lateral erosion

Lateral erosion of a meander through the higher ground dividing the adjacent streams.

A concurrent process called lateral erosion refers to the widening of a stream channel or valley.

After the streams in an area have reached "base level", lateral erosion is dominant as the higher areas between the streams are eroded.

When some base level is reached, the erosive activity switches to lateral erosion, which widens the valley floor and creates a narrow floodplain.

They maintain a channel to prevent ice jamming, and more generally improve navigation and control over lateral erosion, that would form from meanders.

An ingrown meander is one where incision is slow and lateral erosion takes place resulting in an asymmetric valley.

They are formed by the downcutting of a river or stream channel into and the abandonment and lateral erosion of its former floodplain.

In contrast, both lateral erosion and undercutting occur on the cut bank or concave bank (the bank with the greater radius.)

The south side of the mountain has a broad shelf at a height of around 450 metres, the result of lateral erosion by glaciers in the Ice Age.

The physical differences between the two classes are related to the fact that ingrown meanders are able to perform much more lateral erosion during incision than are intrenched meanders.

This can happen as a result of tectonic uplift (or subsidence), natural damming created by a landslide, or headward or lateral erosion of the watershed between adjacent basins.

The narrow neck of land between the two neighboring concave banks is finally cut through, either by lateral erosion of the two concave banks or by the strong currents of a flood.

Where rejuvenation intervenes before the river has had sufficient time for lateral erosion to form a flat valley floor, there will not be river terraces at the side of the stream but merely breaks of slope in the valley sides (Fig. 9.6).

When a stream is high above its base level, downcutting will take place faster than lateral erosion; but as the level of the stream approaches its base level, the rate of lateral erosion increases.