fluvial - processes involving running water carving deep valleys wearing down mountains filling in valleys Grand Canyon, Australian interior, Death Valley

Fundamental Concepts

• concept of watershed
  
  
  • an area drained entirely by a stream system
  • contains tributaries & interfluves
  • perennial and intermittent streams
  • pollution originates in watershed basin
    
    
• channel flow - cubic feet per second (cfs)
  • Q (volume) = A (area) x V (velocity)
    • Secret Ravine vs. Mississippi River

• splash erosion - begins when rain starts falling
  • unless deflected by vegetation
    
    
• sheet erosion - soil becomes saturated
  • carries loose material away
    
    
• rills - tiny channels
  • from concentrated flow etched into soil
    • visible erosion
      
      
• gullies - "rills" coalesce into larger channels
• scours away top soil
• stream system?