Editing Geomorphology (section)

=== Fluvial processes ===
[[File:Eroding Mesas Forming Seif and Barchan Dunes in Hellespontus region.jpg|thumb|[[Seif dune|Seif]] and [[barchan]] dunes in the [[Noachis quadrangle|Hellespontus]] region on the surface of [[Mars]]. Dunes are mobile landforms formed by the transport of large volumes of sand by wind.]]
{{Main|Fluvial}}
{{See also|Hack's law|Sediment transport}}
Rivers and streams are not only conduits of water, but also of [[sediment]]. The water, as it flows over the channel bed, is able to mobilize sediment and transport it downstream, either as [[bed load]], [[suspended load]] or [[dissolved load]]. The rate of sediment transport depends on the availability of sediment itself and on the river's [[discharge (hydrology)|discharge]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Knighton |first=D. |date=1998 |title=Fluvial Forms & Processes |publisher=[[Hodder Arnold]] |page=383 |isbn=0-340-66313-8}}</ref> Rivers are also capable of eroding into rock and forming new sediment, both from their own beds and also by coupling to the surrounding hillslopes. In this way, rivers are thought of as setting the base level for large-scale landscape evolution in nonglacial environments.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Strahler |first=A. N. |title=Equilibrium theory of erosional slopes approached by frequency distribution analysis; Part II |journal=[[American Journal of Science]] |date=1 November 1950 |volume=248 |issue=11 |pages=800–814 |doi=10.2475/ajs.248.11.800 |bibcode=1950AmJS..248..800S|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Burbank |first=D. W. |title=Rates of erosion and their implications for exhumation |journal=[[Mineralogical Magazine]] |date=February 2002 |volume=66 |issue=1 |pages=25–52 |doi=10.1180/0026461026610014 |url=http://projects.crustal.ucsb.edu/tectgeomorphfigs/Min_Mag_exhumation_ms.pdf |bibcode=2002MinM...66...25B |citeseerx=10.1.1.518.6023 |s2cid=14114154 |access-date=2012-09-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130315035544/http://projects.crustal.ucsb.edu/tectgeomorphfigs/Min_Mag_exhumation_ms.pdf |archive-date=2013-03-15 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Rivers are key links in the connectivity of different landscape elements.

As rivers flow across the landscape, they generally increase in size, merging with other rivers. The network of rivers thus formed is a [[drainage system (geomorphology)|drainage system]]. These systems take on four general patterns: dendritic, radial, rectangular, and trellis. Dendritic happens to be the most common, occurring when the underlying stratum is stable (without faulting). Drainage systems have four primary components: [[drainage basin]], alluvial valley, delta plain, and receiving basin. Some geomorphic examples of fluvial landforms are [[alluvial fan]]s, [[oxbow lake]]s, and [[fluvial terrace]]s.