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Water Erosion:
How do processes
involving water change
Earth’s surface?
What is the MAJOR agent
of erosion that has shaped
Earth’s land surface?
moving water
Water moving over land’s
surface is called runoff.
This may cause sheet
erosion.
Water erosion
Water erosion
The amount of
water runoff in an area
depends on
5 main factors:
1. The amount of rain an area receives.
2. Vegetation - grasses, shrubs & trees
reduce runoff
3. Type of soil - some absorb more water
than others
4. Shape of the land – steep slopes have
more run-off, which causes more erosion
5. How people use the land – parking lots &
crop removal increase run-off
Runoff overtime:
How does runoff over
time affect the land
and water?
Rills & Gullies
Rills are tiny grooves in the soil
that grow larger forming gullies.
A gully is a large groove or channel
in the soil that carries runoff after
a storm. It moves soil & rocks.
Gullies only contain water after it
rains.
Rills
Gullies
Streams & Rivers
Gullies join together to form a larger
channel called a stream.
Water continuously flows here and
rarely dries up.
Small streams may be called creeks or
brooks.
Small streams flow together to form a
large stream called a river.
Rill,

Rill erosion at a
construction site.
Image by M. Mamo, Labels
added by UNL

Gully,

Stream

Gully erosion in a pasture.
Image by NRCS

Stream
Tributaries

Streams grow together by getting
water from tributaries.
A tributary is a stream or river that
flows into a larger river.
An example: The Missouri & Ohio rivers
are tributaries of the Mississippi river.
Tributaries collect their water from the
drainage basin or watershed.
Rivers & Tributaries

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://knol.google.com/k/-/-/3ajhc7zrwtav1/c1ssz4/figure-1%2520(2).bmp&imgrefurl=http://knol.google.com/k/neworleans-the-geologic-difficulties-with-the-big-easy-part-1&usg=___SPqqMAUDGF2VVgD-x0Wwvs5xk=&h=394&w=432&sz=31&hl=en&start=5&um=1&tbnid=ShJceJzlrtYlWM:&tbnh=115&tbnw=126&prev=/images%3Fq%3DMississippi%2Briver%2Band%2Bits
%2Btributaries%26hl%3Den%26um%3D1
Rivers cause erosion and create
valleys, waterfalls, and flood
plains.
Rivers form on steep mountain
slopes.
How do they flow?
Quickly & follow a narrow path
How do they erode? Rapidly
The result is that rivers form
deep, V-shaped valleys.
Valleys

http://www.google.com/imgres?
imgurl=http://cgz.e2bn.net/e2bn/leas/c99/schools/cgz/accounts/staff/rchambers/GeoBytes%2520GCSE
%2520Blog%2520Resources/Images/Rivers/Vshapedvalley.jpg&imgrefurl=http://geobytesgcse.blogspot.com/2006/11/upper-course-of-river-v-shapedvalleys.html&usg=__Hp8C8YOunbWzJy9E7kbQcOiURzA=&h=308&w=411&sz=47&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1
&tbnid=giwF1FppYFy8zM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=154&ei=-kk2TfKtEMH68AbI__2tBA&prev=/images%3Fq
%3Dv-shaped%2Bvalley%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D531%26tbs
%3Disch:10%2C35&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=247&vpy=77&dur=701&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=161&
ty=116&oei=g0k2TbG1L4T58Aa8nOC7Aw&esq=12&page=1&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0&biw=1280&bih
=531

http://images.travelpod.com/users/theboy_picot/3.1149265860.580x-nice-v-shapedvalley.jpg
Features of rivers:
What features are
formed by erosion along
a river?
Waterfalls
Occur where?
Where a river meets an area of hard &
slowly eroding rock
 Then flows over softer rock downstream.
 How does softer rock erode? What
results from this erosion? The softer
rock erodes away faster & a waterfall
develops.
Waterfalls

Waterfalls at the
Plitvicka Jezera National Park in Croatia

Minnehaha Falls,
Minneapolis Minnesota

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://realestate-inminnesota.com/images/Minneapolis.jpg&imgrefurl=http://realestate-inminnesota.com/&usg=__kBYWaWcelJlC-sNAEDq6zr8eLY=&h=599&w=800&sz=162&hl=en&start=5&um=1&tbnid=WO5G4jC_rIKDMM:&tbnh=107&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dminnehaha
%2Bfalls,%2Bmn%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26um%3D1
Flood Plain
What is a flood plain?
A wide valley in which a river flows
What happens to the land during a
flood?
The water in the river over flows its
banks into this wide river valley area.
Flood Plain
Water erosion
Deposits by rivers are made as
the water slows down and the
fine particles settle in the river
bed.
Larger stones quit rolling and
sliding.
Deposits by Rivers:
What features result
from deposition along
a river?
Deltas
Deltas form when sediments
are deposited where a river
flows into an ocean or a lake.
This landform is built up as
the sediments drop.
Deltas

http://www.dmcii.com/disasters/new_orleans/mississippi_delta.jpg
Soil may also be added to
Flood Plains during floods as
sediments are deposited.
This new soil added to the
area makes the river valley
fertile.
Forests and crops may be
grown here.

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Water erosion