Drainage Basins

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/watersheds-and-drainage-basins/3238.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfEi8CoPVgc&safe=active

All of you will create a 3D model of a drainage basinMost of you will know the key terms linked to drainage basinsMost of you will be able to describe, using an example, the effect of adapting a drainage basin

• Your book

• A template

• A stick of glue

• Scissors

• Pencil crayons- blue and brown

• A pen

Cut out the template.

Make sure you cut up the vertical line.

Using a brown crayon, shade around the circumference of the circle.

Using a blue crayon, shade the left triangle, draw some blue lines running from the top of the triangle and branching out towards

the edge of the circle.

Watershed the area of high land forming the edge of a river basin.

Source where a river begins.

Mouth where a river meets the sea.

Confluence the point at which two rivers meet.

Tributary a small river or stream that joins a larger river.

Channel this is where the river flows.

Drainage Basin this is the area of land drained by a river and its tributaries.

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You will now need a pen. Number the following features on your

template.

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6

7

Glue the remaining blank triangle.

Stick the glued triangle under the shaded triangle, so it fits neatly.

Open your book to a double page. Glue the triangle and the bottom sides of the

diagram. Stick this firmly across the cease of the book. The tip of the triangle should

correspond to the cease.

It should look like this!

Watershed the area of high land forming the edge of a river basin.

Source where a river begins.

Mouth where a river meets the sea.

Confluence the point at which two rivers meet.

Tributary a small river or stream that joins a larger river.

Channel this is where the river flows.

Drainage Basin this is the area of land drained by a river and its

tributaries.

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Give your diagram the title ‘River Basin’.

Write the numbers and corresponding definitions into

your book.

Close your book!

Open your book!

12,935 square kilometres (4,994 square miles). 13 million people live in the basin, 7 million of which live in London.

Thames River Basin

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/watersheds-and-drainage-basins/3238.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfEi8CoPVgc&safe=active

Drainage basin

1. What is the difference between a drainage basin and a water shed?

2. How can people change a drainage basin? (Some of these might be similar to the changes you found for the river system)

The Colorado River

The Colorado River, South West USALO: To describe how humans have adapted the drainage basins of one of the world’s major rivers

Outcomes

All will be able to locate the Colorado River and name its famous feature

Most will be to describe at least two adaptations that have been made to the Colorado River’s drainage basin

Some will be able to suggest problems that the management of the Colorado River has caused

1. Why is the Colorado River so famous?

The Colorado River’s Drainage Basin2. Where is the drainage basin of

the Colorado River? (which area of the USA, which states etc.)

3. Which state is the source of the Colorado River in?

4. How high (m asl) is the source of the river?

5. What happens to the height of the river as it travels to the sea?

6. Where is the mouth of the Colorado River?

7. How many people depend on the water from the Colorado?

Managing the Colorado River’s Drainage Basin

Anti flooding

Agriculture

Population Growth

Tourism

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIPV-H9iCPA&safe=active

How have they managed the Colorado River?

8. The Colorado River drainage basin (the area the river collects water from) has a seasonal rainfall pattern. What does seasonal rainfall mean?

9. What have the government built to store and transport water from the Colorado?

Has the management of the Colorado River been a success? Why? Explain your answer giving at least 3

points.

River Processes

LO: To describe the jobs that rivers do

All should be able to name the processes that rivers carry outMost will be able to describe the different types of erosion and transportationSome will be able to explain why rivers carry out different jobs at different stages

CatchmentThe area from which water drains into a particular drainage basin.

Tributary A river which joins a larger river.

ConfluenceThe point at which two rivers join.

Watershed The boundary dividing one drainage basin from another- a ridge of high land.

What is a drainage basin?

SourceThe upland area where the river begins.

MouthWhere the river flows into the sea, or sometimes a lake.

Processes = things that

happen

There are 4 processes that take place in and around rivers

1. Weathering2. Erosion3. Transportation4. Deposition

Weathering

Biological – rocks are broken up by expanding plant roots

Chemical – acid rain damage

Physical – freeze thaw. This takes place in areas where the temperature varies from above to below freezing. The stress fractures and breaks up rocks.

Weathering = breaking up of rocks by weather, chemical processes, plants and animals

Erosion = The wearing

away and removal of

rocks by the action of

water, wind or ice

There are 4 types of erosion and you need to know them all1. Abrasion (or corrasion) 2. Corrosion (or solution)3. Hydraulic Action 4. Attrition

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LplQZUzbVWI

Transportation = the movement of sediment along the river’s course

There are 4 types of transportation1. Suspension 2. Solution3. Saltation 4. Traction

The River Long ProfileThe river profile describes how a river changes on its journey from source to mouth.