Stream transport and deposition

The sediment debris load of streams is a natural corollary to the degradation of the landscape by weathering and erosion. Eroded material reaches stream channels through rills and minor tributaries, being carried by the transporting power of running water and by mass movement, that is, by slippage, slides, or creep. The size represented may vary from clay to boulders. At any place in the stream system the material furnished from places upstream either is carried away or, if there is insufficient transporting ability, is accumulated as a depositional feature. The accumulation of deposited debris tends toward increased ease of movement, and this tends eventually to bring into balance the transporting ability of the stream and the debris load to be transported.