Fluvial Processes – Processes relating to erosion, transport and deposition by a river

(Pronounced floo-vee-uhl)

The way to remember fluvial processes is to first learn what fluvial means.

Definition of fluvial = of or relating to a river.

To remember the meaning of the term Fluvial Processes, use the following mnemonic:

The flu was so vile (fluvial) that there was a river coming out of his nose.

So, now we know fluvial relates to rivers, it's clear that fluvial processes are really river processes.

River processes include:

• Erosion (wearing away of riverbed and banks)
• Transportation (river material transported along the river)
• Deposition (river material deposited)

As rain falls and collects in watercourses, erosion degrades the land, and the products of erosion themselves become the tools with which rivers carve out valleys.

Sediment materials eroded from one location are transported and deposited in another, only to be eroded and redeposited repeatedly before reaching the ocean.

Fluvial processes continue for eons. For instance, it is estimated that the Mississippi started flowing around 70 million years ago, when dinosaurs still roamed earth.