Session (1.1.3) Drainage Basin Characteristics Influencing the Movement of Water

Partial Progress - Circles (browser only)

Objectives

In this session you will understand how drainage basin characteristics influence the movement of water.

By the end of this session, you should be able to:

understand key drainage basin characteristics that influence water movement including size and shape, drainage density, porosity and permeability of soils rock types, slopes, vegetation type and land use;
identify different soil (clay, silt, sand) and rock (granite, limestone, chalk, sandstone, clay) types.

Engage

WATCH - ‘Natural Factors Affecting the Water Cycle in a Drainage Basin’ (YouTube)

Consider how relief (i.e. steep slopes vs. gentle slopes) influences runoff and water flow.

Learn

Read and make notes on pages 8–9 of your coursebook.

Study Figure 1.9 on page 8 of your coursebook and compare elongated and circular basins and their impact on peak discharge. You can also see the impact of drainage density on run-off speed in part d. Read the supplementary information on this page.

Extend

Use the article on drainage basin characteristics to add to your notes.

READ – Drainage Basin Characteristics (Tutorchase)

Watch this tutorial on the hydrological cycle and factors influencing the drainage basin.

WATCH – Hydrological Cycle (YouTube)

Apply

Complete activities 1 and 2 on page 9. Note the command term is ‘explain’, so you should put some detail in your answers. Look back to the lesson objectives and use the terms there in your answers (such as ‘evapotranspiration’)

Create a comparison table of the main soils (clay, silt, sand) and rock types (granite, limestone, chalk, sandstone, clay). Give a geographical location for each and indicate their key characteristics. An example is below.

Rock/Soil	Location	Characteristics
Clay	Southern England (Cornwall/Devon)	Particles are very small and have a large surface area, hold onto significant amounts of water. High plasticity

Consolidate

What is one drainage basin characteristic you still need to understand better? The main ones studied again are:

size and shape
drainage density
porosity and permeability of soils
rock types
vegetation type
land use

Go back to your coursebook and review your notes for any that you feel you need to understand in more detail.