The primary purpose of this page is completion and clarification of terms applying to rivers. We speak of "character" because these terms define the nature of rivers almost as if they have personality. Indeed, it may be argued that they do!
| 1. Current & course. Rivers always flow downward, never up! They follow a course that leads them lower and lower no matter how winding it may be. The flow of water in the river is its current. When a river drops rapidly, what happens to the current?
Teacher notes: Understandably, the steeper the gradient, the faster the current. Generally speaking, the slower the current, the more meandering the course. |
| 2. Rapids, falls, & cascades. Swiftly moving water is likely wherever a river drops rapidly as down a mountain slope. The steeper the slope, the more swift the current. If it is not too deep, a river moving over a rocky bed will churn and boil as it makes its way over and around the rocks. This produces rapids. When such a river flows over a cliff we know it as a waterfall, but when it drops over a series of smaller falls or over a long section of rapids, we may call it a cascade. Where are we most likely to find waterfalls? Teacher notes: As with other terms on this page, these may not be easily defined, but they are representative. Hopefully students recognize waterfalls are most likely in the mountains. |
| 3. Creek & stream. Rivers vary in size. Very small ones are streams and creeks. A creek is often just a trickle of water through a field. If you can, name a river, stream, and creek in your area. Teacher notes: As a rule, the order of dominance is river, stream, creek. Review familiar regional features for examples. |
| 4. Swamps, marshes, & bayous. Where the land is flat, water moves very, very slowly. There may be no apparent current. It soaks the ground. We may think of very wet soil as marsh. Where shallow water covers the soggy land, we have a swamp. Some of the very slow moving streams in swamp lands near the Gulf of Mexico are called bayous. What would you worry about if you were boating on a bayou? Teacher notes: Again, definitions are indistinct. Apply local examples if you can. Bayous are notably local to the gulf coast. Boaters can easily become lost in the tangle of growth and uncertain course of such rivers. |
| 5. Oceans, seas, & lakes. East and west of America are two giant oceans. They are the biggest bodies of water on earth. But inland there are bodies of water too. Seas and lakes are places where water collects. Usually they are just steps on the path of rivers to the ocean. But some are "salt lakes" or "salt seas" that have no river out! They may even be below the level of the oceans. There is one like this in California called the "Salton Sea." Rivers too may move underground. They may even sink into the soil only to reappear at another point. California's Mojave and Nevada's Humboldt are examples of such rivers. What ocean, sea, or lake does your nearest river flow into? |
| 6. Dams, reservoirs, & aquifers. By building a dam across a river, we can create our own lake. We call this a reservoir because it stores water for other uses. It can also help control flooding. But there's a special kind of reservoir nature makes. We call it an aquifer. This is a large pool of water under the ground in which water collects but cannot be seen. Often it comes up somewhere else in springs. Sometimes the source of a river is a spring or spring-fed lake. If you can, name a spring or spring-fed lake? How else can we get water from aquifers? Teacher notes: We want students to recognize reservoirs as man-made lakes created by dams. You will likely be able to illustrate this locally, even if the dam is small. An aquifer is more difficult for students to understand because it is not visible. Yet such underground "pools" of water are critical to drinking and agricultural water supply in many parts of our country. Some, like the "Edwards Aquifer" of Texas, are enormous in size and significance. Often water contained in aquifers is released through springs or "Artesian wells" miles from the water source. Man-made "wells" tap aquifers to provide a water source. If your water source is a well, it comes from an aquifer. |
| 7. Fords and ferries. Often we need to cross rivers. Today we usually use bridges or tunnels, but in pioneer times we often used a ferry to carry us and our goods across the river or walked through the river at a shallow point called a ford. What would you worry about if you had to ford a river? Teacher notes: Crossing rivers will become critical in our next two lesson sets. We will see the natural significance of rivers in exploration and settlement of our nation. Whether fording or ferrying across a river, the swiftness of current is a concern. In fording, of course depth is a critical issue. |
You have now completed study of this lesson set. Use the remaining page for assessment.
Copyright 2000 by Robert C. Law. Permission to copy granted provided this credit line is included:
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