Rivers and Streams, Characteristics - Hydro-Environmental Analysis: Freshwater Environments - page 35

Trees

Trees

Upland Low-growing

vegetation

Stream base
flow or
waterbody

Riparian-associated
groundwater

Riparian zone

FIGURE 2.22 Schematic of a generic riparian zone showing zone of inluence. (Based on NRCS, Riparian
areas environmental uniqueness, functions, and values, RCA Issue Brief #11, United States Department of
Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Washington, DC, 1996.)

Oxbow
lake

Clay plug
Chute
Oxbow

Backswamp

Splay

Meander
scrolls

Natural
levee

FIGURE 2.23 Landforms and deposits. (From FISRWG, Stream Corridor Restoration: Principles,
Processes, and Practices , Federal Interagency Stream Restoration Working Group, 1998.)

• Oxbow lake: a body of water created after clay plugs the oxbow from the main channel.

• Natural levees: the formations that build up along the bank of streams that lood. As

sediment-laden water spills over the bank, the sudden loss of depth and velocity causes
coarser-sized sediment to drop out of suspension and collect along the edge of the stream.

• Splays: delta-shaped deposits of coarser sediments that occur when a natural levee is

breached. Natural levees and splays can prevent loodwaters from returning to the channel
when loodwaters recede.

• Backswamps : a term used to describe loodplain wetlands formed by natural levees.

2.2.2.3 Upland Areas
The upland areas are those above the existing loodplain and are connected to the loodplain by an
upland fringe. The fringes have no typically deining shapes or features. One example of a fringe
that has resulted from changes in the loodplains is terraces (FISRWG 1998).