Describe and Explain the Rivers Features and Processes along it profile

The Features and Processes of a River along its Profile

Introduction

Along the path of a river, from source to mouth, the river shows many different features and is affected by several different processes. These processes are going to be described and explained in the course of this essay and diagrams will be used to back-up and justify my ideas.

A river can be simply divided into an upland or lowland river environment. Upland features and processes occur at a higher altitude, closer to the source of the river; lowland features and processes occur at lower altitudes near the mouth of a river. A river’s course can be better divided into a young, mature and old stage.

A simple map of a river showing the different stages is shown below:














The main processes acting upon a river are:

• Erosion
• Transportation
• Deposition

These three main river processes can be further sub-divided into “sub-processes”. Erosion, for ex...