Geo file

SEPTEMBER 2006
Online 529

Lynda Evans

River Channels Fieldwork

Figure 2: Riera de Ribes:top left and right show site 1 upstream; bottom right shows
Introduction site 2 downstream
There are a number of reasons why
river channels fieldwork is important
to A Level Geography students. These
include:
• the possible effects of climate
changes
• to help support the theoretical
study of rivers
• as a basis for coursework
• to help you answer examination
questions.

This Geofile unit illustrates, with

reference to specific examples, how
fieldwork can be used to support these St. Cugat
Sesgarrigues
aspects of river studies. Les Cabories
Olesa de
Bonesvalls
The possible effects of
climate change Olivella
As the profile of climate change
continues to rise, and more people in
countries such as the UK become
aware of the possible dangers of living Site 1
St. Pere de Ribes
on a floodplain, data collected about Riera de Ribes
river channels can be compared to the Sitges
surrounding land use. In this way it is Site 2
Mediterranean Sea
possible to make an examination of
the likely impacts of increased flood
levels and frequency on an area. • gradient Figure 3: High rainfall June 2000
• hydraulic radius
In Mediterranean countries, where it • discharge.
is possible to study rivers which only
flow at certain times of the year, some Sometimes land use developments close
interesting investigations can be to rivers alter their capacity in ways that
made. A dry river channel can quite are potentially dangerous. One example
easily be followed along a section of of this is a study of the Riera de Ribes Montserrat
Key
220mm

its course and a variety of river near Sitges, Barcelona (see Figures Barcelona
200mm
180mm
measurements taken to calculate the 1 and 2). Results from fieldwork can be Vendrell
160mm
140mm
potential capacity of the river: used to assess the risks to recent 120mm
100mm
housing and camp site developments 80mm
60mm
• cross-section on the river floodplain downstream as 40mm
well as the effectiveness of river 20mm
0mm
management schemes. On the river
Figure 1: Location of Sitges and Riera cliffs, previous flood levels can be seen
de Ribes and from this, bankful discharge can be flood hazard risk at this point. Gardens
calculated. New houses have been border the river channel at this
developed at this location and some downstream site, with walls
Sitges modifications have been made to the significantly reducing its cross-sectional
SPAIN channel to reduce the flood risk. area. The discharge at the upstream site
Further downstream a camp site has is found to be five times that of this
been built next to the river, as well as second site downstream at bank-full
more houses. If measurements are conditions (Figure 2 shows photos of
to also taken and the same calculations these two sites).
Barcelona
made here as well, it can quickly be
seen that the actual capacity of the river On 10 June 2000 flash flooding did
Sitges
is lower at this downstream location occur in the Barcelona area. The
Key than at the upstream site, thereby maximum rainfall was recorded on
Seasonal stream
River/stream flowing all year potentially creating a much greater Montserrat Mountain, with 224 mm

Geofile Online © Nelson Thornes 2006

September 2006 no.529 River Channels Fieldwork

Figure 4: El Vendrell Flood Management bar graphs in order to summarise the

characteristics of this river, which can
Key then easily be compared to Schumm’s
Bedload cleared
River to increase velocity Model (Figure 7).
Railway
Built up area As a basis for coursework
Club D’Esports There is still a requirement for
Vendrell
specifications which have a
Canalisation Canalisation coursework element in AS or A2 for
to protect
central areas
work to be individual, even if it is
based on group data collection. With
river studies like the ones outlined in
this article, group data can be adapted
and used in a variety of different ways.
For example, below are four
Torrent del Lluc

suggestions which can be used in a

variety of locations:
Camp de
Franca 1. How can the flood hazard risk in
the __________ area be assessed?
ba Canalisation 2001, 2. How have changing land uses in
l

s
a Bi to protect industry _________________ affected the
d el and new housing
Riera flood hazard risk?
3. How does the flood risk vary
between _______________ and
Click to view _________ on the ____river?
downstream
4. How could land use planning
Confluence of modify the flood risk in
two rivers, also ________________?
a road junction

falling in less than 6 hours. Secondary Investigations which might use this To help you answer
data on the causes of these floods can be sort of approach would be based examination questions
researched, for example Figure 3 is a around whether the river in question
As an alternative to coursework, on
good illustration of the very high is likely to flood, and, if so, how this
some specifications there is an
rainfalls and when compared to the would affect surrounding land use.
examination paper based on fieldwork
river location maps, provides one of the What management strategies should
investigation. For example, ‘With
causes of flash flooding. Other possible be put into place might then be
reference to a named river, show how
causes which can be ascertained from determined. The necessity for
data collected from fieldwork can be
secondary data include increased developing these areas in the first
used to describe the changes in
population growth in the area (caused place may also be questioned.
channel characteristics.’ The River
by the deurbanisation of Barcelona)
Rye data could be adapted for this
and a move away from agriculture to To help support the question. The first part of the answer
tertiary activities.
theoretical study of rivers would need to explain how the
fieldwork measurements were
In a nearby area, El Vendrell (Figure Sometimes theories such as the collected (this could be done through
4), 134 mm fell in less than 3 hours, at Hjulstrom Curve and Schuum’s a series of annotated diagrams) and
such an intensity that a state of Model of drainage basin then the results of the data could be
emergency was announced. El Vendrell characteristics can be difficult to summarised in a series of paragraphs.
lies at the confluence of two normally understand. The best way to do this is For example:
dry rieras (intermittent streams), the if students are able to physically
Riera de la Bisbal and the Torrent del collect the data they need, present it ‘The data shows that the width, depth and
Lluc. The confluence of these two using appropriate methods and then wetted perimeter of the River Rye increased
rivers flows across a main road into the compare their findings to the models. tenfold. This is due to the large increase in
town. One tributary had been canalised It is often the case that it is not discharge, which could be a result of
through the town, but the other possible to collect all the necessary tributaries joining the main channel.
remained as a natural channel, running data first-hand, but sometimes Hydraulic radius increases steadily which
at the same level as the main road in secondary data, with supporting maps shows that the channel is more efficient in
several locations. Flooding from this and photographs, can be just as useful. size. River gradient is very steep at first but
tributary seriously affected dozens of Fieldwork investigations of this sort then decreases to a very low angle and
sinuosity increases as gradient declines.
homes and businesses in the town are also valuable – consider the
This suggests there is a large amount of
centre. Figure 4 shows the two example below of the River Rye in lateral erosion on the floodplain. However,
tributaries and some of the alterations North Yorkshire. Figure 6 provides velocity shows a slight increase downstream
to the channel made since these flash some secondary data on the channel which reflects the importance of channel
floods, and Figure 5 illustrates the and its processes. These can be used efficiency as a factor which affects velocity.
damage caused by the floods. to draw a line graph and compound
Geofile Online © Nelson Thornes 2006
 September 2006 no.529 River Channels Fieldwork

Near the source, bedload is dominated by Figure 5 El Vendrell flood damage

larger materials with smaller materials
becoming more and more significant
downstream. This is because in the upland
areas, the bedload consists of recently
weathered material which has not yet been
subjected to a high degree of abrasion and
attrition. In the lower sections of the river,
however, there is a lot of fine material which
has been heavily eroded as it has been
transported downstream. Suspended load
shows a similar pattern of increase but for
the smaller sized particles only. This reflects
the competence of the river (although there
is evidence that this decreases further
downstream as the proportion of the finest
materials increases slightly.’

Notice in this answer that additional

knowledge of rivers is being used to
explain the patterns provided by the
statistical data. This answer would be
improved further by the addition of
figures taken from the tables in
Figure 6.

Some examination boards have a

more general approach to fieldwork
questions, for example:
• ‘Using examples from a human,
physical or human/physical
investigation which you have
undertaken, state the aim of your
investigation and two hypotheses.’
(3 marks)
• ‘For one hypothesis, describe how
you analysed the data that you
collected and show how the results
helped your understanding of the
topic studied.’ (7 marks)
Figure 6: Channel Data for the River Rye, North Yorkshire
The fieldwork undertaken both
around El Vendrell and on the River Channel characteristics A B C D E
Rye would be suitable to answer Width (m) 1.9 4.0 7.3 8.1 15.3
such questions. Depth (m) 0.12 0.52 0.6 1.2 1.9
Wetted perimeter (m) 2.1 5.0 8.7 10.0 19.3
Cross sectional area (m2) 0.2 2.08 4.4 10.4 34.1
Conclusion Hydraulic radius 0.07 0.42 0.51 1.04 1.77
This unit has set out a range of ways Velocity (m/sec) 1.2 1.3 1.6 1.8 1.8
in which fieldwork on river channels Discharge (cumecs) 0.24 2.7 7.04 18.7 61.4
River bed gradient 11 3 2 1 1
can be applied during your A level
Sinuosity
course. River channels is a common (1.0 = straight) 1.01 1.2 1.9 2.5 1.9
coursework topic, but most students
stick to a comparison of channel Bed load % A B C D E
characteristics. Now you can see how
Pebbles 10mm+ 50 45 10 2 0
straightforward measurements like
Gravel 1 – 10mm 43 30 43 15 12
these can be taken further and a Sand 0.1 – 1.0 5 10 22 25 13
higher level of work achieved. Silt 0.01 – 0.1 2 5 15 45 50
Clay 0.001 – 0.01 0 5 10 13 25

Suspended load % A B C D E
Pebbles 10mm+ 0 0 0 0 0
Gravel 1 – 10mm 0 0 0 0 0
Sand 0.1 – 1.0 80 50 25 0 0
Silt 0.01 – 0.1 20 45 50 30 25
Clay 0.001 – 0.01 0 5 25 70 75

Geofile Online © Nelson Thornes 2006

September 2006 no.529 River Channels Fieldwork

Figure 7: Schumm’s model Figure 8: Working out the hydraulic radius of different river channels

A B C
Zone Zone 2
1 Zone 3

m
v iu
lu
al
bed

d
m

re
s to
ater

e
harg
of

d is c
i al
grai

eam
str
n si

c
i sti
ter
e
ze
Increase

lu m

ac
ar
ch D E
vo
tive

th
c h a n ne l w i d
rela
gra
die

c h a nn el d e p t h
nt

mean flow velocity

Drainage area/distance downstream

N.B. Before you complete

the table in Focus
Question 3, decide
which river channel (A–F)
you think is the most ‘efficient’.
After answering this question,
you will see whether you were
correct

Scale 5 mm = 50 cm

Focus Questions
1. Use textbooks and the internet to find out how the following are
measured:
• cross-sectional area • gradient
• wetted perimeter • bedload size
• velocity.

2. Use textbooks and the internet to find out how the following are
calculated:
• discharge • cross-sectional area
• hydraulic radius • roughness coefficient.

3. Complete the table below using the diagrams in Figure 8.

Channel cross Wetted Cross-sectional Hydraulic Rank order of

section perimeter area radius efficiency
A
B
C
D
E
F

4. Use Figure 6 to produce line graphs and compound bars for the
characteristics shown. Write a sentence on each characteristic which
describes what happens, compares this to Schumm’s theoretical model and
attempts to explain any similarities/differences found.

5. Improve the exam answer in the final section by adding data from Figure 6.

Geofile Online © Nelson Thornes 2006