Chapter 13 Worksheets
Section 1-4
13.1 After You Read:
Streams and Rivers
1. What is a drainage basin, or watershed?
What separates two drainage systems from
each other?
A drainage basin, or watershed, is all of the
land that drains into a certain river and its
Oxygen acting on iron
tributaries. A divide separates two drainage
basins.
Burrowing animals
13.1 After You Read:
Streams and Rivers
Gradient
Discharge
Size and shape of
channel
How much energy river
has to erode materials
13.2 Stream Erosion and
Deposition
1. What is the difference between a
stream’s competence and its capacity?
The competence is the maximum size of
the particles a stream can carry, while
capacity is a measure of the total
amount of sediment it can carry.
13.2 After You Read: Stream
Erosion and Deposition
In suspension
In bed load
In solution
In bed load
In suspension
In bed load
In solution
In suspension
13.3 River Valleys
Gully
Canyon
Base Level
V-shaped valley
13.3 River Valleys
After You Read
1. Explain how Niagra Falls illustrates the
process of recession by undermining.
Niagra Falls’ falling water erodes the shale rock
around its plunge pool, leaving the
overhanging layer of dolomite rock
unsupported.
ES1305 – Waterfall Erosion
13.3 River Valleys
After You Read
2. How can headward erosion lead to stream
piracy?
When land is worn away at the head of a
stream and the stream eventually breaks
through a divide, the first stream can capture
the headwaters of a second river.
Headward Erosion
13.4 Floodplains and Floods
List the advantages and disadvantages, or
limitations, of three methods of flood control;
replanting where vegetation has been removed,
building dams, and building artificial levees.
Can reduce runoff
Reservoirs can store
excess runoff
Allows deeper river to
hold more water
Cannot prevent floods
If dam breaks, resulting flood is
worse than without dam
Deeper depth of river produces
greater velocity and greater
erosive force
13.4 Floodplains and Floods
List three human activities that can cause
or worsen floods and tell how they
cause problems.
Covering land with pavement makes land
unable to absorb water; removing
vegetation from slopes increases runoff;
and development displaces the
wetlands that would otherwise act as
natural sponges.