A Study of the Changes in River Processes

A Study of the Changes in River Processes

This is a study of the changes in river processes along the long

profile of a river. To study this we will use a sample river. The

river the study will be based on Loughton Brook, which is a river

situated in Epping Forest in Essex and is also a tributary of the

river Thames. A journey will be made to the river and measurements

will be made at three different sites. The measurements that were

taken will be studied so conclusions can be made about the changes to

characteristics of a river with distance downstream.

Aims and Hypotheses

The overall aim of this study is to investigate the changes in river

characteristics downstream along Loughton Brook.

To investigate these changes in more detail a range of hypotheses will

be tested. These hypotheses are:

1. The width of the river channel will increase with distance

downstream.

I expect to find this because in the long profile of a river channel

width increases. This is because there is a greater volume of water at

a faster velocity. This causes more hydraulic power erosion in the

river channel downstream, which makes the channel wider.

2. The depth of the river channel will increase with distance

downstream.

I am expecting to find this because as the velocity of the river

increase further downstream there will be more hydraulic power erosion

which will cause the river to become deeper.

3. The wetted perimeter increases with distance downstream.

This is because I expect the depth and width increase so the wetted

perimeter must also increase.

4. The gradient will decrease with distance downstream.

I expect to find this because in the long profile of a river the

further downstream along the river the less high the river is above

its base level.

5. The velocity increases with distance downstream.

I expect to find this because as the river flows downstream there will

be a larger volume of water.