Student Exploration: River Erosion
Vocabulary: cutbank, discharge, erosion, flood, floodplain, meander, meandering river, oxbow lake, point bar, river speed, sediments, slope, streambank, streambed, tributary, weathering.
1. The image above shows a raging mountain river in fu flood. What do you think is making the water brown in color?
Answer: The water is brown because it is carrying sediments
2. What impact do you think the flooding river wi have on the surrounding landscape?
Answer: Flooding might erode riverbanks, destroy houses and roads, or deepen the river vaey
River Erosion Gizmos Answer Key Activity A
Gizmo Warm-up
If you stand by the bank of a river, it may seem that very lile is happening. But over thousands and even miions of years, rivers can have a profound effect on the landscape. In the River Erosion Gizmo, you wi see how rivers move materials and how they affect landscapes.To begin, check that Mountain stream and Short-term erosion are selected. The Gizmo shows a typical stream that is moving through a hiy area.
1. The two movie cameras aow you to observe different parts of the stream up close. Click on the le movie camera. What do you see?
Answer: I see a rocky streambed. Sma particles are being carried by the current. I see fish and water too.
2. Sediments are sma rock fragments such as sand or pebbles. What evidence do you see that sediments are being transported?
Answer: Sediments are moving from le to right. Particles moving through the water
3. Now select the right movie camera to see the bank of the mountain stream. What is happening to sediments on the bank?
Answer: Some sediments are faing into the stream. Bank eroding into the river.
River Erosion Gizmo Answer Key Activity B
What is the general pattern of weather in a region over an extended period of time
Answer: Climate
Answer: Weathering
What is the name of a low-lying area between hills that was created by erosion
Answer: Valley
River Erosion Gizmo Answer Key Activity C
Introduction: Erosion occurs when sediments and other materials are moved from one place to another. Along with weathering, which is the breakdown of large rocks into smaer sediments, erosion can have a profound impact on the landscape.
Question: How does river erosion affect landscapes in the mountains?
1. Label: First, get to know some of the different parts of a mountain stream. Turn on Show labels. Label the image to the right, then fi in the word that goes with each description.
A place along a stream where water drops straight down:
Answer: Waterfall
A letter that describes the shape of a typical mountain vaey:
Answer: V
The side of a stream: Streambank The boom of a stream: Streambed
Free Gizmos River Erosion Questions and Answers
Observe: Turn off Show labels. Next to What happens when the barrel goes over the waterfall? The barrel speeds up when falling down the waterfall then returns to normal pace. 3. Calculate: The two red flags are 100 meters apart. The time at which the barrel passes the flag is shown. Remember, there are 60 seconds in a minute. A. How many seconds did it take for the barrel to go 100 meters? 91 seconds B. To find the barrel’s speed, use a calculator to divide the distance traveled (100 m) by the time it took the barrel to float 100 m. The units are meters per second (m/s). What is the speed of the barrel? 1.09 m/s 4. Record: Click Reset ( ). Turn on Show data. A. The slope of the channel is how steep it is, or how many meters the streambed drops for every horizontal kilometer. What is the slope of the stream? 22.0 m/km B. River speed is a measure of how fast water flows. What is the river speed? 1.1 m/s C. How does the river speed compare to the speed of the barrel you calculated on the previous page? It is the same D. Discharge is the water volume that flows past a given point every second, measured in cubic meters per second (m/s). What is the stream’s discharge? 2.3 m E. What types of sediments are transported by this stream? Sand, Clay, and Silt Sediments are classified by size. The smallest sediments are clay particles, followed by silt, sand, and pebbles. Larger sediments include cobbles and boulders. 5. Observe: Turn off Show data. Next to River flow, select Flood. Look at the landscape, and then click on the movie cameras to see zoomed-in views. Describe what you notice below. On the first camera I checked the water was muddy and it was speeding through faster. On the second one the water level was higher and that made bigger rocks fa into the water. 6. Calculate: Click Play to release the barrel. How many seconds does it take the barrel to get from one flag to the other? What is the speed of the barrel? Time: 31 seconds Speed: 3.23 m/s Name the type of rock composed of clay and silt grains. This forms when sediments deposited underwater are compacted. It is a relatively soft rock that breaks down more quickly than other types of rocks. Answer: Shale The ________ of a channel is how steep it is, or how many meter the streambed drops for every horizontal kilometer. Answer: Slope The image below shows a point bar and a cutbank of a meander. What happens to sediments at these locations? Answer: D. Sediments are eroded from a cutbank and deposited on a point bar. A stream or river that flows into a larger river is called? Answer: tributary During a flood, a mountain stream is carrying clay, silt, sand, and pebbles. The streambed and particle sizes are shown below. Which sediments will most likely be deposited first when the stream slows down? Answer: A. Pebbles The outside bank of a water channel (stream), which is continually undergoing erosion Answer: Cutbank GIZMO’s - Activity Moles, Avogadro, And Molar Mass- Answer Key 2023 Balancing Chemical Equations Gizmo Answer KeyFree Gizmo Study Material
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