Using the power of Google Earth, GeoTours take you on flyovers of key locations discussed in the text.
StudySpace student website and ebook icons in each GeoTour connect your to the text and online review materials.
Dialogue boxes accompanying each site include text, figures, photos.
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Geotour 14: Fluvial Landscapes
Headward Erosion
Check and double-click placemark Problem 1a. In this view from Grand View Point in Canyonlands National Park, three stream branches (the middle one is labeled with the placemark) are experiencing headward erosion. Headward erosion allows streams to lengthen in the upstream direction. |
| 1a. As seen from this viewpoint, in which direction (right or left) are the streams lengthening?
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| 1b. Check and double-click placemark Problem 1b. In which direction are the streams experiencing headward erosion?
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Stream Patterns
Streams can develop a variety of patterns depending on the rock type and structure that underlies them. |
| 2a. What is the stream pattern exhibited at placemark Problem 2a?
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| 2b. Check and double-click the folder Problem 2b. What is the overall general stream pattern exhibited at this location with tributaries flowing in to the main trunk stream?
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| 2c. Leaving folder Problem 2b checked, check the placemarks for Problem 2c. Although the regional network of streams in the Appalachian Valley and Ridge Province is the pattern identified in Problem 2b, other stream patterns may develop locally. Note the angle at which the tributaries labeled by the placemarks for Problem 2c intersect other streams, and note the angle of bends in these streams. Based on these observations, what is the local drainage pattern for the streams defined by the placemarks for Problem 2c?
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| 2d. What is the stream pattern exhibited at placemark Problem 2d?
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| 2e. What is the stream pattern exhibited at placemark Problem 2e?
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Meandering Stream Features
Meandering streams develop various landforms along the stream bed and its floodplain. |
| 3a. What is the stream feature highlighted by placemark Problem 3a?
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| 3b. What is the stream feature highlighted by placemark Problem 3b? |
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| 3c. What is the stream feature highlighted by placemark Problem 3c? |
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| 3d. What is the stream feature highlighted by placemark Problem 3d? |
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| 3e. What is the stream feature highlighted by placemark Problem 3e? |
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| 3f. What has happened to the meandering stream shown by placemark Problem 3f? |
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| 3g. Check and double-click placemark Problem 3g. This meander has been cutoff sometime in
the past and now has been by-passed by the Green River. Did the cutoff happen before or
after the river incised into the landscape? |
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Miscellaneous Stream Features
There are many other fascinating features about streams; here, we’ll highlight two more. |
| 4a. Check and double-click the “Stream Piracy, Kaaterskill, NY” folder. Why are the dark blue
and orange streams capturing the headwaters of the cyan and magenta streams?
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| 4b. Check and double-click placemark Problem 4b. Why does the stream cut across the Sheep
Mountain anticline instead of being diverted around it?
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