Tuesday, March 10, 2009 ♥
7:53 AM
Lower course features of river:
Floodplain: A floodplain, or flood plain, is flat or nearly flat land adjacent to a
stream or
river that experiences occasional or periodic
flooding. It includes the floodway, which consists of the stream
channel and adjacent areas that carry flood flows, and the flood fringe, which are areas covered by the flood, but which do not experience a strong
current.
Levee: is a natural or artificial slope or wall to prevent flooding of the land behind it. It is usually
earthen and often
parallel to the course of a
river or the coast. The ability of a river to carry sediments varies very strongly with its speed. When a river floods over its banks, the water spreads out, slows down, and deposits its load of sediment. Over time, the river's banks are built up above the level of the rest of the
floodplain. The resulting ridges are called natural levees.
Deferred Tributary: A tributary is a
stream or
river which flows into a
mainstem (or parent) river. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea. Tributaries and the mainstem river serve to drain the surrounding
drainage basin of its surface water and
groundwater by leading the water out into an ocean or some other large body of water. A
confluence is when two or more
bodies of water meet together, usually referring to the action of tributaries.
Distubritary:An affluent is synonymous to the word 'tributary', being defined as a stream or river that simply flows into a larger one.A parallel to tributaries is the
distributary, a river that branches off of and flows away from the main stream.
