Water Erosion
Water erosion has many different processes when it comes to all of the functions that water erosion possesses. All of these processes of water erosion have their own way of eroding away at water, although, water will always be on this earth. From oceans, rivers, and streams, and even lakes.
Although, some of the water is evaporated by plants, when that splash of rain the erosion process. Some falling raindrops will pick up particles that are located in the soil. The moving water that you see is called runoff. Runoff is the water that is moving over Earth's surface. It can sometimes flow into a thin layer that is over the land, in which it will create sheet erosion.
Runoff runs down hills because of gravity and material along with it. The runoff moves along while it develops tiny grooves in the soil. This is called rills. As rills combine into each other, they become larger in size. As they form to become greater by size, they then create gullies. Gullies are large grooves, or channels in the soil. In which that carries the runoff after a rainstorm. The gullies become larger because of erosion, since water from gullies moves rocks and soil as well.
Rills Video
Afterward eventually the gullies form together to create a stream. When water is constantly flowing down a slope, this is a stream. Streams just about never tend to dry up. Another thing you can call miniature streams are brooks and creeks. Streams then flow together on their own to grow greater bodies of water. This is when the process of becoming a river comes into place. This happens by getting water from tributaries. A river that flows to become an even larger river is a tributary. Tributaries collect their water from water basins, watersheds, and anything else that pretty much carries water. A river that flows from to the sea can create a variety of land features.
These types are valleys, waterfalls, flood plains, meanders, and also oxbow lakes. Rivers are most often to form on steep slopes. A river can often be flowing right by it draining out from the source. Steep slopes along the river usually erode in a rapid way. The effect of that will be a V-shaped valley that is formed.
Waterfall
Sometimes water falls may fall where a river meets a rocky area that erodes slowly. The river flows to a softer rock when it's near the bottom of the waterfall. The softer rock is the rock that erodes first compared to the harder rock. As the softer rock erodes, the rest of the waterfall will start developing. Areas of rougher water that are called rapids tend to occur where a river tumbles over hard rock.
Flood Plain
A river usually flows down its course, over more gently sloping land, lower down the course. The river spreads out and erodes land, forming a wider river valley. The wide and flat area along the river is a flood plain. Whenever there's a flood, a river often covers its flood plain when it overflows its banks. A flood plains valley walls may be kilometers away from the river itself.
Meanders A loop like bend in the course of a river is called a meander. As the river proceeds to wind from side to side, it erodes the outer bank and deposits sediment on the inner bank of a bend. This is how the meander becomes more and more curved as time goes on.
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Oxbow Lakes A meandering river can sometimes form into a feature called an oxbow lake. An oxbow lake is a meander that has been cut off from a river. When a river floods, it is possible for an oxbow lake to form.
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Deposits by Rivers
As water moves, it tends to carry the sediment along with it. Anytime that water slows down at all, every time it does, it'll always deposit sediment. Deposition creates landforms such as alluvial fans and deltas. It can also add soil to a river's flood plain.
Alluvial Fans An alluvial fan is a wide, sloping deposit of sediment formed when a stream leaves a mountain range. The stream becomes wider and shallower as it flows into a steep mountain valley. The water then slows down a deposits sediment into a alluvial fan. This deposit is very much shaped like a fan, as it says in its name.
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Deltas Once water flows into a still body of water, that's when a river ends. Since the river is no longer flowing downhill, the water slows down. The sediment will drop to the bottom at this point. Sediment that is deposited where a river flows into an ocean or a lake is what builds up a land form called a delta. It is possible for deltas to be able to form in many shapes. Some are arc shaped while others are triangle shaped, meanwhile others are formed into different looking shapes, much like clouds do.
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Soil on Flood Plains
During floods, it is also possible even then for deposition to occur and deposit sediment. Very heavy rains and also a lot of melting snow can very much cause a river to overcome and rise above its flood plain. When the water from the flood finally evaporates, it then deposits sediment into new soil. This, the new soil, is what is very much able to make river valley fertile. In the rich soil of the flood plain, forests sometimes can grow there, because the soil is very new. That is the type of soil you would really want for growing crops.
Groundwater Erosion
Not all water becomes evaporated or runoff once the snow melts and water evaporates. Some of the melted water will soak into the soil, or anywhere underground. The water fills into cracks and spaces of rock layers. The underground water that soaks into soil is what geologists call groundwater. Groundwater is able to affect the shape of the land like running water along the surface. Groundwater is able to cause erosion in a process of chemical weathering.
Carbonic acid forms underground when water combines with carbon dioxide. Even though carbonic acid is weak, it is very simple for it to break down limestone. It does this because once the acid is contained in the water, it is able to flow into the cracks of the limestone. In a solution of water, the limestone is then carried away because the limestone changes chemically. The process of this puts very hollow pockets into the rock. Then over time, these pockets then form into large caves of cavern underground from huge rock holes.
Carbonic acid forms underground when water combines with carbon dioxide. Even though carbonic acid is weak, it is very simple for it to break down limestone. It does this because once the acid is contained in the water, it is able to flow into the cracks of the limestone. In a solution of water, the limestone is then carried away because the limestone changes chemically. The process of this puts very hollow pockets into the rock. Then over time, these pockets then form into large caves of cavern underground from huge rock holes.