What affects the flow velocity of a stream?

What affects the flow velocity of a stream?

The velocity of a river is determined by many factors, including the shape of its channel, the gradient of the slope that the river moves along, the volume of water that the river carries and the amount of friction caused by rough edges within the riverbed.

What increases as stream order increases?

discharge
As the order of the stream increases, the discharge increases, the gradient decreases, the velocity increases, and the channel dimensions (width and depth) increase to accommodate the increased discharge.

How do velocity and discharge affect stream erosion and deposition?

Flowing water is a very important mechanism for both erosion and deposition. Water levels rise during a flood and due to the higher discharge of water the stream flow velocity increases. The higher discharge also increases the cross-sectional area of the stream, so it fills up the channel.

What happens to the erosive power of a stream as velocity increases?

What happens to the erosive power of a stream as velocity increases? Erosion decreases. Base level generally is near the steepest part of a stream’s profile. Most streams have lower gradient close to their base level.

Which stream would have the highest velocity?

Stream velocity is the speed of the water in the stream. Units are distance per time (e.g., meters per second or feet per second). Stream velocity is greatest in midstream near the surface and is slowest along the stream bed and banks due to friction.

What is the highest stream order?

12th-
When using stream order to classify a stream, the sizes range from a first-order stream to the largest, a 12th-order stream.

What are the factors that affect stream erosion?

Our experiments will examine three variables that affect water flow in a stream and test for their effect on erosion: slope (gradient) of the streambed, total amount of water flowing in a streambed (discharge), and pulses (spikes) in water.

Where is the fastest velocity within a stream channel?

If a stream is flowing along straight, the strongest, fastest flow will be in the center of the stream well above the bottom of the bed or channel but below the surface. Friction with the bottom and sides of the channel acts to slow the water against it, and that in turn slows the adjacent water, but not as much.

Which course of river is the fastest?

upper course
The upper course begins at the river’s source and usually has the steepest gradient. As a consequence, the water flow is at its fastest here, the currents are turbulent and the river contains a great deal of energy. There may be rapids and waterfalls along this section.

How does the amount of water in a stream increase?

As the amount of water in a stream increases, the stream must adjust its velocity and cross sectional area in order to form a balance. Discharge increases as more water is added through rainfall, tributary streams, or from groundwater seeping into the stream. As discharge increases, generally width, depth, and velocity of the stream also increase.

How does the velocity of a stream decrease?

The velocity of the stream decreases. This figure shows a meandering river. Drag each channel profile to its appropriate place along the river. a delta. Compared with curve 2 on this hydrograph, what is a possible explanation for curve 1?

Which is correct relationship between stream velocity and sediment load?

Which of the following is the correct relationship between stream velocity and sediment load? As velocity increases, so does the stream’s capacity to carry a larger load. At which site along this stream would a cutbank form?

What happens when a stream overflows its banks?

In Traveling Down a Stream from its Head to its Mouth (b) channel cross sectional area increases (c) velocity increases slightly 1. Floods occur when a stream’s discharge exceeds the capacity of the channel, causing the stream to overflow its banks.