How does valley form

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Amanda Briney. Geography Expert. Amanda Briney, M. Featured Video. Cite this Article Format. Briney, Amanda. Mountain valleys, for example, tend to have near-vertical walls and a narrow channel, but out on the plains, the slopes are shallow and the channel is wide.

As waters wind toward the sea, they add to natural twists in the land by stripping sediment from the outsides of bends and dumping it on the insides. The bulk of the rock and dirt is dredged from the bottom of the channel, a process called down cutting that can ultimately lead to deep, slender chasms like Black Canyon in Colorado's Gunnison National Park. Some river and stream valleys, especially those in the mountains or located near the North and South Poles, are transformed by glaciers.

The massive blocks of snow and ice slowly creep downhill where they will meet the least resistance: valleys already cut by rivers and streams. As the glaciers ooze, they pick up rocks and grind away at the valley floor and sides, pressing the "V" into a "U.

Side valleys are formed by tributaries to streams and rivers and feed the main stem. Where the main channel is carved deeper than the tributary, as commonly occurs during glaciations, the side valleys are left hanging.

Waterfalls often cascade from the outlet of the upper valley into the drainage below. Hollows, like those in Appalachia , are small valleys nestled between mountains or hills. The red of cactus blooms pops in a Grand Canyon valley. Cut by the Colorado River over millions of years, the Grand Canyon is considered one of the finest examples of arid-land erosion in the world. The immense canyon is miles kilometers long and averages 4, feet 1, meters deep, but it is only 15 miles 24 kilometers across at its widest.

In the course of glacial movement across the landscape, they weather away and carve out valleys the same way a bulldozer digs a trench. These are the most common kinds of valley on the globe. Flat-floored valleys are created by the action of flowing streams just like river valleys.

However, they are normally older or more pronounced. As the channel stream heading downhill becomes smooth, and starts to streamline the V and U shaped valley, the floor of the valley becomes wider. With time, the stream goes on to weather away the soils contained in the valley, further making it wider.

As this process takes place, the shape of the valley is transformed from a V or U shaped to into a broad flat valley. The Nile River Valley is a classic example of a flat-floored valley.

Sonia Madaan is a writer and founding editor of the science education blog EarthEclipse. She loves writing on topics related to space, environment, chemistry, biology, geology and geography.

When she is not writing, she loves watching sci-fi movies on Netflix. What is a Valley Landform? How is a Valley Formed? Stream erosion and glacial activity are chiefly responsible for any valley formation. Stream erosion Streams cause massive erosion through hydraulic action and abrasion. Causes and Types of Geological Faults. Related Posts It was the first of the tributaries in the area to reach the soft limestone layer that is now the base of the Shenandoah Valley.

As it did, it carved out the Shenandoah Valley, dissolving the limestone and carrying the sediments north to the Potomac. Lying in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in central California is a 0.

Measuring 7 miles 11 kilometers long and 1 mile 1. The Merced River runs through the valley. Geologists estimate that a few million years ago, it began to carve a valley where the present-day.

Yosemite Valley, seven miles long and one mile across, was formed during six key geologic stages that occurred over millions of years. Yosemite Valley lies. The Sierra Nevada Mountains were uplifted and tilted westward, causing the river to gradually, then rapidly, erode a deep, steep-walled canyon.

About 2 million years ago, North America's climate began to cool and glaciers began to form. During one of the major glacial periods, about , years ago, ice thickness in the area was up to 6, feet 1, meters. Massive, flowing glacial ice caused tremendous amounts of rock to be carved and transported to the area, creating massive rock formations that still exist. The flow and retreat of glaciers through Yosemite Valley occurred many times until about 10, years ago, when the last major glacial period ended in North America.

What remained was a U-shaped valley that was actually deeper than the present-day Yosemite Valley. Rock debris from the glacier had dammed the valley creating ancient Lake Yosemite, which covered the valley floor. Streams from hanging valleys above fell in towering waterfalls. The tallest of these is Yosemite Falls, which presently drops 2, feet meters to the valley floor.

Ultimately, sediment filled in the lake until it formed the existing valley floor. Huber, N. Washington, D. Geological Survey, Geological Survey and the National Park Service.

Valley Glaciers. Toggle navigation. Photo by: Peter Wey. Valley: Words to Know Alpine glacier: A relatively small glacier that forms in high elevations near the tops of mountains. Base level: The level below which a stream cannot erode. Erosion: The gradual wearing away of Earth surfaces through the action of wind and water. Fjord: A deep glacial trough submerged with seawater. Floodplain: An area of nearly flat land bordering a stream that is naturally subject to periodic flooding. Glacial trough: A U-shaped valley carved out of a V-shaped stream valley by the movement of a valley glacier.

Glacier: A large body of ice that formed on land by the compaction and recrystallization of snow, survives year to year, and shows some sign of movement downhill due to gravity. Hanging valley: A shallow glacial trough that leads into the side of a larger, main glacial trough. Levee natural : A low ridge or mound along a stream bank, formed by deposits left when floodwater slows down on leaving the channel. Mass wasting: The spontaneous movement of material down a slope in response to gravity.

Meander: A bend or loop in a stream's course. Rift valley: The deep central crevice in a mid-ocean ridge; also, a valley or trough formed between two normal faults. Stream: Any body of running water that moves downslope under the influence of gravity in a defined channel on Earth's surface.

U-shaped valley: A valley created by glacial erosion that has a profile suggesting the form of the letter "U," characterized by steep sides that may curve inward at their base and a broad, nearly flat floor. Valley glacier: An alpine glacier flowing downward through a preexisting stream valley.

V-shaped valley: A narrow valley created by the downcutting action of a stream that has a profile suggesting the form of the letter "V," characterized by steeply sloping sides.

Also read article about Valley from Wikipedia. User Contributions: 1. Ryann E. I enjoyed all this information about valleys. I also enjoyed the pics you put up too make your point and to understand what you are saying and meaning. The part i liked was the valley vocab. This is one of the most enjoyable reading i heard so far. Keep up the great work!