Activity 1On your tables there are somephotos of a river. Put thephotos in order of what youthink the river looks like –starting with the source(beginning of the river) andfinishing with the mouth (wherethe river meets the ocean).

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Clouds release their rain over the hills.

Most of this soaks into the ground to become groundwater.

Some groundwater comes to the

surface to form springs.

Springs join together to make streams.

As the streams trickle down the hillside they join together, getting bigger as they go, until they become rivers.

Who can tell me how

rivers begin?

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The Upper CourseThe upper course of a river starts at the source, this is where the river begins.

A river's journey - the upper courseMountain

Rain

Groundwater

Springs

Springs go on to form streams

RIVER SOURCE

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The Middle CourseOn either side of the middle course of the river are floodplains, these areas are flat and often become

flooded when heavy rainfall causes the river to overflow. Sometimes another river (a tributary) will join a river;

the joining point is called a confluence.

A river's journey - the middle course

Floodplains

Original riverTributary (joining river)

Confluence

The river widens to allow for the extra water that the joining river brings.

The Middle Course – Meanders

A meander is a large bend in the river. If a river floods, the neck of the meander becomes flooded and the river will take this route –rivers take the shortest route.

Over time the neck of the meander will become the new path of the river, soil will be deposited by the river and the meander will be cut of completely and end up forming an ox bow lake.

A river's journey - meanders & ox bow lakes

Meander

Flood

River takes shortest route

Soil deposited

Meander is cut off and ox

bow lake forms

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The Lower Course

The lower course of the river leads to the mouth of the river; the mouth of the river is where the river meets the sea. The lower

course of the river has larger meanders. The river has energy and so carries less material, it deposits the soil and other materials

which eventually form small islands or deltas.

A river's journey - the lower course

BBC - Learning Zone Class Clips - River Tay - lower course and estuary -Geography Video

Activity

Key Words

• Source – the beginning of a river.

• Groundwater – rain that soaks into the ground.

• Spring – groundwater that comes up to the surface.

• Stream – a small river.

• River – a large natural stream of water.

• Floodplain – area of flat land either side, likely to flood.

• Confluence – the point where a tributary joins a river.

• Tributary – a stream or river that joins another river.

• Meander – a bend in a river.

• Ox bow lake – a lake created when a meander is cut off.

• Mouth – the place where a river meets the sea.

• Delta – a small island created by deposited material (soil).

Upper Course Middle Course Lower Course

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The Amazon Riverhttps://www.neok12.com/video/Rivers/zX465905007406000e515977.htm

Did you know?The Amazon was named by a Spanish explorer who told stories of a tribe of female warriors who lived by the river.

• The Amazon River is the second longest river in the world and has the largest capacity

• The river is 6 miles wide at its widest point

• The river’s source is formed by melting glaciers found high in the mountains of Peru. It then flows through Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, Columbia, Peru and Venezuela before flowing into the Atlantic Ocean

• The Amazon flows through the largest Rainforest in the world

The largest river in the world . . .

The Amazon River dumps 55 million gallons of water into the

Atlantic Ocean every second. That equates to around 83 Olympic

sized swimming pools every second.

The river’s basin covers around 40% of South America – a basin

is an area of land that drains its water into a river. The basin is

four times bigger than that of the Congo, the world’s other huge

drainage system – just to give you an idea of size.

It is estimated that 20% of the world’s water is carried off by the

Amazon River. That’s a fifth of all the water on the earth’s surface.

The Amazon River Wildlife . . .It would be impossible to name every single species that dwells in the Amazon

Rainforest. So far, 2,500 different species of fish have been found in the Amazon

River.

Many species are yet to be identified and this adds to the mystery of the great river.

Travellers along the river will spot some of the wildlife that has already been discovered,

such as piranhas, giant catfish, giant otters, capybaras and pink dolphins.

The most fearsome of all of the Amazon River dwellers are the bull sharks. These fierce

predators are able to acclimatize to a range of different levels of salt in the water and

there is a thriving population of them swimming in the river.

Black caiman. Much scarier than an alligator, for whom they are often mistaken, this

toothy creature dominates the water and is truly incredible to witness in real life.

Fish in the amazon provide a critical source of protein to a number of rainforest tribes.

The Amazon River in History . . . Historians believe that the Amazon Basin has been occupied for at least 10,000

years.

These people lived in tribes within the jungle, using the river as their source of

water and food. They lived relatively undisturbed by the outside world until

the European explorers entered South America in the 1500s.

It then became an important trade route for the European conquerors.

However, the Amazonian tribes did not sit back quietly while the Spanish and

Portuguese took their land.

There are reports of numerous attacks, including one by a group of female

warriors, named Thelcamiabas, who were likened to the Amazons from Greek

mythology.

It was these powerful women that gave the Amazon River its name.

Products from the Amazon are found all over the world . . .

The water from the Amazon River is used to hydrate the soil of the Amazon

Rainforest and thanks to its fertility, thousands of different plants are able to

grow and flourish.

These plants, provide 20% of the world’s oxygen, making the rainforest

essentially one gigantic pair of lungs.

A quarter of all western pharmaceuticals contain some kind of rainforest

ingredient

80% of the world’s food finds its origins in the Amazon Rainforest.

Around 3,000 different fruits grow in the Amazon, the vast majority of which

you will never even have heard of as only 200 of them are consumed in the

West.

Surprise Facts!!It is believed that the Amazon River originally flowed in the opposite

direction to its flow today. This was discovered after scientists found

sediment in the river that was upstream from where it originated. They

concluded that this was only possible if the river originally flowed from east

to west. The direction of the river then changed when the Andes

Mountains formed around 100 millions years ago and forced the river to

flow the other way.

There is no bridge that spans its width at any point on the river. The only

way to get from one side of the Amazon River to the other is by taking a

boat and floating across.

Surprise Facts!!One of the most curious points in the Amazon River is where the sandy

water of the Amazon River meets the black water of the aptly

named Rio Negro. There is no sight that quite compares to the stark

contrast of the two waters meeting, forming a distinct line in the middle

of the river. The river then runs for miles with these two blocks of

colours until they eventually blend together and form a single coloured

river.

Geologists believe that there is a river that runs underneath the entire

length of the Amazon River at a staggering depth of 4km. It is unlikely

any of us will be cruising along it any time soon but it is fascinating to

know that this secret underground river exists. It is also believed to be

hundreds of times wider than the Amazon River itself. This river is

unofficially known as the Rio Hamza (Hamza River) named after Valiya

Mannathal Hamza, the scientist who is credited with its discovery. This

natural phenomenon is an unusual example of twin rivers flowing

together at different levels of the Earth’s crust. Nature is pretty cool

right?

Activity 3 – Create an Amazon River Factfile

On either an A4 or A5 piece of paper,

create your own Amazon River factfile.

Include

Facts about the river – length, width,

countries the river flows through

History of the River

Wildlife

Products

and a surprise fact!