Streams and Floods: The Geology of Running Water

Hydrological Cycle:
 Combination of surface runoff (73 cubic kilo
m/day) + groundwater discharge
 Major components of cycle: evaporation +
evapotranspiration (usually transpiration)
 10x more contribution than runoff

 Biggest river in the world = amazon river

o Amazon beats by longshot
o 18 km3 /day discharge
o Discharge (water going into receiving
water (ocean)) – flowing down a river
 Amazon river is increasing:
o Deforestation of amazon is changing weather patterns –transpiration has
decreased

Drainage Networks:
Forming Streams:
 Sheet surface flow erodes substrate and creates rills
 Headward erosion occurs via intense scouring where sheet flow enters the
uppermost part of a channel
 Smaller tributaries join a larger trunk stream
 The array of linked channels forms a drainage network
 Drainage networks evolve over time.
 Sheet wash erodes the substrate and creates tiny rill channels that coalesce,
deepen, and downcut, eventually concentrating flow in a single channel.

Drainage Divides:
 A continental divide separates flow to different oceans
 Watersheds are defined on a variety of scales. Tiny tributaries—tiny watersheds;
large continental rivers have large watersheds.
 Amazon Watershed – largest in the world
o Precipitation falling in the highlighted region makes its way through
tributaries to the Amazon.

Permanent Streams:
 Permanent streams are defined by water flowing all year.
 These streams are common where there is abundant rainfall,
groundwater discharge, and low rates of evaporation.
 Regular groundwater supply
 Water table flows upward and downward into river
 Won’t go dry bc always connected to groundwater
Ephemeral Streams:
 Ephemeral streams do not flow all year
 They are common in places with low annual rainfall, a low
water table, and high rates of evaporation.
 Dry streams much of the year
 Only flow when have enough surface water - shallow
 Water table is underneath the river + discharge will remain dry
unless there is flooding events (melting or storm etc.)
Hyporheic Zone:
 Since streambeds are permeable, water from a permanent
stream mixes with groundwater in a region beneath the
streambed called the hyporheic zone
 Water in this zone flows in the same direction as the stream, but not as fast.

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  Zone of ground water and surface water mixing within sediments
 Flow with sustain rivers “wetness” + constant flow

Measuring Discharge:
 Discharge is the amount of water flowing in a channel
 Discharge = Width X Depth X Velocity
 Measure discharge for a number of times of year (variation of water level) =
develop rating curve
o With rating curve (discharge given water level) + water level recorder =
height can be calibrated into discharge
Stream Shape and Velocity:
 The more the friction, the wider the stream is
 Shallower = less friction
Thalweg:
 The deepest part of the channel (and usually the highest current velocity) is
called the thalweg.
 Deposition in inner bank – building outward + shallower

Erosional Processes:
 The kinetic energy of moving water can cause erosion in four ways
o 1) Scouring – running water can remove loose fragments
o 2) Breaking and Lifting – running water can lift blocks out of a material
o 3) Abrasion – pure (clean) water has little erosive effect, but sand-laden
water acts like sandpaper and grinds away the channel wall
o 4) Dissolution – Running water can dissolve soluble minerals
 Streamflow does work by converting potential energy into kinetic energy
 The energy imparted to streamflow is derived from gravity, which acts upon water
that was transported by the action of the Sun

1) Bank Erosion
 River meander cutting into older terrace sediments. Continuing the overall
process of moving sediment down gradient.

2) Potholes
 Potholes are formed by the sand and gravel swirled by turbulent eddies
 This abrasive material drills holes in the bedrock.

V-Shaped Valleys:

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  V-shaped valleys form as rivers downcut through soft sediments. Andes of Peru.
 U-shape is glacier erosion
Slot Canyons:
 Form when rivers cut through hard rock
 Bedrock form vertical joints
Valleys AND Canyons:
 Stronger rocks produce vertical cliffs, while weaker rock produce slopped walls
Alluvium – fluvial sediment
 A rise in the base level or a decrease in discharge causes the valley to fill with
alluvium.
 Later, if the base level falls or the discharge increases, the stream downcuts
through the alluvium and a new, lower floodplain develops
 The remnants of the original alluvial plain remain as a pair of terraces.
 Sediment transported by river along its channel usually in low levels (areas of
lower gradient)
 Sediment's accumulation – alluvium
o Form different terrains
o Evolution of river system in valley at base level + collecting sediments =
reflect different episodes of generation of valley (time stamps)
Sediment Transport:
 Velocity vs grains size
 Saltation – lift and material moves down stream – bedload movement of
sediments
 Suspended – clay size particles and fine materials = turbulence of water itself
Sediment Deposition:
 High competence – high capacity to transport sediment
o Gravel in the bed of a mountain stream in Denali National Park, Alaska.
The large clasts were carried during floods. This stream has high
competence.
 Low competence – low capacity to transport sediment
o Competence decreases with velocity
o Mud deposited along a gentle, slowly moving stream in Brazil
 This stream has low competence
 Sudden decreases in velocity can result in sediment deposition by streams
 alluvial fan: steep mountain stream enters a flat valley
 Change in gradient
o Decrease in velocity + decrease in gradient in river channel = alluvial fan
o Amount of material =” chocking” material + difficult for river to carry as it
enters flat valley

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Braided Streams:
 Braided streams form where channels are choked by sediment
 Flow is forced around sediment obstructions, and the diverging and converging
flow creates sand and gravel bars.
Sediment Deposition:
 Changes in velocity along a river channel result in sequential erosion (bank
erosion) and deposition on point bars.
 Great decrease in velocity + create flood plane
o Periodically river will flood and bring material to flood plane

Meandering Streams:
 Channels form intricately looping meanders along the lower gradient portion of
the longitudinal profile.
 Starve a channel + break channel =create oxbow lake
Cut Bank and Point Bar:
 Erosion accentuates the cut bank
 High-velocity flow scours the base of the cut bank, which collapses into the
channel
 Fallen cut bank material is transported away by flow
 Deposition builds the point bar
 Slower-current velocity causes sediment to accumulate inside the meander bend.
 The point bar grows toward the channel.
 Ex: Whitewater River, Richmond, Indiana
Deltas:
 On top of a delta, the stream divides into a fan of distributary channels.
 Deltas consist of sediment deposited at the mouth of a stream
 When a stream enters standing water, the current slows, loses competence, and
sediments drop out.
 Falls of suspension and provide gravel responses
 Sediment Deposition:
o Sudden decreases in velocity where rivers discharge into a body of
standing water produce a delta
o delta: stream enters a standing body of water
 Evolution:
o Deltas evolve over time

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 o The main channel feeding a delta may jump to a new location, a process
called avulsion, to establish a steeper, shorter path to the basin
o The Mississippi River has undergone avulsion several times in the past
7,500 years, as preserved in remnant delta lobes.
 Subsidence at Deltas:
o Abandoned delta lobes, starved of sediment, slowly compact, dewater,
and subside
o Abandoned delta lobes are eventually submerged
o Subsidence is a problem for cities built on deltas
o Subsidence near (or below) sea level magnifies flooding risks
o New Orleans is a prime example.
o Sediments get deposited + water content in sediments is high
 Over time they compact + produce subsidence
 City is sinking relative to sea level
Flood Plains:
 Low gradient, base level deposition
o Sudden decrease in velocity results in sediment deposition by streams
from headwaters
o Sediments accumulate at the base level as a flood plain with periodic
flooding and sediment delivery
o faster River = higher competence = carry more sediment
 Natural Process of flood plain construction:
o Discharge and velocity increase and flow spills out of the stream channel,
immersing adjacent land
 Water scours floodplains, altering the landscape and destroying
structures
o High sediment load carried in river channels is deposited in the slow-
moving flood waters over the flood plain.
o Addition of minerals and nutrients is essential to the health of the flood
plain ecosystem.
 Flood plains are fertile and ideal for agriculture and for urbanization, but the flood
risk is always present.
o Ex: Indus Plain, Pakistan
 Hazard of Urbanization on a flood plain:
o Floodwaters are devastating to people and property
o Discharge and velocity increase and flow spills out of the stream channel,
immersing adjacent land and destroying structures.

Causes of Flooding:
 Floods occur when…
o A) Abrupt, heavy rains dump large volumes of water quickly.

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 o B) Long, continuous rains and saturated soils
o C) Abrupt warm weather rapidly melts winter snow, discharge over frozen
soil.
o D) A natural or artificial dam breaks, catastrophically releasing water.

Seasonal Floods:
 Seasonal floods take time—hours or days—allowing for evacuation.
 Seasonal floods recur on an annual basis.
 Monsoons, the tropical rains of the Indian subcontinent, generate long periods of
rain and severe flooding.
 In 1990, a monsoon killed 100,000 people in Bangladesh.

Ottawa-Gatineau Floods – 2017-2019

 Solar Connection:
o Always getting peak events at low solar activity
o Weak solar cycle = discharge events
Flash Floods:
 Flash floodwaters rise so quickly that they may be impossible to escape
 Typified by a rapidly moving wall of debris-laden water
 Flash floods occur from unusually intense rainfall, a dam collapse, or a levee
failure. They strike with little warning and may be very destructive
 In 1889, a flash flood from a dam failure claimed 2,300 lives in Johnstown,
Pennsylvania.
 Typical in arid regions when cyclonic storms hit.
 Ex: Big Thompson River, Estes Park, Colorado – 1976
o July 31, 1976, rising moist air drenched the Rockies with 19 cm (7.5
inches) of rain in a hour
o Discharge in the Big Thompson River swelled to four times the largest
recorded maximum
o Rock and soil, stripped from the landscape, were added to the flow
o Houses, bridges, and roads vanished, claiming 144 lives.

Catastrophic Ice-Age Floods:

 The Great Missoula Floods
 When ice dams broke, glacial torrents from Glacial Lake Missoula scoured
portions of the Columbia River plateau.

Runoff:

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  Runoff: Precipitation – infiltration – interception – evaporation
 extent of water saturation of the soil
 vegetation cover
 soil types
 frozen ground
 human construction
Recurrence Intervals:
 Flood risks are calculated as probabilities
 Discharges plotted on semi-logarithmic paper against recurrence intervals yield a
straight line
 the probability of a given discharge, as % chance of occurrence, can be
determined by graph inspection.

Urban Development: Hardened Landscapes

 Left : before urbanization
o Drawn out over time – smaller lag time
 Now: Urbanized – lost interception, transporation etc.
o Discharge increase dramatically + shorter raintime = flash discharge
 Dams, Canals and Urbanization
o Very few untamed rivers left
o What are the impacts of such extensive drainage control?
o Humans have extensively dammed natural waterways, with both positive
and negative consequences.