Geography
Hydrosphere
Rivers on Ordnance Survey Maps
[Date]
Today I will:
- Be able to describe the physical features of a river and its valley
on an OS map
Geography
Hydrosphere
The typical style of question is:
Describe the physical characteristics of the river X and
its valley from A to B on an OS Map.
Geography
Hydrosphere
The typical style of question is:
Describe the physical characteristics of the river X and
its valley from A to B on an OS Map.
Physical characteristics are natural.
They do not include human features
such as bridges and canals.
Geography
Hydrosphere
The typical style of question is:
Describe the physical characteristics of the river X and
its valley from A to B on an OS Map.
You must write about the river AND
its valley to gain full marks
Geography
Hydrosphere
The typical style of question is:
Describe the physical characteristics of the river X and
its valley from A to B on an OS Map.
A and B are grid references. You must
quote features from within this area.
Anything outwith will gain you no
marks.
Geography
Hydrosphere
What kind of things could you include in your
answer? What physical features will you be able to
see on a map? You have 60 seconds in pairs…
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Geography
Hydrosphere
How to answer this question. Use the rhyme: Does Cotton
Wool Scare Poor Sheep?
Direction
Course
Width
Straight
Physical Features
Steepness of Valley
Geography
Hydrosphere
Direction
Your first sentence should state which direction the river flowing
i.e. South, North East etc.
Hints: Water always flows downhill so look at the contours.
Tributaries also point in the direction of downhill.
Geography
Hydrosphere
Course
State whether the river is in the upper, middle or lower course?
Hints:
Upper course: contours close together, presence of waterfalls, thin river.
Middle course: Meandering river, quite wide channel.
Lower course: Sometimes the mouth of the river is present, wide channel,
flat valley floor.
If you aren’t sure…guess!!
Geography
Hydrosphere
Width
How wide is the river – wide, quite wide or narrow?
Hints: A thin blue line indicates a narrow channel.
Straightness
Is the river straight, meandering
slightly or are there big meanders?
Geography
Hydrosphere
Physical features
Write out the physical features you can see on the map such as
tributaries, a confluence point, waterfalls, meanders or ox-bow
lakes.
Hints: This is where you get big marks. Make sure you take each
feature in turn and give a grid reference.
Geography
Hydrosphere
Steepness of valley
Is the land surrounding the river steep, gently sloping or flat?
Hints: Look at the contours surrounding the river. You must
mention this or you will not get full marks.
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Settlement
Forestry
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Hydrosphere
OS Mapping
Examples of style of answer
Weak Answer:
The river starts of straight, flowing N and then swings to the W, before going NE
and then NW, NE again and then NW, N, NW and back NE and N. The river has a
lot of meanders. It flows under a bridge at 587028 and goes through woodland at
580050.
What do you think of this answer?
1. First sentence = 1 mark. General comment on direction is enough
2. Gets two marks but could have got two for simply saying:
‘The river meanders to the NW’
3. Woodland and bridge references are irrelevant
4. No grid reference given for meanders
5. No mention of valley
6. No mention of any other features
Geography
Hydrosphere
Strong answer: The river meanders to the NW. An example of a meander is
found at 587028. The river is roughly the same width throughout the section
and could be in its middle course. There are 2 tributaries with confluence
points at 588036 and 584040. There is an ox-bow lake at 585044. There is an
embankment at 587038 suggesting that the river is prone to flooding here.
The valley has a flood plain which widens from 500m wide in the South to
2km wide in the North. The East side of the valley is gently sloping to over
30m whereas the West side is steep, rising to over 70m.