A Meandering River Is Flowing in a Broad, Alluvial Valley

question 10

Multiple Choice

A meandering river is flowing in a broad, alluvial valley and the river is silt- laden but also moves sand and a small amount of gravel. The government decides to build a dam across the valley for power and flood control. What will happen to the river downstream of the dam?

• A) The river will not change.
• B) The trapping of silt in the reservoir will change the river to a braided stream because it will only have sand and gravel in its sediment load.
• C) The river will respond to the new temporary base level and cut laterally outside its valley, widening the valley.
• D) The river will start to deposit sand and gravel, frequently spilling out of its channel.

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Definitions:

Positively Correlated

When two variables move in the same direction, meaning that as one variable increases, the other also increases, or as one decreases, the other also decreases.

Height

A measurement of an individual’s stature from the bottom of the feet to the top of the head when standing upright.

Weight

A measure of the heaviness of an object, often correlated with mass and influenced by the force of gravity.

Standard Deviation

A measure of the dispersion or variability in a set of data; indicates how much individual data points deviate from the mean.