A river, which is flowing water, erodes rock materials, transports them to newer places and deposits them. In this process, it creates many erosional and depositional landforms. Let us study in details about erosional landforms:
George:
1. In mountainous areas, river flows at a higher speed.
2. Here, the bed gets more eroded than its banks. Gorges are formed with steep banks and a narrow bed. For example, gorges of river Ulhas and river Narmada. Deeper gorges are called canyons.
V-shaped Valleys:
1. Over a period of time, the bed of the river is less eroded.
2. Erosion along the banks and the slope of the valley increases.
3. The vertical sides of the valley become wide resembling letter V’. These are V-shaped valleys.
Waterfalls:
When a river runs over alternating layers of hard and soft rock, rapids and waterfalls are formed. Jog falls on the Sharavati river.
Potholes:
1. They generally originate below waterfalls on where rocks are structurally weak.
2. Swirling whirlpool motions of the river water causes stones at the bottom to grind the bedrock and enlarge the potholes by drilling while finer sediments are carried away in the current.
3. Potholes may range from a few centimetres to many meters in diameter and depth. For example, large potholes can be seen in the beds of river Kukadi at Nighoj in Ahmednagar district.
