bradley and brendan g18 19 main
TRANSCRIPT
• Dedham Mill, Essex 1820 by John Constable. • Our photos of the River Stour are taken looking down
the river to the left from the bridge in the photo
River Stour, Dedham, Essex
We think that this river is at the Lower Course stage of the river because of the following points:-*Flat and wide floodplains. We often see from our house the fields around the river flooded in winter as this happens quite often.
• Gentle valleys and hills the wide plains are seen in the photo to the left
The river has become wider with flooding and the extra water from the melted snow –
you can see in the photo below how the river is now overflowing up and around the
trees
More reasons that this is at the Lower Course stage
Other reason is that this stage the river is gently meandering
You can also see this in the map below
More Reasons - Splits and Channels
Closer look at the shallow split
The river running through Dedham also splits in a number of places where sand, rocks and dirt have built up. In the photo below you can see that the main river is on the right with a split channel on the left
River Speed
The water is flowing quite slowly here even though it was a windy day when this research was taken. We measured out
10 steps and it took the floating orange 74 seconds to float this distance. 10m divided by 74seconds = 0.135 meter per second river speed
The river in Dedham does not have a Ox Bow but below is an aerial photo of the River
Stour in Higham – about 2.5 miles from Dedham showing an Ox Bow in the river –
another indication of the Lower Course stage
• With this Ox Bow you can see the lake in the middle and it will submerge with the meander in time
Estuary in Mistley
Estuary Features• Another reason we
think that the River Stour in Dedham is a Lower Course is that 5 miles away in Mistley is the estuary of this river
• We visited this part of the river the next day after taking the photos in Dedham.
• Judging by the photos we have taken we have proof that this is a estuary.
Feature – width & tides
• Here you can see how much wider the river is to the one in Dedham –
• This part of the river has tides – showing the closeness to the sea
Sediment and rocks are deposited here, and because the river is not flowing quickly is stays here and does not go
any further
From the photo below you can see the low plains and
wide river at Mistley
• From the map you can see the river from Dedham to Mistley and further to the sea at Harwich
Conclusions on which Course the River Stour,
Dedham is• We believe that the river we have looked at is at the Lower Course stage because
• Wide floodplains• Gentle hills, low valleys• Slow river speed – water mainly flat with small
ripples• Meandering river• Splits and channels in the river from deposits• Flooded banks• Ox Bow formed just before Dedham (2.5 miles
away)• Estuary close by after Dedham at Mistley (5 miles
away)