Question

Explain the different stages of a river.

Answer 1

Instructions:

• Explain the upper course
• Middle course and
• Lower course

Solution:
A river is a large and natural stream of flowing water that flows towards an ocean, lake or another river. The river has three stages and they are the upper course, the Middle course and the lower course. These stages define its journey.

The Upper Course:
A vertical and intense erosion is dominated in the upper course. It carries a huge amount of sand and other sediments during the erosion. Also, many erosional landforms are being observed at this stage like the Gorges, the valleys and the waterfalls.

The Middle Course:
The flow of the river is slower than that of the upper course. Unlike vertical erosion, here, the erosion on the sides of the river that means lateral erosion is dominated. The most common forms of erosional and depositional landforms in the middle course are the ox-bow lakes, meanders and floodplains.

The Lower Course:
It is the final stage of the river. At this stage, the river flows much slower than the other two stages. The lower course is dominated by deposition. The deposition of a huge amount of sand and silt carried by the river from the upper course. The most common depositional landforms that we can see is - Deltas.