Types of Stream Erosion

There are three main types of stream erosion that are vital as geological causes and these consist of, abrasion, solution and quarrying.

Abrasion is what a stream does to the sides of bedrock and boulders that are inside of it. The speed that abrasion occurs at in any stream is determined by its load, which consists of the complete amount of material that is carried by the stream at any given time.

Many streams have boulders and pebbles and sand that are all useful as cutting tools and over an amount of time also serve as a grinding wheel. The streams abrades the surfaces and the material that is carried while at the same time boulders are knocking into each other and start breaking into pieces. The knocking and breaking process is what is known as impaction.

Another type of erosional types is known as solution. Solution is a chemical compound that has dissolved in the stream and reacts chemically on the rocks or minerals that are in the subsurface. One example of this is carbonic acid and this can be caused due to the water, air and vegetation that decay. Rocks that have been faced with these solutions dissolved in stream water include dolomite and limestone. 

Another essential erosional quality of a stream is known as quarrying. This signifies that the power of the water actually plucks weak cemented areas from the bedrock or banks and starts to carry it down stream. Sometimes this action leaves an evident undercut in the bank or leaves a crack in the bedrock. 

The theory of placer geology highly relies on the rate of the stream erosion and how it is transported and because of this it is vital to understand the language and words that are used because they are often times found in literature that has to do with mining.

One of the most important contributions to erosion has to do with the amount of water the stream carries. Consequently bigger streams, or smaller ones that are in a flood stage, are the most active when it comes to erosion, transporting and depositing.

Velocity has to do with the speed the water travels at and this is controlled by the stream gradient which means the angle that the streams flows in comparison to the level surface of the crust of the earth. If the angle is steeper, the speed is increased and there is more potential for erosion.

The effects of the stream erosion assist in controlling deposition of a lot of the idiosyncrasies of different streams that prospectors are faced up to when prospecting. Some of these can be seen above the surface of the stream and other can be located below the surface.