and if the length
of deposition of sediments of the river is increased to 100 miles, the slope
reduces from 1 in 45 to 1 in 50. The velocity of water decreases and more
deposition takes place. Also during the floods because of the raising of the beds,
the river will have to branch off before it falls into the sea to increase the flow and
thus form the typical delta.There are many types of deltas of which three are the
typical.
EXAMPL
E
1) Arcuate
deltas
■ : It looks like those of the river Ganges and
Nile.
EXAMPLE
:
2) Birds foot
deltas
■ It appears like that of the Mississippi river. These rivers carry extremely fine
particles and clays. The deposits do not allow much flow under the surface (the
deposits being clayey or impervious), so that the flow of water is concentrated in a
few large channels which form a pattern of the bird’s foot. Thus this type of deltas
has clay deposits.
■ EXAMPLE:
3) Estuarine filling:

■ As in the Hudson River which flows into an estuary and where the deposits are
built in the form of long bars at the mouth of the river. The forms extensive filling
of soil bars or marshes.
■ The rivers that fall into lakes will also build deltas. The deltas, built in
lakes and in land seas or bays, are more perfect than those built in
the open ocean with strong currents and waves. The deltas built in
the seas will be usually irregular.
■ The three stages or courses do not depend on the age of the river but
on the present performance of the river at a given place which
depends on many present factors. It is also interesting to consider
the two basic physiographic concepts in river flow that of (a) base
level and (b) profile of equilibrium which varies with the flow.
a) Base Level

■ : This is the level that controls the depth of the stream erosion. No stream base
level
can be below the sea level.
■ . A base level is the depth limit of the valley and is controlled by the water level in
the body of water into which it flows down (ocean, sea, lakes, etc.).
b) Profile of
equilibrium
■ : A stream is said to have reached its grade or profile of equilibrium when its
slope and volume of water it carries are in equilibrium with the sediment load it
transports.
■ The annual and seasonal fluctuations in volume and velocity bring about
continual readjustments of their profile.
■ The gradient is expressed as slope of the profile of equilibrium at the steady state
of flow of the river with no erosion or deposition. It is expressed in meters per
kilometer, meter or feet per mile.
■ No implication of years is to be read into the
terms juvenile, youth and old stages. It only
represents the various stages of development
of the river. Thus a youthful stream in hard
rock, high above the base level (profile of
equilibrium) may be millions of year of age,
whereas the old stream near the base level
may be only a few thousand years of age.
REJUVENATION OF
RIVERS
■ As already indicated, youth and old age does not denote the age of the river but
only whether it is eroding (juvenile) or is in equilibrium or in depositing (old age) at
present. Thus if a mature river has its gradient increased for example, by lowering
the sea level or some construction then the river will work to reduce the gradient
by cutting down the previously deposited flood plain until the former gradient is
again
established. This is in accordance with the Playfair’s law.
CORIOLIS EFFECT AND FERREL’S
LAW
■ The effect which causes the deflection of a body in motion on earth due to the
rotation of the earth is called the Coriolis Effect. According to Ferrel’s law, due to
this effect if a body moves in any direction on the earth’s surface, the deflection
force will act to the right in the northern hemisphere and the left in the southern
hemisphere.
■ According to this law a river flowing in the north direction in northern hemisphere
tends to erode the east banks more than the west banks. Similarly a river in the
northern hemisphere flowing in south direction tends to deflect to the west; land
erosion will take place more of the west banks than the east banks. However in
all the cases the resistance of the material to erosion and slope of the land will
also play a prominent part.
WIN
D
■ The movement of air over the surface of the earth is called wind.
■ Wind performs all the three functions of erosion, transportation and deposition
of the weathered products.
■ The wind deposits are also called Aeolian deposits.
EROSION WORK OF
WINDS
■ The processes of erosion due to wind are (1) Deflation, and (2)
Abrasion
1. Deflation

■ The act of removing the loose particles of the earth from one area and forming
depression as shown in the figure is called deflation. By this process of removing
the sand to the groundwater level, oasis is formed in deserts.
Abrasion

■ Abrasion is the process of impact of the coarse particles in the wind against
formations like understanding rock and eroding them. Most of the coarse
materials in the wind remain in the lower 30 to 60 cm height of the wind from the
ground as bed load and some coarse sand particles will be swept by rolling them
on the ground. Hence the rock erosion produces profiles of upstanding rocks as
shown in figure. In such cases there will be more erosion at the lower level and
very much less erosion at the higher level of the upstanding rocks.
 SAND STORMS AND DUST
STORMS
While the lower part of the wind consists of sand, the upper part is mainly the
fine particles of dust. Thus the lower part produces the sand storms and the upper
part produces dust storms.
SAND STORMS describe an exceptionally strong wind, which picks up and
carries
a large amount of sand in the atmosphere. They can reach up to weight of 10-
50 ft.
DUST STORMS carry much smaller particles, which can be carried higher
and further tyan sand storms.
DEPOSITION OF
SEDIMENTS
The velocity of the wind carrying the particles may get reduced by some
obstructions like hills, mountains, forests sudden change of climate presense of
water bodies like rivers, sea, fall of rains, etc. This reduction of velocity forces
deposition of the particles the wind is carrying, and they form typical Aeolian
deposits.
TWO (2) IMPORTANTS TYPES OF DEPOSITS:
• Sand Dunes
• Loess
 SAND AND
•DUNES
The sand dunes are formed by deposition of sand carried by winds. It is heap of sand
conical in cross section with a gentle slope on the windward side and a steeper slope
on the leeward side.
•There is much type of formations such as the (1) LONGITUDINAL DUNES, (2)
TRANSVERSE DUNES and the most common (3) CRESCENT SHAPE DUNE
called BARCHANS.
• The dunes may get stabilized as “ fixed dunes “ in one place or like the
barchans
move on the directions of the winds.
• Sand dunes can be formed at three (3) kinds of locations namely:
1. Near sea shores as shore dunes
2. Bed of rivers as riverbed dunes
3. Inland as desert dunes
PLAN VIEW OF SAND DUNES
(a) Crescent Shaped Dune called Barchans
(b) Transverse Dune
(c) Longitudinal Dune

SEIFS are also called LONGITUDINAL DUNES.

They are formed parallel to the directions of the
wind as shown in the figure. These are usually
found in the places where steady wind prevails.
These dunes may exist in great heights and up
to 200 m along long distances.
LOESS
DEPOSITS
The term loess was first applied to the loose unconsolidated deposits found along the
•
Rhine River extending to the Black Sea.
•Loess is fine particles usually derived from flood plains and glacial outwash laid by
the wind. It consist of the loosely arranged angular grains of calcareous silt, rich in
quartz with calcium carbonate.
• It is the uniform size and composition formed without stratification.
• The loess deposits pose two (2) engineering problems:
1. The collapese of its structure on wetting or saturation.
2. Because of its losse structure, they are subject to frost heaving in cold
countries,
when they occur on highway layouts.
SEA- Seas and Oceans covered 70% of the Earth’s surface. The term “ sea “ is
generally used for saline water bodies surrounded by landforms and also water bodies
of shallower depth less than 4km.
FORMATION OF THE SHORELINE
1.sea waves, sea currents, the theory of formation of coastlines by erosion,
deposition and sea level changes.
2. Coral deposits
SEA WAVES -The waves are created by the winds. This disturbance travels to the coast
and gets its energy destroyed. The distance between the crests of adjacent waves is
the wavelength in the deep part of the sea; waves are only oscillatory (goes only up
and down). These are called oscillatory waves.
LITTORAL CURRENTS - The word littoral means pertaining to the shoreline. The
movement of water up to the coast when the waves break is called swash and the
return of the water back into the sea is called backwash. While the flow (velocity) of
the swash is directed to the shore the currents set up by the backwash (which is
called the rip current) usually act below the sea level and are directed to the deeper
waters.
WAVES AND CURRENTS
(1) Ordinary Waves
(2) Transitory Waves
(3) Littoral Currents
(4) Rip Currents
FORMATION OF COASTLINE BY MARINE EROSION OF
COASTAL ROCKS
Four distinct processes.
1. Abrasion: Waves hurl pebbles, sand boulders and other substances
against base of cliffs, under-cutting the base of cliffs on the sea
coast.
2. Hydraulic action: The cracks in the cliffs are filled with sea water from
the waves and its sudden release during the retreat of the waves
cause the material around the cracks to break up.
3. Attrition due to rubbing together of particles in the waves and get
broken up.
4. Solution (Corrosion): By chemical action leading to solution of some
of the constituents
LANDFORM FORMED BY MARINE EROSION OF
ROCKS ON SEACOASTS
Landforms are created by the above erosion of the rocks beside the
sea.
■ Sea Cliffs
LANDFORM FORMED BY MARINE EROSION OF
ROCKS ON SEACOASTS
Landforms are created by the above erosion of the rocks beside the
sea.
■ Sea caves, Arches, stacks and stumps
LANDFORM FORMED BY MARINE EROSION OF
ROCKS ON SEACOASTS
■ Wave-cut platforms
FORMATION OF LANDFORMS BY COASTAL
DEPOSITION
■ the sediments entering the sea are carried away by the sea waves and deposited in
the sea or alternately it may be taken to the other parts of the seacoast.
■ deposits on the coast forms the landforms called 1.) beaches, 2.) spits and 3.) bars.
1. Beaches: These are formed by the deposition of sand and gravel along the coast. In
theory, beach is the zone extending from low water sea level to the upper limit of
high water.
2. Spits: Spit is a long and narrow extension of the beach into the sea. They are
sand
deposits formed by shore drifts.
FORMATION OF LANDFORMS BY COASTAL
DEPOSITION
3. Bars: Bars are long deposits of sand formed in the sea parallel to the
shoreline. This may be above or below the sea level. Those above the sea
level are called barrier beach.
Lagoon: A bar spit can enclose
Tombolo: If the bar forms a link to p
aortion of the sea
the mainland the link is known as a
tombolo
FORMATION OF LANFORMS BY SEA LEVEL
CHANGES
■ A rise in sea level can form a fjord. Fjord is a narrow long valley.
There are called shore lines of submergence.When the sea level
falls and more of the land gets exposed they are known as raised
beaches. The landforms formed by this process are called land or
shores of emergence.
FORMATION OF LANFORMS BY SEA LEVEL
CHANGES
Types of Shorelines:
1. Shoreline of submergence - A shoreline, characterized by bays,
promontories, and other minor features, formed by the dominant
relative submergence of a landmass. Also known as positive
shoreline; submerged shoreline.
2. Shoreline of emergence - A straight or gently curving shoreline
formed by the dominant relative emergence of the floor of an ocean
or a lake. Also known as emerged shoreline; negative shoreline.
TYPES OF CURRENTS THAT AFFECT THE
COASTLINE
■ Underflow or rip currents and littoral currents
– We noted that the waves that come to the shore with a certain
velocity, after flowing up the slope of the beaches, the water
returns to the sea with a velocity depending on the slope of the
beach along the bottom. This current is called undertoe or rip
current. Already dealt with in the current that moves along the
coast is called littoral current. This current will flow parallel to the
coast until depressions are found which will give an opportunity
for seaward exit.
TYPES OF CURRENTS THAT AFFECT THE
COASTLINE
■ Tidal Currents
– The rise and fall of the tide in an open coast does not produce
much effect on the deposits on the shoreline. However if the tides
are very high and the fall of the tide has to take place through a
narrow exit then the large velocity at the place of exit may have
some effect on the nearby deposits at that place. The high velocity
can lead to erosion.
SEAWALLS
AND
BULKHEADS
SEAWALLS AND
BULKHEADS
■ Seawalls and bulkheads are the massive structures built alone the
coast. (Built parallel to the coast.)
■ Their faces may be vertical, sloping or parabolic to produce as
little force on the wall as possible.
SEAWALLS AND
BULKHEADS
■ Bulkheads are made of steel or concrete or timber piles and they are used
where the impact of waves is not very large. The large hollow prestressed
concrete pipes have been used for shore protection near Chennai harbor with
some success.
CONSTRUCTION OF
REVETMENTS
■ Revetments against the coast are usually built with large stone or
concrete block big enough to resist the force of the waves placed on
each other. It should also be built high enough to prevent
overtopping of the ordinary waves. For economy, the height may be
such that storm waves may just spill over it.
ROCK
REVETMENTS
■ In stream restoration, river engineering, and coastal engineering, “revetments”
are sloping structures placed on banks or cliff in such a way as to absorb the
energy of incoming water.
■ Slope angle of layered boulders to absorb, rather than reflect
PREVENTION OF
SILTING
■ Corals are very small sea organisms that live in very large colonics especially
near the tropics. They secret calcium carbonates and build coral reef. These
coral deposits may be built on sand deposits in the sea.
■ Three types of corals reefs deposited:
1. Fringing reefs
2. Barrier reefs
3. Attols
FRINGING
REEFS
■ Fringing reefs grow near the coastline around islands and continents. They are
separated from the shore by narrow, shallow lagoons. Fringing reefs are the
most common type of reef that we see.
BARRIER
REEFS
■ Barrier reefs also parallel the coastline but are separated by deeper, wider
lagoons. At their shallowest point, they can reach the water’s surface forming a
“barrier” to navigation.
ATOLLS

■ Sometimes known as a coral atoll, is a ring-shaped coral reef including a coral

rim that encircles lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral island or
cays on the rim.