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River Landscapes and Processes

Land use, flood risk and river defences

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 1 section A

Overview

How urban surfaces, farming, deforestation and industry change river flow, the physical and human causes and effects of flooding, dams, reservoirs, channelisation, flood plain zoning and washlands, and drawing and reading storm hydrographs, including lag time and the factors that shape them.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

How does covering a drainage basin with tarmac and concrete change the way rain reaches the river?

Key term

How can ploughing fields and taking out hedgerows increase flood risk?

Key term

Why does clearing woodland or overgrazing a hillside put more water and sediment into a river?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    How does covering a drainage basin with tarmac and concrete change the way rain reaches the river?

    Model answer

    The surfaces are impermeable, so almost nothing soaks in and the water runs straight over the ground into the channel.

  2. 2

    What effect do street drains and roof gutters have on the time it takes a river to peak?

    Model answer

    They deliver water to the channel in minutes rather than hours, shortening the lag time and raising the peak flow.

  3. 3

    How can ploughing fields and taking out hedgerows increase flood risk?

    Model answer

    Bare, compacted soil absorbs less water and there is nothing left to slow the run-off, so more water and more soil reach the river quickly.

  4. 4

    Why does clearing woodland or overgrazing a hillside put more water and sediment into a river?

    Model answer

    Without leaves to intercept rain and roots to hold the soil, rainfall runs straight downslope and washes loose material with it.

  5. 5

    Give two ways industry alters a river and its channel.

    Model answer

    Water taken out for cooling or processing lowers the flow, and factories built on the banks lead to straightened, concreted channels that carry water away faster.

  6. 6

    Give three physical causes of river flooding.

    Model answer

    Prolonged or very intense rainfall, rapid snowmelt, and a basin with steep slopes or impermeable rock and saturated soil.

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ALess reliable rainfall slows both growth and decay.
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