Toward the middle of a river, water tends to flow fastest; toward the margins of the river it tends to flow slowest. 2. In a meandering river, water will tend to flow fastest along the outside bend of a meander, and slowest on the inside bend.

A watershed is all of the land and water areas that drain toward a particular lake or river segment. Thus, a watershed (or drainage basin) is defined in terms of each selected lake or river, such as “Mississippi river watershed”. Large scale watersheds are composed of smaller areas called subwatersheds.

Banks are the sides of a river or stream between which the water normally flows. The bed (also called the river bed) is the bottom of the river (or other body of water). Beackish water is water that is saltier than river water but less salty than sea water.

After rivers erode rock and soil, they deposit (drop) their load downstream. This process is known as deposition. Rocks and soils deposited by streams are known as “sediments”.

The Strong River takes its name from the English translation of the Choctaw words boke or boge homi, which means “bitter creek” or “strong tasting creek”, a result of the tannic acid dissolved in the water by decomposing leaves. The name has nothing to do with the velocity of the stream.

Off-channel area – Any relatively calm portion of a stream outside of the main flow.

A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves, bends, loops, turns, or windings in the channel of a river, stream, or other watercourse. The zone within which a meandering stream shifts its channel across either its floodplain or valley floor from time to time is known as a meander belt.

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The river channel is at its widest and deepest as it flows towards its mouth. Deposition is the main process in this part of the river, which creates large floodplains and deltas .

• The efficiency of a rivers channel is measured by finding its Hydraulic radius. It is the ratio between the length of wetted perimeter and cross section of a river channel.

Vertical erosion makes a river channel deeper. This happens more in the upper stages of a river (the V of vertical erosion should help you remember the V-shaped valleys that are created in the upper stages). Lateral erosion makes a river wider. This occurs mostly in the middle and lower stages of a river.