Stream piracy is where one stream erodes headward to capture the drainage of another stream. The stream with more vigorous erosion (steeper gradient), intercepts another stream and water from the captured stream no flows into the pirating stream (see figure 17.26 in your text).

How would the competency of an arid versus a temperate-region stream vary, in a downstream direction? It would increase more in an arid-region stream.

Why do meandering rivers meander (move) across their floodplain? They are curved, which causes erosion on one side of the curve and deposition on the other side of the curve, thus moving the river in the direction of erosion.

Stream Discharge and Stream Geometry One very important stream variable is the “discharge.” The discharge is the volume of water flowing by a point over a given period of time. For example, a small stream might have a discharge of one cubic meter per second.

Meandering streams are characterized by very sinuous channels. Migrating streams erode the landscape. When the tightly curved portion of the stream is cut off, an oxbow lake develops off from the main river system. This lake is eventually filled by sediment through river flooding.

meander river

Stream load is broken into three types: dissolved load, suspended load, and bed load (Ritter, 2006).

“Flow” refers to the water running in a river or stream. There are two important aspects to a river’s natural flow. First, there is the amount of water that flows in the river. Some rivers get enough water from their headwaters, tributaries, and rain to flow all year round.

1. Toward the middle of a river, water tends to flow fastest; toward the margins of the river it tends to flow slowest. 2. In a meandering river, water will tend to flow fastest along the outside bend of a meander, and slowest on the inside bend.

It’s well known that rivers increase in size as they transport water from their source in their headwaters to the mouth. The river channel becomes wider and deeper and as a result its cross-sectional area increases. In the upper course of the river bedload is larger and more angular.

Amazon

Amazon River

Crocodiles, birds and hippopotami prefer the Congo’s many lakes, and along the riverbanks, you’ll find cats like leopards and lions, as well as hyenas, and rhinoceroses. Dolphins and whales are sometimes seen at the river basin.

And the Congo jungle resembles the setting of Mowgli’s jungle in India. Unfortunately, it’s not where bears like to spend their days. While a rainforest that harvests bamboo might usually attract pandas, bears haven’t quite found their way to the Congo.