River Environments 2

2. The process by which precipitation is caught and temporarily held by vegetation (leaves, branches) before reaching the ground.
4. A point where a river drops vertically over a step of resistant rock, with softer rock beneath being eroded faster, creating a plunge pool at the base.
5. A landform created at a river mouth where the river deposits its sediment faster than the sea can remove it, often forming a fan or triangular shape.
10. A crescent-shaped lake formed when a meander is cut off from the main river after erosion narrows the neck of the meander, and deposition seals off the old loop.
11. Describes a rock or soil that does not allow water to pass through it (e.g. clay, granite).
12. The process by which water soaks into the soil surface from above.
14. The dropping of material carried by a river when it loses energy, for example due to reduced velocity or discharge.
15. Erosion in which the river’s load scrapes and wears away the bed and banks of the channel (also called corrasion).

1. The downward movement of water from the soil into the underlying rock.
3. Describes a rock or soil that allows water to pass through it, either through pores or cracks.
6. Erosion in which rocks and pebbles carried by the river collide with each other and wear down into smaller, rounder pieces.
7. Transport in which fine particles (silt and clay) are carried within the flowing water.
8. The flat area of land either side of a river in its lower course, formed by flooding and the deposition of silt (alluvium).
9. A bend or curve in a river channel, formed by erosion on the outside of the bend (river cliff) and deposition on the inside (slip-off slope).
13. Transport in which large, heavy particles (boulders and cobbles) are rolled along the river bed. (Smaller stones that bounce along the bed are transported by saltation.)