G: R: JerVohn A: Brooke B: Khai Date: 3-18-19 Group #: 28

Student Exploration: River Erosion

Vocabulary: cutbank, discharge, erosion, flood,

floodplain, meander, meandering river, oxbow lake,

point bar, river speed, sediments, slope,

streambank, streambed, tributary, weathering

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE

using the Gizmo.)

1. The image above shows a raging mountain river in full flood. What do you think is making

the water brown in color? Dirt

2. What impact do you think the flooding river will have on the surrounding landscape?

Erosion

Gizmo Warm-up https://www.explorelearning.com/

If you stand by the bank of a river, it may seem that very little is

happening. But over thousands and even millions of years,

rivers can have a profound effect on the landscape. In the River

Erosion Gizmo, you will see how rivers move materials and how

they affect landscapes.

To begin, check that Mountain stream and Short-term erosion are selected. The Gizmo

shows a typical stream that is moving through a hilly area.

1. The two movie cameras ( ) allow you to observe different parts of the stream up close.

Click on the left movie camera. What do you see? I see fish swimming in the water &

some rocks.

2. Sediments are small rock fragments such as sand or pebbles. What evidence do you see

that sediments are being transported? How the water is flowing & the fish moving right.

3. Now select the right movie camera to see the bank of the mountain stream. What is

happening to sediments on the bank? It eroded & then it fell into water.

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GIZMO Copy of KWAL 5 River

Erosion

Activity A:

Mountain streams

Get the Gizmo ready:

● Check that Mountain stream and Short-term

erosion are selected.

● If necessary, click outside the circle to close the

zoomed-in view.

Introduction: Erosion occurs when sediments and other materials are moved from one place

to another. Along with weathering, which is the breakdown of large rocks into smaller

sediments, erosion can have a profound impact on the landscape.

Question: How does river erosion affect landscapes in the mountains?

1. Label: First, get to know some of the

different parts of a mountain stream. Turn

on Show labels. Label the image to the

right, then fill in the word that goes with

each description.

A small stream that flows into a larger stream:

 Tributary

A place along a stream where water drops

straight down: W aterfall

A letter that describes the shape of a typical mountain valley: V_shaped valley

The side of a stream: Streambank The bottom of a stream: Streambed

2. Observe: Turn off Show labels. Next to “Release barrel,” click Play ( ). Observe how fast

the barrel moves as it floats down the stream.

What happens when the barrel goes over the waterfall? The barrel speeds up when

falling down the waterfall.

3. Calculate: The two red flags are 100 meters apart. The time at which the barrel passes the

flag is shown. Remember, there are 60 seconds in a minute.

A. How many seconds did it take for the barrel to go 100 meters? 91 seconds

B. To find the barrel’s speed, use a calculator to divide the distance traveled (100 m) by

the time it took the barrel to float 100 m. The units are meters per second (m/s).

 What is the speed of the barrel? 1.1 m/s

V-shaped valley

Waterfall

Tributary

Streambed

Streambank

This study source was downloaded by 100000828331062 from qwivy.com on 07-21-2021 11:31:30 GMT -05:00

https://www.qwivy.com/file/40086664/Copy-of-KWAL-5-River-Erosion-GIZMO/

This study resource was

shared via qwivy.com Powered by qwivy(www.qwivy.org)