Physical Processes
Bank Erosion
Geomorphology
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Bank erosion is the wearing away of the margins of a river or stream channel by the combined action of flowing water undercutting the toe of the bank, and mass failure of the oversteepened bank material above once it can no longer support its own weight. It is the geomorphic complement to bar deposition on the opposite bank, the pairing that drives channel migration and river meandering over time, and it is a leading cause of farmland and infrastructure loss along actively migrating rivers.
Facts
Process Type TimescaleYears to decades of gradual undercutting, punctuated by sudden bank collapses during individual flood events. 1 Sources
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