KS3 river landscapes - with brooks, creeks and streams

Geography Quiz - River Landscapes 02 (Questions)

Explore how rivers shape valleys, carve out channels and build landforms. This KS3 Geography quiz looks at erosion, transport and deposition along different parts of a river’s course.

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Fascinating Fact:

Meanders are large bends in a river that form when water flows faster on the outside of the bend, eroding the bank, and slower on the inside, depositing material.

In KS3 Geography, pupils study river landscapes from source to mouth. They learn how erosion cuts into rock, how rivers transport material and how deposition builds features such as floodplains and deltas.

Key Terms

Erosion: The wearing away of rock and soil by moving water, ice, wind or waves.
Deposition: The laying down of material carried by a river when the water slows down and loses energy.
Floodplain: The flat area beside a river that is built up by repeated flooding and deposition of fine sediment.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

What are the main stages or courses of a river?

A river is usually described as having an upper course near the source, a middle course where the valley widens and a lower course near the mouth where it meets the sea or a lake.

What landforms can be found in a river landscape?

Common river landforms include V-shaped valleys, waterfalls, rapids, wide floodplains and deltas. Each feature forms where erosion or deposition is strongest along the river’s course.

How do rivers change the landscape over time?

Over many years, rivers cut down into rock, widen valleys and move large amounts of sediment. This gradual erosion and deposition can completely reshape a landscape and create new landforms.

Try These Related Quizzes

What is the point where a river starts to flow?

[ ]	Ketchup
[ ]	Leak
[ ]	Sauce
[ ]	Source

Which is not a way for water to run into a river?

[ ]	Contraflow
[ ]	Groundwater flow
[ ]	Surface runoff
[ ]	Throughflow

What type of lakes are the remains of old meanders?

[ ]	Longbow
[ ]	Ox-bow
[ ]	Remnant
[ ]	Ribbon

Some river mouths have what feature?

[ ]	Delta
[ ]	Glacier
[ ]	Gorge
[ ]	Rapids

What is the correct term for the bottom of a river channel?

[ ]	Base
[ ]	Bed
[ ]	Bum
[ ]	Bunk

Which of the following can be formed by both deposition and erosion?

[ ]	Levee
[ ]	Ox-bow lake
[ ]	V-shaped valley
[ ]	Waterfall

A river deposit of very fertile material is called what?

[ ]	Alluvium
[ ]	Cap rock
[ ]	Load
[ ]	Moraine

The area drained by a river is the drainage…what?

[ ]	Basin
[ ]	Bowl
[ ]	Plateau
[ ]	Reservoir

Where would a plunge pool be found?

[ ]	At the base of a waterfall
[ ]	In a delta
[ ]	Near the source
[ ]	On a flood plain

10.

High land separating two drainage basins has what name?

[ ]	Border fell
[ ]	Drainage spur
[ ]	Watermark
[ ]	Watershed

You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - Rivers and Water

Geography Quiz - River Landscapes 02 (Answers)

What is the point where a river starts to flow?

[ ]	Ketchup
[ ]	Leak
[ ]	Sauce
[x]	Source

A source is often a spring where water can be seen coming out of the ground. Sometimes the flow of a spring is very low and it is just a marshy spot on the hillside with a small stream trickling away from its lowest point

Which is not a way for water to run into a river?

[x]	Contraflow
[ ]	Groundwater flow
[ ]	Surface runoff
[ ]	Throughflow

Contraflow is a way of controlling road traffic!

What type of lakes are the remains of old meanders?

[ ]	Longbow
[x]	Ox-bow
[ ]	Remnant
[ ]	Ribbon

Formed if the meander is cut off from the main river when the river flow rate is high e.g. during a flood

Some river mouths have what feature?

[x]	Delta
[ ]	Glacier
[ ]	Gorge
[ ]	Rapids

Low-lying land formed from deposited material

What is the correct term for the bottom of a river channel?

[ ]	Base
[x]	Bed
[ ]	Bum
[ ]	Bunk

The bed of a river in its early stages is usually rocky but in its final stages near its mouth, the river bed is usually mud

Which of the following can be formed by both deposition and erosion?

[ ]	Levee
[x]	Ox-bow lake
[ ]	V-shaped valley
[ ]	Waterfall

The river erodes a meander, which becomes more and more 'horseshoe' shaped. As the two ends of the 'horseshoe' meet, the river can break through, cutting off the meander from the flow of the river. Silt is then deposited at the ends of the meander as the flow is slower, creating the ox-bow lake

A river deposit of very fertile material is called what?

[x]	Alluvium
[ ]	Cap rock
[ ]	Load
[ ]	Moraine

Alluvial soil makes good farmland

The area drained by a river is the drainage…what?

[x]	Basin
[ ]	Bowl
[ ]	Plateau
[ ]	Reservoir

Some river basins can be huge