Syllabus
- The drainage basin hydrological cycle: the water balance.
- Factors affecting river discharge: the storm hydrograph.
- The long profile – changing processes: types of erosion, transportation and deposition, types of load;
- The Hjulstrom curve.
- Valley profiles – long profile and changing cross profile downstream, graded profile, potential and kinetic energy.
- Changing channel characteristics – cross profile, wetted perimeter, hydraulic radius, roughness, efficiency and links to velocity and discharge.
- Landforms of fluvial erosion and deposition – potholes, rapids, waterfalls, meanders, braiding, levees, fl ood plains and deltas.
- Process and impact of rejuvenation – knick points, waterfalls, river terraces and incised meanders.
- Physical and human causes of fl ooding – location of areas of high risk in a more developed and a less developed country case study, magnitude, frequency (risk) analysis.
- Impact of fl ooding – two case studies of recent events should be undertaken from contrasting areas of the world.
- Flood management strategies – to include hard engineering – dams, straightening, building up of levees, diversion spillways, and soft engineering
- – forecasts and warnings, land use management on fl oodplain,
wetland and river bank conservation and
river restoration.
GOOD GENERAL WEBSITES
http://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/geol204/riversystems.htm (Daniel Marques)
http://water.usgs.gov/wsc/glossary.html an A to Z of hydrology terminology
Virtual River This site is a really good introduction to river systems
Kay's Geography Site good selection of links to other sites