IGCSE Geography / River environments

How rivers erode

Edexcel International GCSE Geography (4GE1), chapter 1: River environments, specification point 1.2a. Part of the full course.

Read the revision notes · IGCSE Geography past papers

Rivers erode their beds and banks in four ways. Knowing how these processes work, and how erosion differs from weathering and transport, helps you describe river landforms accurately.

More lessons in River environments

• The hydrological cycle: a closed system and its stores
• Transfers in the hydrological cycle
• Drainage basins and their features
• River regimes and what controls them
• Storm hydrographs
• Weathering and mass movement in river valleys
• How rivers carry and drop their load
• Long profile and cross profiles
• How a river changes downstream
• V-shaped valleys, interlocking spurs and waterfalls
• Meanders and oxbow lakes
• Flood plains and levees
• Case study: the River Tay from source to mouth
• Water: uses, rising demand and supply
• Water quality and pollution
• Storing and supplying clean water
• Case study: river management in Spain
• Case study: river management in China
• Case study: managing the Blue Nile in Ethiopia
• Why rivers flood
• Predicting and preventing river floods
• River fieldwork: collecting the data
• River fieldwork: results, conclusions and evaluation