Dr. Manasi S.

Desai

Landforms
Created by
• What does Running Water do?

• Running water, which doesn’t need any further explanation, has two

components: one is overland flow on the general land surface as a sheet and

the other is linear flow as streams and rivers in valleys.

• The overland flow causes sheet erosion and depending upon the irregularities

of the land surface, the overland flow may concentrate into narrow to wide

paths.

• During the sheet erosion, minor or major quantities of materials from the

surface of the land are removed in the direction of flow and gradual small and

narrow rills will form.

• These rills will gradually develop into long and wide gullies, the gullies will

further deepen, widen and lengthen and unite to give rise to a network

of valleys. (Note: A valley can be formed in various ways like faulting, but here

we are dealing only with the formation by means of exogenic geomorphic

agent).
Classification of River Landforms

EROSIONAL DEPOSITIONAL

YOUTH MATURE OLD

EROSIONAL
/DEPOSITIONAL
Upper Course / Stage of Youth (Erosion dominates):
• It starts from the source of the river in hilly or mountainous
areas.
• The river flows down the steep slope and, as a result, its
velocity and eroding power are at their maximum.
• Streams are few, with poor integration.
• As the river flows down with high velocity, vertical erosion or
downward cutting will be high which results in the formation of
Middle Course/ Stage of Maturity
V-Shaped Valleys.
(Transportation dominates):
• Waterfalls, rapids, and gorges exist where the local hard rock
• In this stage, vertical erosion slowly starts to replace with
bodies are exposed.
lateral erosion or erosion from both sides of the channel.
• Thus, the river channel causes the gradual disappearance of
its V-shaped valley (not completely).
• Streams are plenty at this stage with good integration.
• Wider flood plains start to visible in this course and the volume
of water increases with the confluence of many tributaries.
• The work of river predominantly becomes transportation of the
eroded materials from the upper course (little deposition too).
Lower Course/ Stage of Old (Deposition dominates): • Landforms like alluvial fans, piedmont alluvial plains,
• The river starts to flow through a broad, level plain with heavy meanders etc. can be seen at this stage.
debris brought down from upper and middle courses.
• Vertical erosion has almost stopped and lateral erosion still goes
on.
• The work of the river is mainly deposition, building up its bed and
forming an extensive flood plain.
• Landforms like braided channels, floodplains, levees, meanders,
oxbow lakes, deltas etc. can be seen at this stage.
• Erosion Types

• The work of river erosion is accomplished in different ways, all of which may operate
together. They are corrasion, corrosion, hydraulic action etc.

• Corrasion or Abration: As the rock particles bounce, scrape and drag along the bottom and
sides of the river, they break off additional rock fragments. This form of erosion is called
corrasion or abration. They are two types: vertical corrosion which acts downward and lateral
corrosion which acts on both sides.

• Corrosion or Solution: This is the chemical or solvent action of water on soluble or partly
soluble rocks with which the river water comes in contact.

• Hydraulic Action: This is the mechanical loosening and sweeping away of material by the
sheer force or river water itself. No load or material is involved in this process.
• Transportation types

• After erosion, the eroded materials get transported with the running water. This transportation of eroded
materials is carried in four ways:

• Traction: The heavier and larger rock fragments like gravels, pebbles etc are forced by the flow of the river to
roll along its bed. These fragments can be seen rolling, slipping, bumping and being dragged. This process is
called as traction and the load transported in this way are called traction load.

• Saltation: Some of the fragments of the rocks move along the bed of a stream by jumping or bouncing
continuously. This process is called as saltation.

• Suspension: The holding up of small particles of sand, silt and mud by the water as the stream flows is called
suspension.

• Solution: Some parts of the rock fragments dissolved in the river water and transported. This type of
transportation is called solution transportation.
• Deposition stage

• When the stream comes down from the hills to plain areas with the eroded and
transported materials, the absence of slope/gradient causes the river to lose it
energy to further carry those transported materials.

• As a result, the load of the river starts to settle down which is termed as
deposition.

• Erosion, transportation, and deposition continue until the slopes are almost
completely flattened leaving finally a lowland of faint relief called peneplains with
some low resistant remnants called monadnocks.
Valleys, Gorges, Canyon

• As we discussed above, valleys are formed as a result of

running water.
• The rills which are formed by the overland flow of water
later develop into gullies.
• These gullies gradually deepen and widen to form
valleys.
• A gorge is a deep valley with very steep to straight
sides.
• A canyon is characterized by steep step-like side slopes
and may be as deep as a gorge.
• A gorge is almost equal in width at its top as well as
bottom and is formed in hard rocks while a canyon is
wider at its top than at its bottom and is formed in
horizontal bedded sedimentary rocks.
• Potholes, Plunge pools
• Potholes are more or less circular depressions over the rocky beds of
hills streams.
• Once a small and shallow depression forms, pebbles and boulders
get collected in those depressions and get rotated by flowing water.
Consequently, the depressions grow in dimensions to form potholes.
• Plunge pools are nothing but large, deep potholes commonly found
at the foot of a waterfall.
• They are formed because of the sheer impact of water and rotation
 Erosional landforms - waterfalls and interlocking spurs

• A waterfall is a sudden drop along the river course. It forms

when there are horizontal bands of resistant rock (hard
rock) positioned over exposed, less resistant rock (soft
rock).
• The soft rock is eroded quicker than the hard rock and this
creates a step.
• As erosion continues, the hard rock is undercut forming an
overhang.
• Abrasion and hydraulic action continue to erode the soft
rock to create a plunge pool.
• Over time this gets bigger, increasing the size of the
overhang until the hard rock is no longer supported and it
collapses.
• This process continues and the waterfall retreats upstream.
• A steep-sided valley is left where the waterfall once was.
This is called a gorge.
• In the upper course there is more vertical erosion as

the river is less powerful, so material cannot be

moved in suspension and is instead moved along

the river bed using traction or saltation. This erosion,

together with the movement of weathered material

at the sides of the river, creates the classic V-shaped

valley. If there are areas of hard rock which are

harder to erode, the river will bend around them.

• This creates interlocking spurs of land which link

together like the teeth of a zip.

Meanders
• As the river makes its way to the middle course, it gains more water and
therefore more energy, so material can be carried in suspension and is
used to erode the river banks.
• Lateral erosion starts to widen the river. When a river flows over flatter
land it develops large bends called meanders.
• As a river goes around a bend, most of the water is pushed towards
the outside. This causes increased speed due to less friction and
therefore increased erosion (through hydraulic action and abrasion).
• The lateral erosion on the outside bend causes undercutting of the river
bank to form a river cliff.
• There is less water on the inside bend of a meander so friction causes the
water to slow down, lose energy and deposit the material the river is
carrying, creating a gentle slope.
• The build-up of deposited sediment is known as a slip-off slope (or
sometimes river beach).
Oxbow lakes
• Due to erosion on the outside of a bend and

deposition on the inside, the shape of a meander will

change over a period of time. Erosion narrows the

neck of the land within the meander and as the

process continues, the meanders move closer

together. When there is a very

high discharge (usually during a flood), the river cuts

across the neck, taking a new, straighter and shorter

route. Deposition will occur to cut off the original

meander, leaving a horseshoe-shaped oxbow lake.

Depositional landforms - levees, floodplains and estuaries

• Floodplains
• A floodplain is an area of land which is covered in water when the a river bursts its banks. They form due to

both erosion and deposition.

• Erosion removes any interlocking spurs, creating a wide, flat area on either side of the river. During a flood,

material being carried by the river is deposited (as the river loses its speed and energy to transport material).
Over time, the height of the floodplain increases as material is deposited on either side of the river.

• Floodplains are often agricultural land, as the area is very fertile because it's made up

of alluvium (deposited silt from a river flood). The floodplain is often a wide, flat area caused
by meanders shifting along the valley.
• River Terraces
• They are surfaces marking old valley floor
or flood plains.
• They are basically the result of vertical
erosion by the stream.
• When the terraces are of the same
elevation on either side of the river, they
are called as paired terraces.
• When the terraces are seen only on one
side with none on the other or one at
quite a different elevation on the other
side, they are called as unpaired terraces.
• Levees

• Levees occur in the lower course of a river when there is an increase in

the volume of water flowing downstream and flooding occurs.

• Sediment that has been eroded further upstream is transported

downstream.

• When the river floods, the sediment spreads out across the floodplain.

• When a flood occurs, the river loses energy. The largest material is

deposited first on the sides of the river banks and smaller material

further away.

• After many floods, the sediment builds up to increase the height of the

river banks, meaning that the channel can carry more water (a

greater discharge) and flooding is less likely to occur in the future.

Alluvial Fans

• They are found in the middle course of a river at the foot of

slope/ mountains.

• When the stream moves from the higher level break into
foot slope plain of low gradient, it loses its energy needed to
transport much of its load.

• Thus, they get dumped and spread as a broad low to the

high cone-shaped deposits called an alluvial fan.

• The deposits are not roughly very well sorted.

• Braided Channels
• When selective deposition of coarser
materials causes the formation of a central
bar, it diverts the flow of river towards the
banks, which increases lateral erosion.

• Similarly, when more and more such central

bars are formed, braided channels are
formed.

• Riverine Islands are the result of braided

channels.
Deltas

• Deltas are like an alluvial fan but develop at a

different location.

• They are found in the mouth of the river, which is

the final location of depositional activity of a river.

• Unlike alluvial fans, the deposits making up deltas

are very well sorted with clear stratification.

• The coarser material settle out first and the finer

materials like silt and clay are carried out into the

sea.
• Estuaries

• An estuary is where the river meets

the sea. The river here is tidal and
when the sea retreats the volume of
the water in the estuary is less
reduced. When there is less water, the
river deposits silt to
form mudflats which are an important
habitat for wildlife.
• Snout
• GLOF- Global Warming-Increasing temp-Glaciers are rapidly
receeding back