Classification of rivers

Taking Schumm's criteria (1977) as a reference, all rivers

they can be classified into two major groups, depending on the
freedom to adjust its shape and its gradient:

Rocky bed channels: confined between rocky outcrops of such

so that the material that makes up the bottom and the margins determines
the morphology of the riverbed.

Alluvial channels: the river flows in a channel whose bed and banks are
constituted by material transported by the river under the conditions
actual flow. In this case, there is freedom to adjust dimensions,
shape, pattern, and slope of the channel in response to changes.

This classification has the deficiency of not considering the two variables.
dependent flow and sediment load, which have a great influence
on the morphology of alluvial channels, The flow has a high influence
degree in the size of the channel and the amplitude and wavelength of the
meanders, but on its own it does not provide bases for river channel classification
unless size is the most important factor in a particular case,
allowing a qualitative distinction according to the characteristics of the
download either in perennial channels or ephemeral or temporary channels.
Taking into account the load and transport of sediments is possible
make a classification of alluvial channels: channels with load of
bedload (material transported and originating from the riverbed), channels
with suspended load (material transported by the flow dissolved in
water, that is, wash load) and channels with mixed load (load
suspended and background load at certain percentages for
each case
 Morphology and classification of alluvial channels in relation to sediment load.

Figure No. 9 Relationship between the background load and the laboratory test slope,
showing the increase in the sediment transport rate at the thresholds
morphodynamic. (Schumm 1981)
Watershed

It is the entire area that is drained by the runoff that flows into a
Determined river, this is from its source to its mouth.

We must know that rivers end their course in an ocean, and also
they form exorheic watersheds when the river flows into an inland lake,
they are called endorheic basins.

According to the geographical features of the land and the nature of the
rocks through which the waters flow, this determines the particularities of the rivers,
which are classified according to the flow energy and the slope into:

Young river

This type of river is characterized by being found in:

Mountainous areas

Very steep and uneven land

V-shaped valleys

Cannon

Gorges
 Cliffs

Waterfalls

Fast

Mature river

This type of river is found in semi-flat regions or with little slope, they are
common in:

Beginning of plains

Floodplains

Deposits of corners

Start of meanders

Old river

This type of river develops in plains, where numerous meanders are formed.
and they exist:

Sedimentation of alluvium

Formation of crescent-shaped lakes, delta, and bar at the mouth

In river descent, there is a widely accepted international classification.
accepted to classify rivers according to their level of difficulty in navigating them.

Flat Waters. It refers to bodies of water whose surface is practically

flat, its whirlpools, hollows and waves are negligible.

Class I. Very easy. Almost flat waters, very little turbulence with small waves.
Totally navigable.

Class II. Easy. Water a little turbulent with gaps and holes no more than 25.
centimeters, small whirlpools with no danger for a swimmer.

From here, fast rivers, white water, or waters are considered

bravas.

Class III. Intermediate. Turbulent waters with holes and medium waves no more
one meter, care whirlpools for a swimmer and of some consideration
for a vessel. Navigation requires good technique and knowledge
Del Rio. There are some technical care steps.

-Class IV. Difficult. Very turbulent white water but predictable. Holes and
waves of up to two meters, considerable whirlpools for a vessel.
There may be significant waterfalls. Navigation requires very good
technique and knowledge of the river. There are narrow passages that require
complicated technical maneuvers.

-Class V. Very turbulent white waters that are unpredictable with waves and
holes over two meters. Dangerous whirlpools and waterfalls. Requires a
expert level of technique and very good knowledge of the river. Need for
extremely technical maneuvers.

Class VI. Extremely difficult or non-navigable. It is considered very difficult or

impossible to navigate.

Every fast river does not have the same class throughout its entirety, but rather possesses
a succession of stretches of different classes. A river or a stretch of it
consider it of the same class as your fastest but most difficult. Most of the
river descent activity is carried out in classes III and IV, leaving the
classes II and lower in the category of general navigation in which others
vessels, techniques and equipment are used. Class V rivers are
addressed only by experts.
Rivers are streams of water that flow through a channel from highlands to lowlands and
that finally flows into a lake, another river, or the sea, except in desert areas, which can
disappear by consumption.

In reality, there are no fundamental differences between torrents and rivers, only their length and
periodicity.

A river is characterized by its flow and its regime. It can also be distinguished by its bed.
minor (the narrow channel occupied by the current of water) and major bed (the wider riverbed)
busy with the floods).

According to their origin, several types of rivers are distinguished:

glacier, when its fluid waters come from the melting of glacial ice.

-nival, resulting from the melting of the snows in spring and summer.

pluvial, formed mainly by winter rains.

The territory irrigated by a river and its tributaries is called a basin. The set of a river and
all its tributaries are called drainage system, and the combination of several systems of
drainage will form various drainage models. The river is the main transport agent in a
river cycle. Rivers transport dissolved materials and solid waste. With these
transported materials, rivers carry out erosion on the land, which gives rise to
different profiles of river valleys. As a consequence of erosive actions and deposition
the riverbed tends to a concave profile. The upper course of the river has a great erosive power (it can
 to form gorges, ravines, gorges...). The valley in cross-section has a V shape.
When there are drops in its course, they form waterfalls or cascades.

The main action of the middle course, with gentler slopes, is transportation although
also the deposition of coarse materials.

At the mouth, it is shallow, wide, and has a gentle slope, where the deposits are made
sands and muds, which can form deltas.

Many rivers, due to their gentle slope and the width of their valleys, are navigable along their course.
under (Danube, Volga, Amazon)

CLASSIFICATION OF RIVERS ACCORDING TO THEIR REGIME

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DECIMAL CLASSIFICATION OF RIVERS

The decimal classification of rivers was developed by the Center for Studies
Hydrographic data from CEDEX in 1965 and published in the book "Physical data of the
currents classified by the C.E.H.. This classification was applied to the rivers of
interest for the assessment of the water resources of the Peninsula.

For the proposed coding, the entire territory must be divided into basins.
corresponding to river sections, with a single river inside them. The
Intercatchment areas between rivers that flow into the sea or endorheic basins may not have a river.

The classic decimal classification of rivers consists of three codes:

CDR1: Decimal code of rivers 1. Encodes complete rivers, from their

birth (they may not have a birth but arise from the union of two others
rivers) until they flow into another river, at the border or into the sea. They
build with pairs of numbers, the first pair corresponding to the large
basin, the second to the first-order river (that is, one that flows into the sea),
the third to the tributary (even on the right, odd on the left), etc. The areas
coastal areas between first-order rivers (interbasins) as well as the zones
endorheic, they are only encoded with the number of the major basin. The rivers that
They are exported abroad are coded with the number of the large basin and pair 88
CDR2: Decimal code of rivers 2. Encodes the sections of the rivers between
tributaries or between its source or mouth. It always has 4 digits, those of
higher-order tributaries that define it. If it starts at the source of the river,
It is set to 00 if it flows into another river or into the sea 99, and it ends in a
border, 88. If it is an inter-basin, the pairs of rivers are placed
first order that limits them, and if it is an endorheic, a number is assigned.
consecutive order from 0 of four digits, for example, 0001.
 NUM_CUENCA: número de cuenca. Numera de manera consecutiva las cuencas
watersheds of all rivers, interbasins and endorheic, from upstream to
downstream

This classification results in a table of basins based on river stretches.

(the associated river table is the same except that the interbasins and endorheic ones do not)
appears) in which NUM_CUENCA is the key field. The table is completed with the
name of the river, the names of the tributaries that delimit the stretch, the length,
the area, etc.

CLASSIFICATION OF RIVERS BY ORDER

One of the most important factors in determining the distribution of living forms in systems
riverine is the speed of the current, which in turn influences physical or chemical factors such as the
dissolved oxygen concentration or temperature, which directly act on the fish. As
It has been described that rivers can be divided into two main classes: those with quite constant flow.
throughout the year and those in which the amount of water varies seasonally. Those of the first
categories are found in rainy areas of temperate parts, in some tropical highlands and
in the great equatorial jungles. For this reason, many rivers in the temperate zone and an increasing number
In the tropics, they have more regular flows than before modifying them.

The rivers in which seasonal variations are due to changes in precipitation during the
year, they still make up the majority. The flow regime depends on the surface area of the basin
hydrographic of the river in question. As seen in Figure 1, low-order rivers with basins
pequeñas tienen regímenes que consisten en riadas impetuosas durante la época o épocas de lluvias,
which gives a sharp characteristic graph when the flow is plotted against time. As it increases
the surface of the basin the extreme variations of the flow of the constituent basins more
small ones are averaged to provide smoother flood curves (FAO, 1998).

First Order Rivers

Rivers: Amazon, Ucayali, Marañón, and Huallaga

Navigable by deep-draft vessels, all year round. Navigation on these rivers is carried out
Without restrictions, medium and small vessels have no difficulties in moving.
Second Order Rivers*

Rivers: Napo, Putumayo, Morona, and Pastaza

Deep-draft vessels do not face movement restrictions during the season of

growing, with problems arising during low tide, due to the presence of sandbanks,
especially in the upper basin of the Pastaza River, medium and small boats do not
they present difficulties.

Third Order Rivers*

Ríos: Nanay, Tapiche, Apaga, Potro, Cahuapanas, Aypena, Huasanga, Manchari, Huitoyacu, Chuinda,
Rimachi, Chapuli, Parinari, Corrientes, Tiger, and Yavarí.

These rivers are navigable by medium and small vessels during flood seasons.
facing difficulties during the low tide when navigation is only possible in
small vessels (boats, skiffs, and small boats)

Fourth Order Rivers*

["Rivers: Itaya, Curaray, Yanayacu, Shishinahua, Ungumayo, Sasipahua, Nucuray, Blanco, Galvez"]
Pucacuro, Copalyacu, Urituyacu, Capirona, Tigrillo, Samiria, Pintuyacu, Campuya, Atacuari, Pacaya,
Maquia, Cushabatay, Pisqui

They are navigable rivers without difficulty during the flood season for small boats such as
Boats, small boats, and canoes

CLASSIFICATION OF RIVERS BY ENVIRONMENTS

In the Peruvian Amazon, aquatic environments can be divided into lotic environments (rivers and
breaks) and lentic environments (lagoons, which are regionally referred to as 'cochas' and
tipishcas) (IIAP, 1994) (IIAP & WWF 1999).

Classification of Lotic Environments

Rivers of black water.

They are represented by tributaries that originate within the humid forest. Their waters are of
dark brown color, which according to Sioli (1968) the coloration of the black waters is due to that
they present a high content of humic substances and fulvic acids.

They present little suspended material, mostly composed of organic material and detritus that
allow these bodies of water to show transparency that ranges between 23 and 128 cm. The
pH levels vary from acidic to slightly acidic (3.5 to 6.9), with moderate values of
conductivity. These bodies of water barely exceed 100 mmhos/cm of electrical conductivity,
which indicates that they are poor in relation to the content of electrolytes and nutrients (Table 2) (IIAP &
PETROPERU, 1997) (IIAP et al. 2001a; 2001b) (IIAP & BIODAMAZ, 2002) (Technical Commission
Multisectoral, 2002) (IIAP, 2003) (IIAP & WWF, 2003) (Maco et al. 2005).

The main black water rivers are: Nanay, Samiria, Chambira, Cuininico, Nucuray, Aypena.
Tapiche and Itaya.
b. Rivers of white water.

The rivers that have this type of water originate in the Andes Mountains. Generally,
they have an extensive journey through a broad territory of the Andes and the Amazon plain.
They present muddy, turbid waters, due to the high content of sand, clay, and silt in suspension, which
they provide a light brown coloring to their waters. Likewise, the high content of material in
suspension (150 to 1900 mg/l of fresh matter) causes low transparency levels (5 to
60 cm) with high turbidity values, resulting in poor light penetration that hinders the
development of phytoplankton. Turbidity increases during the rising period due to
heavy rainfall and the erosion processes that characterize this period. Conversely,
during the emptying period, the load of suspended material decreases due to the reduction of
the levels of precipitation and the processes of sedimentation, causing that the levels of
transparency should be greater.

The white water rivers have a high conductivity value (106-384 mmhos/cm), resulting from the high
degree of mineralization of its waters, which is why these aquatic environments gather better
potential conditions for biological production (Arrigon, 1979). The high conductivity of these
Water bodies are due to the suspended solids they carry, which generate a large amount
of ions that dissolve in water. pH levels range from slightly acidic to alkaline (5 to
9.5), depending on the hydrological cycle of the water course (Table 2) (Hanek, 1982) (Guerra et al. 1999)
(IIAP & Madre de Dios, 2000) (IIAP & WWF, 2002a; 2002b) (IIAP & CTAR Ucayali, 2000).

Among the representatives of this type of water are the Amazon, Ucayali, and Marañón rivers.
Napo, Pastaza, Huallaga, and Putumayo, among others.

c. Intermediate or mixed water rivers.

They are rivers that have characteristics of both whitewater and blackwater. The whitewater rivers
mixtures have a light brown to yellow-green coloration, provided by the type of solids in
its decomposition, at low levels (30 to 250 mg/l of fresh matter), which provide low
transparency levels (20 to 60 cm). According to these characteristics, the intermediate waters
they would be similar to the white waters.

They belong to the basin of the Tiger River and its main tributaries, the Macusari and Corrientes rivers.
(Hanek, 1982). These have their origin in the Amazon foothills of the Ecuadorian Andes; others
They originate in systems of hills adjacent to the Andean foothills.

d. Rivers of clear water.

They are rivers with crystal clear waters, with very little suspended material, which allows for a total...
transparency and the clear observation of the riverbed. Generally, they originate between hills that
presentan material geológico bastante consolidado. Muchos de ellos tienen moderado a alto contenido
of electrolytes that are reflected in the electrical conductivity values from moderate to excessively
high (35-9,9900 mmhos/cm). pH levels range from slightly acidic to basic (6.2 to 8.8). It is
it is characteristic in these rivers to observe that their waters become murky after the rains.
process that has a fairly short time space. These rivers are usually located in the jungle.
Peruvian highlands, and they are tributaries of the rivers of white water (Table 2) (Maco, 2004a; 2004b) (Maco &
Misajel, 2005).

Among the rivers that present this type of water are: Chontayu, Tocache, Mishollo, Challuayacu,
Cañuto, Aspuzana, Uchiza, Pólvora, Cachiyacu de Lupuna, Huaynabe.