Fiducia TogetherRiver processes
Erosion, transport and deposition, and the landforms they make.
Please note: This page explains a word or a process in education. It is general information about the system, the law and the guidance in England — not advice about your child, your school or your exam. If a decision is going against you, get advice from one of the free services we link to before you agree to anything or miss a deadline. If you are revising, check your own exam board's specification: boards word things differently and yours is the one that marks you.
What it is
Rivers erode by hydraulic action, abrasion, attrition and solution; transport by traction, saltation, suspension and solution; and deposit when they lose energy.
Where it applies
GCSE geography physical topics.
How it works
Energy governs everything. A river erodes where it has energy and deposits where it loses it, which is why the outside of a meander is eroded and the inside built up.
Landform sequences — waterfall, meander, ox-bow lake, floodplain, levee — are best learned as processes over time rather than as pictures.
How to use it in your work
Describe landform formation as a SEQUENCE with the processes named at each stage. "Hydraulic action widens the crack, then abrasion..." scores; a labelled picture in words does not.
Use the technical terms. Attrition and abrasion are different and questions distinguish them.
A diagram is usually worth drawing and is often explicitly credited.
Where to get help
Your teacher and your board's specification — options differ enormously between centres, and yours is the one that counts. Bitesize covers the skills; the subject song runs the topics.
Revise this with a song
These are ours. We write revision songs because a lot of people remember a tune when they cannot remember a page, and because revising out loud in the kitchen beats staring at a highlighter.
- The Geography Song The GCSE geography topics, set to music.
Where to read more
Last reviewed 2026-08-28 by Fiducia Together · Next review due 2027-08-28
Please note: This page explains a word or a process in education. It is general information about the system, the law and the guidance in England — not advice about your child, your school or your exam. If a decision is going against you, get advice from one of the free services we link to before you agree to anything or miss a deadline. If you are revising, check your own exam board's specification: boards word things differently and yours is the one that marks you.