Learner Resource 8: The River Severn from source to mouth Teacher answer sheet

The River Severn is the ______longest river in Britain. Almost ______80% of UK rivers start in boggy moorland. The River Severn starts in the Plynlimon hills, ______740 m above sea level. The west coast is just ____20 km away which means that it is one of the wettest places in the country with over ______2500 mm of rainfall a year. The ground soaks up a large amount of water and, eventually, trickles become rivulets which then become a ______.stream

The river quickly grows in size and power and forms a ______v-shaped valley . It is also fast flowing which means it has a high ______carrying ______capacity which means it can carry material stripped from the land. Some material is ______dissolved in the water, some is ______suspended in the flow and some is ______dragged along the bed by flow rate and gravity. These combine to ______erode the landscape.

The river is flowing, at the end of summer, at ______1000 litres per second and it looks dramatic plunging over the ______waterfall named ‘The Severn breaks its neck’. Waterfalls are formed in a number of ways but most commonly due to a difference in rock type. Where a ______stronger band of rock lies on top of a ______weaker band, the water will erode the underlying ______weaker rocks. After a while, the ______stronger rock collapses and the waterfall cuts back, forming a ______gorge .

After the waterfall, the Severn’s gradient ______flattens and the river creates curves called ______meanders . On the ______outside of the bend, the water is cutting into the landscape forming a river ______cliff whereas on the ______inside of the bend, the water is moving ______slowly creating deposition. This can lead to a very small meander ______neck which the river cuts through and forms an ______oxbow ______lake .

Version 1 1 © OCR 2016 Landscapes of the UK After Shrewsbury, the river runs through the Ironbridge Gorge and continues to flatten out. It is flowing at over ______60 000 litres per second and it is only ______30 m above sea level. ______Floods are a significant threat. In Worcester, the cathedral and old town have been built on a ______river ______terrace to avoid the flood waters. Since then, the town has grown and the only place to build is on the ______floodplain . This also changes the way the land works. When the rain falls on countryside, it acts as a sponge ______soaking up the water. When the land is built on, the tarmac and paving stop water seeping into the ______soil . Instead it is send through pipes to the river and the extra water can tip the balance causing the river to ______flood .

South of Gloucester, the river starts to ______widen and it develops into an ______estuary . It is one of the largest in the UK and it is already ______2 km wide. The river here is ______tidal and has the second largest tidal range in the world. The difference between the high and low water mark can be as much as _____15 metres and huge _____mud ______flats can be revealed. The problem with a wide estuary is that you need a wide ______bridge to be able to cross the river. The deep river at this stage means that ______ships can come in which attracts ______industry and the shoreline is full of ______factories and dock facilities. ______Half a million cars pass through this area a year and the refurbishment of the docks means this is likely to grow. By the time it reaches its mouth, the river is ______13 km wide and looks like the sea. From source to mouth, it has travelled over ______350 km and carries over ______9 billion litres a day.

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Version 1 2 © OCR 2016 Landscapes of the UK