Concept of the Bradshaw Model

The Bradshaw model aims to show how different characteristics of a river change from the source to the mouth in a simplistic method that can easily be understood (greenfield geography, 2012). A geographical model is “an attempt to understand natures is high complexity. Therefore geographers try to develop simplified models of it” (Waugh, D. 2009). The model shows a series of triangles and each one represents a different fluvial characteristic. On the left is the source and on the right is the mouth, for example if the triangle gets wider while moving towards to right it would mean that this characteristic is increasing as the river moves downstream. Some of the fluvial characteristics that the Bradshaw model sis able to show is discharge, velocity, size changes, channel bed roughness and load quantity. Therefore this essay will describe and explain how the discharge, average velocity and load particle size changes as the river moves downstream from the source to the mouth.

First of all one the fluvial characteristics that the Bradshaw model is able to show is the changes in discharge as the river moves downstream. The changes that it shows is that as the river moves from the source towards the mouth the discharge increases, therefore there the triangle is wider on the right than the left. Discharge is “the amount of water in a river at a given point” (greenfield geography, 2011), this is normally measured in (cubic meters per second) and is calculated by multiplying the cross sectional area by the velocity. The reasons for the discharge increases as the river moves downstream are because of two reasons. The first reason for the increase in discharge as the river moves towards the mouth is because of other tributaries joining the river called second and third order segments as the river moves downstream. These tributaries can have water coming from smaller bodies of water such as streams and brooks. Furthermore more water can be added to the river with surface