RiversToday’s Agenda:

-Slide show on Rivers-What are rivers? -Why are they important? -What is responsible for creating a river? -What are the different parts of rivers?

-Create a River Individual Assignment

What are rivers?• Rivers are one of the most important physical features because they play a

huge role in shaping our world. • A river is: a large natural stream of water flowing in a channel to the sea, a

lake, or another stream.• Rivers have many different parts to them and are more complicated than

many people think.

Why are rivers important?• Many cities are located on rivers. Winnipeg, Montreal, Vancouver, London

and Moscow were all built on river banks. • Why? People depend on rivers for transportation, fresh water and what

else?• How could people use it for _____?

How do rivers form/work?• Rivers often appear to go on forever, but they do start and end

somewhere.• Source/headwater is the location where the river begins. This is often a

series of underground springs, melting glaciers, lakes or other rivers (tributaries).

• Most water in a river comes from surface runoff (rain or snow).• Rivers flow from the highest point of land in an area to the lowest.

However, some rivers flow south and north!• The high land the sends one river one way and the other river another

way is called a divide.• Oak Ridges Moraine is a divide that send one river north to lake Simcoe

and south to Lake Ontario.

What are the different parts?

• Tributary: a river or stream flowing into a larger river or lake.

• Tributaries flow into the main channel of the river.

Parts continued

• Meanders are large twists or turns in a river, often in the shape of a U.

• They are created by the dragging of soil and rock in a particular year and time, which creates new obstacles, or paths for water to flow based on speed and force.

• An oxbow lake (pg 179) is a U-shaped body of water that forms when a wide meander from the main stem of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water

Parts continued

• A confluence is a place where two rivers meet.• A Confluence brings two rivers together to

join the main channel/main branch.

Parts continued

• Delta’s are landforms that form where the river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake.

• These oceans, seas, estuaries and lakes are called the mouth of the river.

Patterns of a river

• Dendritic Drainage Pattern: Most rivers follow this pattern and look like a leaf. The main vein is the channel of the river and the small veins as tributaries. These rivers usually form in a gently sloping area.

Guided Reading

• Pg 167. Overview of lake components.• Pg 168. Where is a/the source(s)? Where is a

divide?Where is the mouth? Where do we see a confluence? Tributaries? Is this a dendritic (leaf) pattern?

• Pg 178. Good example of sources, confluence, delta, mouths, tributaries, divides.

What we have learned• Source/headwater is the location where the river begins• Tributary: a river or stream flowing into a larger river or lake.• Meanders are large twists or turns in a river, often in the shape of a U.• An oxbow lake (pg 179) is a U-shaped body of water that forms when a wide

meander from the main stem of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water.

• A confluence is a place where two rivers meet.• Delta’s are where the river flows into the mouth (an ocean, lake etc)• Dendritic Drainage Pattern(leaf pattern: The main vein is the channel of the river

and the small veins as tributaries. These rivers usually form in a gently sloping area.