La. Department of Health and Hospitals Make a large class size map of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin with its rivers and attach headlines or articles of interest to the associated rivers located in the Lake Pontchartrain Basin. Anatomy of a River Click the illustraion for a larger view. The channel is the area of a river or stream which periodically or continually contains moving water. Streambanks are the portions of the stream which restrict lateral movement of water. Streambanks are part of the Riparian Zone or the vegetated area adjacent to a waterbody, stream or river.
Floodplains are the flat areas of land covered by materials deposited by the river when it floods.
These materials or sediments may be sands, silts, clays, as well as organic material. The variety of plants, woody shrubs and trees along the banks of the channel and in the flood plain are called streamside vegetation. Form riffles where water running over the rock surface becomes well oxygenated. The integrity is judged by biological, chemical and physical parameters. Fertilizers from farms and detergents cause excessive plant and algae growth.