River capture

River capture is the diversion of one river’s drainage into another river’s basin, usually by headward erosion across a drainage divide.

Headward erosion: The upstream extension of a stream channel through erosion at its head. A capturing stream commonly advances toward another basin by eroding its channel head.
River Tees: A river in northern England that flows east to the North Sea. Its drainage history includes capture associated with the westward-moving River Wear system.
Drainage basin: An area of land from which water drains to a common outlet. Capture changes which basin receives water from a stream and its tributaries.
River rejuvenation: Renewed vertical erosion by a river after a change increases its erosive power. A captured river may gain discharge and cut more deeply into its valley.
River avulsion: The rapid shift of a river channel onto a new course across its floodplain or delta. Avulsion changes a channel’s route, whereas capture diverts drainage between neighboring basins.
Drainage divide: A boundary of higher ground separating neighboring drainage basins. Capture occurs when erosion breaches or shifts the divide between basins.
River Wear: A river in northeast England that flows through Durham to the North Sea. Its headwaters are commonly cited in accounts of capture from the Tees drainage.
River: A natural flowing body of water moving through a channel toward a lower elevation. Capture rearranges the channels and contributing areas within a river system.
Stream order: A hierarchy that ranks stream channels by their tributary structure. Capture can alter tributary relationships and the ordering of channels in a network.
Stream incision: The downward erosion of a stream into its bed and underlying material. Incision can occur without a stream crossing a divide and capturing another basin.

Linked from 16 pages