A landform formed by sediment deposited at the mouth of a river, typically when waves are not strong enough to carry it to sea, causing distributaries.

A landform formed by sediment deposited at the mouth of a river, typically when waves are not strong enough to carry it to sea, causing distributaries.

• A. Delta
• B. Levee
• C. Ox-bow Lake
• D. Alluvial Fan

Answer: (A)

When sediment is deposited at a river’s mouth in conditions where waves are too weak to carry material away, the river builds out into the sea or lake, spreading across the mouth in multiple smaller channels. This creates a delta, a landform characterized by distributaries branching out as the flow slows and deposits build up, forming new land that extends the river’s influence into coastal waters. Deltas commonly develop where energy from waves is insufficient to shear off all the carried sediment, allowing accumulation rather than longshore transport. Levees are raised banks along a river channel formed by repeated floods; ox-bow lakes are former meanders that have been cut off from the main channel; alluvial fans form where a river suddenly loses energy at the base of a mountain, creating a fan-shaped deposit rather than a coastal delta.

When sediment is deposited at a river’s mouth in conditions where waves are too weak to carry material away, the river builds out into the sea or lake, spreading across the mouth in multiple smaller channels. This creates a delta, a landform characterized by distributaries branching out as the flow slows and deposits build up, forming new land that extends the river’s influence into coastal waters. Deltas commonly develop where energy from waves is insufficient to shear off all the carried sediment, allowing accumulation rather than longshore transport.

Levees are raised banks along a river channel formed by repeated floods; ox-bow lakes are former meanders that have been cut off from the main channel; alluvial fans form where a river suddenly loses energy at the base of a mountain, creating a fan-shaped deposit rather than a coastal delta.