Chapter 5: River Systems and Groundwater Resources

The San Juan River near Bluff, Utah, flooded in 1941 producing:

A deepening of the channel, followed by subsequent filling

When a dam and reservoir are constructed, the natural response of the river and its channel gradient come under the control of:

A local, or temporary, base level

The total possible load a stream can transport is its ________ , whereas a stream's ability to move particles of specific size is its ________.

Capacity; competence

A flood recurrence interval of 100 years means that floods of that size will occur only once every 100 years.

False

A major drainage basin consists of a single watershed.

False

Floodplain formation occurs while a stream is downcutting rapidly.

False

Rectangular drainage patterns form primarily as a result of ________.

Flow though a faulted or jointed landscape

The lengths of the individual channels in a dendritic drainage pattern are ________ and this increases energy ________.

Minimized; efficiency

Braided streams are characterized by:

Sediment deposition in the channel resulting in the formation of sand and gravel bars and numerous small "channels" and a heavy load in relation to its discharge

Stream transport involves all of the following except:

Sheet flow

Stream capture refers to:

The process by which one channel erodes through a drainage divide and captures the headwater regions of another stream

The valley and ridge province is characterized by which drainage pattern?

Trellis

A floodplain is composed of alluvium.

True

Erosion of the walls of a channel normally occurs on the outside curve of a meander.

True

Abrasion is not

a hydraulic squeeze-and-release action

Topographically disrupted areas do not have a

parallel drainage patterns

The construction of a dam across a river is likely to cause ________ upstream and ________ downstream.

Aggradation; erosion

The general term for clay, silt, and sand deposited by running water is

Alluvium

Of the world's largest rivers, which has the greatest discharge?

Amazon River

The high ground that separates one valley from another is known as ________, and it directs surface water runoff known as ________ toward a stream.

An interfluve; sheet flow

William Morris Davis did not come up with

Base level concept

The largest material that can be carried by a stream is carried as:

Bed load

John Wesley Powell put forward the idea of base level, which refers to:

Both an imagined surface that extends inland from sea level which is inclined gently upward, and a level below which a stream cannot erode its valley

Bed load is moved by:

Both saltation and traction

Allegheny and Missouri rivers do not flow

from the Monongahela at Pittsburgh