levo

River Landscapes and Processes

River processes: weathering, mass movement, erosion, transport and deposition

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 1 section A

Overview

Freeze-thaw, chemical and biological weathering on a valley side, slides and slumps, abrasion, hydraulic action, attrition and solution, transport by traction, saltation and suspension, and when a river deposits its load.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

How do freeze-thaw and living things weather a valley side, and how does mass movement such as a slide deliver material to the river?

Process

How do abrasion and hydraulic action erode a river channel, and which process transports the largest boulders?

Key term

How does repeated freezing and thawing break up rock on the side of a river valley?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    How does repeated freezing and thawing break up rock on the side of a river valley?

    Model answer

    Water collects in a crack, freezes and expands, widening the crack a little each time until fragments snap away.

  2. 2

    How does slightly acidic rainwater weather limestone or chalk in a river valley?

    Model answer

    It reacts with the calcium carbonate in the rock and dissolves it, so the rock is chemically broken down where it stands.

  3. 3

    Give two ways living things weather the rock beside a river.

    Model answer

    Tree and plant roots grow into cracks and prise them wider, and burrowing animals loosen and expose material.

  4. 4

    What is meant by mass movement on a valley side?

    Model answer

    The downslope movement of soil, loose rock and mud under gravity, delivering material straight into the channel below.

  5. 5

    What happens to material in a slide?

    Model answer

    A block of saturated material moves downslope in a straight line along a flat surface, staying largely in one piece.

  6. 6

    How does slumping differ from a slide on a saturated river bank?

    Model answer

    Slumped material rotates as it moves along a curved surface, so the block tilts backwards and leaves a curved scar in the bank.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
2Open book
3Closed book

The 3-step method, run for you

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

Changing Cities
Coastal Landscapes and Processes
Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Management
Energy Resource Management

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

Once every years.
tenfivetwo

Blank Blitz makes facts automatic

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

ALess reliable rainfall slows both growth and decay.
BNutrients sit unused in litter.
CViolent storms wash more of them away in run-off.

Build It gets the exam shape right

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

Label means a word that only names a feature.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in River Landscapes and Processes, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.