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Bedrock River

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If a river flows over bedrock, the bedrock restricts widening and lateral mobility which can distort the shape of the bends in the river (Hooke and Yorke 2011). Substrate influences channel form at the reach scale, with bedrock channel found to be narrower and deeper than alluvial channels (Whitbread et al. 2015). This means that the substrate the river is flowing over does have an effect on what the river is doing. The bedrock restricts widening and lateral mobility, which limits how fast the river can meander. If the river is flowing over a substrate that is easily erodible, and then if it erodes down to bedrock the river will become less sinuous.
Meandering rivers are not common in bedrock channels because bedrock channels are narrower and deeper than alluvial channels (Whitbread et al. 2015). The alluvial channels allow the river channel to become wide and therefore the river is able to meander because its channel is so wide. Changing the type of bedrock can influence the width and depth of the river (Whitbread et al. 2015). The maximum width/depth ratio decreases with increasing fracture spacing (Whitbread et al. 2015). This is because the fractures create a weak spot in the rock that allows the river to erode into those fractures. Adding …show more content…

The substrate that the river flows over has an effect on the interaction between groundwater and the bottom of the river. If the river is flowing over an impermeable substrate e.g. shale, mudstone, any crystalline rock etc. and then erodes through that impermeable substrate the river could cease to exist. The substrate has a major effect on the river. The substrate can determine what type of river is formed, how much sediment the river is transporting, how much erosion is occurring in the river etc. The substrate is a very import factor when anyone is studying a

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