13.1: Introduction
- Page ID
- 1740
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Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the end, you should be able to:
- Explain the hydrological cycle and its relevance to streams and what residence time means in this context
- Describe a drainage basin and explain the origins of different types of drainage patterns
- Explain how streams become graded and how certain geological and anthropogenic changes can result in a stream losing its gradation
- Describe the formation of stream terraces
- Describe the processes by which sediments are moved by streams and the flow velocities that are necessary to erode them from the stream bed and keep them suspended in the water
- Explain the origins of natural stream levées
- Describe the process of stream evolution and the types of environments where one would expect to find straight-channel, braided, and meandering streams
- Describe the annual flow characteristics of typical streams in Canada and the processes that lead to flooding
- Describe some of the important historical floods in Canada
- Determine the probability of a flood of a particular size based on the flood history of a stream
- Explain some of the steps that we can take to limit the damage from flooding
Contributors
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Physical Geology by Steven Earle used under a CC-BY 4.0 international license. Download this book for free at http://open.bccampus.ca.