Youth stage
Topic: Landforms and their Evolution: Rivers, Groundwater, Glaciers, Waves and Wind · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 6 "Landforms and their Evolution"
Meaning
The youth stage is the first stage of a river landscape in Davis's cycle of erosion. It begins soon after the land has been uplifted. There are only a few streams, and they are poorly linked. The valleys are shallow and V-shaped, with little or no floodplain. The divides between them are broad and flat, with marshes and lakes. Where hard rock is exposed, there are waterfalls and rapids. Vertical erosion, or downcutting, dominates.
Example
The upper Bhagirathi near Gangotri in the Uttarakhand Himalaya cuts down fast through hard rock and has rapids. These are signs of a young river.
Don't confuse with
- Mature stage: there are many well-linked streams and deep valleys with sharp divides. The waterfalls have already disappeared.
Related concepts
- Landform
- Cycle of erosion
- Mature stage
- Old stage
- Peneplain
- Monadnock
- Sheet erosion
- Lateral and vertical erosion