Topic: Rivers & Coasts Case Study: River Valley Case Study & Landforms Location:The River Tees Valley, N.Yorkshire Geographical Keywords • Upper course • Middle course • Lower course • Watershed • Drainage basin • Waterfall • Meanders • Source • Mouth • Estuary • Lateral erosion • Vertical erosion Additional resource: Watch the Routeways source to mouth DVD. Case Study Detail Background The River Tees in Northern England flows km from Cross Fell high in the Pennines to Middlesbrough by the North Sea. Along its course are found many distinctive features. Upper Course The source of the river is high (min the Pennines where it flows into the first human feature Cow Green Reservoir. The river channel is narrow and has a large bedload and steep gradient. V-shape valleys are found throughout this part of the river. Near Middleton-in- Teesdale is High Force, the highest waterfall in England, created because of hard resistant Whinstone overlying less resistant Limestone. Downstream of the waterfall is a gorge. Middle course From High Force through to Yarm the river gradient starts to flatten out and the river becomes wider. Lateral erosion takes over and meanders and oxbow lakes can be found. Here, water travels quicker on the outside bend of a river causing the meander to migrate. Overtime the meander neck can be completely cutoff leaving an oxbow lake. The town of Yarm sits within a meander on the river. Lower course From Yarm to Middlesbrough, the river becomes much wider, deeper and faster moving as more tributaries join it. It eventually turns into a river estuary with wide floodplains on either side composed of river sediment (estuary mud. These areas have been dried out and have large industries situated on them such as The Redcar steelworks.
