Side Valley - Basic Facts of Geomorphology

Basic Facts of Geomorphology

However, the term "side valley" is used rather for higher order valleys near the mountains (example above: the Pennines), for the lower valleys often do not show a drastic relief. The reason is a simple one: The "mainstem river" (into which the secondary river flows) passes much more water than its tributaries and therefore

  • has a lower current (see Hydrology)
  • much more fine sediments
  • which are deposed in a more flat matter.

The higher the order of a valley, the steeper usually are the hillsides resp. valley slopes. Looking upstream, the steepest slopes are normally near the source of a brook (with the exception of very hard rocks in downstream direction).

Read more about this topic:  Side Valley

Famous quotes containing the words basic and/or facts:

    There’s one basic rule you should remember about development charts that will save you countless hours of worry.... The fact that a child passes through a particular developmental stage is always more important than the age of that child when he or she does it. In the long run, it really doesn’t matter whether you learn to walk at ten months or fifteen months—as long as you learn how to walk.
    Lawrence Kutner (20th century)

    News reports don’t change the world. Only facts change it, and those have already happened when we get the news.
    Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)