Rivers
Zone 1
Production zone
The mountains are eroded by rain, ice, snow and glaciers.
Steep mountain slopes, v-shaped valleys, waterfalls and rapids contribute to further erosion.
Rivers
and
Sediments
For millions of years the rivers that laid down the sediments that formed the underlying bedrock were a combination of meandering rivers and deltas leading into the sea.The conditions tended to be fairly stable over long periods of time but with the changes brought about by the effects of the earthquakes, a dramic change in the river flow occurred.
Zone 1
Production zone
The mountains are eroded by rain, ice, snow and glaciers.
Steep mountain slopes, v-shaped valleys, waterfalls and rapids contribute to further erosion.
Zone 2
Transfer zone
Streams and rivers coalesce with enough energy to carry debris further downstream.
Zone 3
Deposition zone
The river loses energy and meanders; the erosion debris is deposited on floodplains, deltas and coastal plains.
The ancient river systems had their origins in the mountain range to the north of Brimham and flowed in a southerly direction bring sediments eroded from those mountains, the Zone 1 Production zone, down through the Zone 2 Transfer zone reaching northern Britain.
As river deposited sediments on the river bed, river currents created a series of ridges and troughs where sediments were continualy being laid down.
The influence of shifts in the slope of the ground led to changes in the river from a meandering river to a braided river system.
