CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html> <html class="client-nojs vector-feature-language-in-header-enabled vector-feature-language-in-main-page-header-disabled vector-feature-page-tools-pinned-disabled vector-feature-toc-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-main-menu-pinned-disabled vector-feature-limited-width-clientpref-1 vector-feature-limited-width-content-enabled vector-feature-custom-font-size-clientpref-1 vector-feature-appearance-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-night-mode-enabled skin-theme-clientpref-day vector-sticky-header-enabled vector-toc-available" lang="en" dir="ltr"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <title>Headward erosion - Wikipedia</title> <script>(function(){var className="client-js vector-feature-language-in-header-enabled vector-feature-language-in-main-page-header-disabled vector-feature-page-tools-pinned-disabled vector-feature-toc-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-main-menu-pinned-disabled vector-feature-limited-width-clientpref-1 vector-feature-limited-width-content-enabled vector-feature-custom-font-size-clientpref-1 vector-feature-appearance-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-night-mode-enabled skin-theme-clientpref-day vector-sticky-header-enabled vector-toc-available";var cookie=document.cookie.match(/(?:^|; )enwikimwclientpreferences=([^;]+)/);if(cookie){cookie[1].split('%2C').forEach(function(pref){className=className.replace(new RegExp('(^| )'+pref.replace(/-clientpref-\w+$|[^\w-]+/g,'')+'-clientpref-\\w+( |$)'),'$1'+pref+'$2');});}document.documentElement.className=className;}());RLCONF={"wgBreakFrames":false,"wgSeparatorTransformTable":["",""],"wgDigitTransformTable":["",""],"wgDefaultDateFormat":"dmy","wgMonthNames":["","January","February","March","April","May","June","July","August","September","October","November","December"],"wgRequestId":"ec9ad4c2-a76f-4cbd-993a-8c442e96b27c","wgCanonicalNamespace":"","wgCanonicalSpecialPageName":false,"wgNamespaceNumber":0,"wgPageName":"Headward_erosion","wgTitle":"Headward erosion","wgCurRevisionId":1277898769,"wgRevisionId":1277898769,"wgArticleId":5077608,"wgIsArticle":true,"wgIsRedirect":false,"wgAction":"view","wgUserName":null,"wgUserGroups":["*"],"wgCategories":["Articles with short description","Short description is different from Wikidata","Commons category link from Wikidata","Erosion","Hydrology"],"wgPageViewLanguage":"en","wgPageContentLanguage":"en","wgPageContentModel":"wikitext","wgRelevantPageName":"Headward_erosion","wgRelevantArticleId":5077608,"wgIsProbablyEditable":true,"wgRelevantPageIsProbablyEditable":true,"wgRestrictionEdit":[],"wgRestrictionMove":[],"wgNoticeProject":"wikipedia","wgCiteReferencePreviewsActive":false,"wgFlaggedRevsParams":{"tags":{"status":{"levels":1}}},"wgMediaViewerOnClick":true,"wgMediaViewerEnabledByDefault":true,"wgPopupsFlags":0,"wgVisualEditor":{"pageLanguageCode":"en","pageLanguageDir":"ltr","pageVariantFallbacks":"en"},"wgMFDisplayWikibaseDescriptions":{"search":true,"watchlist":true,"tagline":false,"nearby":true},"wgWMESchemaEditAttemptStepOversample":false,"wgWMEPageLength":7000,"wgEditSubmitButtonLabelPublish":true,"wgULSPosition":"interlanguage","wgULSisCompactLinksEnabled":false,"wgVector2022LanguageInHeader":true,"wgULSisLanguageSelectorEmpty":false,"wgWikibaseItemId":"Q2537553","wgCheckUserClientHintsHeadersJsApi":["brands","architecture","bitness","fullVersionList","mobile","model","platform","platformVersion"],"GEHomepageSuggestedEditsEnableTopics":true,"wgGETopicsMatchModeEnabled":false,"wgGELevelingUpEnabledForUser":false}; RLSTATE={"ext.globalCssJs.user.styles":"ready","site.styles":"ready","user.styles":"ready","ext.globalCssJs.user":"ready","user":"ready","user.options":"loading","ext.cite.styles":"ready","skins.vector.search.codex.styles":"ready","skins.vector.styles":"ready","skins.vector.icons":"ready","jquery.makeCollapsible.styles":"ready","ext.wikimediamessages.styles":"ready","ext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.noscript":"ready","ext.uls.interlanguage":"ready","wikibase.client.init":"ready"};RLPAGEMODULES=["ext.cite.ux-enhancements","mediawiki.page.media","site","mediawiki.page.ready","jquery.makeCollapsible","mediawiki.toc","skins.vector.js","ext.centralNotice.geoIP","ext.centralNotice.startUp","ext.gadget.ReferenceTooltips","ext.gadget.switcher","ext.urlShortener.toolbar","ext.centralauth.centralautologin","mmv.bootstrap","ext.popups","ext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.init","ext.visualEditor.targetLoader","ext.echo.centralauth","ext.eventLogging","ext.wikimediaEvents","ext.navigationTiming","ext.uls.interface","ext.cx.eventlogging.campaigns","ext.cx.uls.quick.actions","wikibase.client.vector-2022","ext.checkUser.clientHints","ext.quicksurveys.init","ext.growthExperiments.SuggestedEditSession"];</script> <script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.loader.impl(function(){return["user.options@12s5i",function($,jQuery,require,module){mw.user.tokens.set({"patrolToken":"+\\","watchToken":"+\\","csrfToken":"+\\"}); }];});});</script> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=ext.cite.styles%7Cext.uls.interlanguage%7Cext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.noscript%7Cext.wikimediamessages.styles%7Cjquery.makeCollapsible.styles%7Cskins.vector.icons%2Cstyles%7Cskins.vector.search.codex.styles%7Cwikibase.client.init&only=styles&skin=vector-2022"> <script async="" src="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=startup&only=scripts&raw=1&skin=vector-2022"></script> <meta name="ResourceLoaderDynamicStyles" content=""> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=site.styles&only=styles&skin=vector-2022"> <meta name="generator" content="MediaWiki 1.44.0-wmf.22"> <meta name="referrer" content="origin"> <meta name="referrer" content="origin-when-cross-origin"> <meta name="robots" content="max-image-preview:standard"> <meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no"> <meta property="og:image" content="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Headward_erosion.jpg"> <meta property="og:image:width" content="1200"> <meta property="og:image:height" content="830"> <meta property="og:image" content="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Headward_erosion.jpg"> <meta property="og:image:width" content="800"> <meta property="og:image:height" content="553"> <meta property="og:image" content="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/Headward_erosion.jpg/640px-Headward_erosion.jpg"> <meta property="og:image:width" content="640"> <meta property="og:image:height" content="443"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=1120"> <meta property="og:title" content="Headward erosion - Wikipedia"> <meta property="og:type" content="website"> <link rel="preconnect" href="//upload.wikimedia.org"> <link rel="alternate" media="only screen and (max-width: 640px)" href="//en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headward_erosion"> <link rel="alternate" type="application/x-wiki" title="Edit this page" href="/w/index.php?title=Headward_erosion&action=edit"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/static/apple-touch/wikipedia.png"> <link rel="icon" href="/static/favicon/wikipedia.ico"> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="/w/rest.php/v1/search" title="Wikipedia (en)"> <link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" href="//en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=rsd"> <link rel="canonical" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headward_erosion"> <link rel="license" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en"> <link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Wikipedia Atom feed" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&feed=atom"> <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//meta.wikimedia.org" /> <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="auth.wikimedia.org"> </head> <body class="skin--responsive skin-vector skin-vector-search-vue mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject mw-editable page-Headward_erosion rootpage-Headward_erosion skin-vector-2022 action-view"><a class="mw-jump-link" href="#bodyContent">Jump to content</a> <div class="vector-header-container"> <header class="vector-header mw-header"> <div class="vector-header-start"> <nav class="vector-main-menu-landmark" aria-label="Site"> <div id="vector-main-menu-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-main-menu-dropdown vector-button-flush-left vector-button-flush-right" title="Main menu" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-main-menu-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-main-menu-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Main menu" > <label id="vector-main-menu-dropdown-label" for="vector-main-menu-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-menu mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-menu"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Main menu</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-main-menu-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> <div id="vector-main-menu" class="vector-main-menu vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-main-menu-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-unpinned" data-feature-name="main-menu-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-main-menu" data-pinned-container-id="vector-main-menu-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-main-menu-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Main menu</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-main-menu.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-main-menu.unpin">hide</button> </div> <div id="p-navigation" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-navigation" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Navigation </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="n-mainpage-description" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Main_Page" title="Visit the main page [z]" accesskey="z"><span>Main page</span></a></li><li id="n-contents" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Contents" title="Guides to browsing Wikipedia"><span>Contents</span></a></li><li id="n-currentevents" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Portal:Current_events" title="Articles related to current events"><span>Current events</span></a></li><li id="n-randompage" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:Random" title="Visit a randomly selected article [x]" accesskey="x"><span>Random article</span></a></li><li id="n-aboutsite" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:About" title="Learn about Wikipedia and how it works"><span>About Wikipedia</span></a></li><li id="n-contactpage" class="mw-list-item"><a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contact_us" title="How to contact Wikipedia"><span>Contact us</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-interaction" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-interaction" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Contribute </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="n-help" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Help:Contents" title="Guidance on how to use and edit Wikipedia"><span>Help</span></a></li><li id="n-introduction" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Help:Introduction" title="Learn how to edit Wikipedia"><span>Learn to edit</span></a></li><li id="n-portal" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Community_portal" title="The hub for editors"><span>Community portal</span></a></li><li id="n-recentchanges" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChanges" title="A list of recent changes to Wikipedia [r]" accesskey="r"><span>Recent changes</span></a></li><li id="n-upload" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:File_upload_wizard" title="Add images or other media for use on Wikipedia"><span>Upload file</span></a></li><li id="n-specialpages" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:SpecialPages"><span>Special pages</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <a href="/wiki/Main_Page" class="mw-logo"> <img class="mw-logo-icon" src="/static/images/icons/wikipedia.png" alt="" aria-hidden="true" height="50" width="50"> <span class="mw-logo-container skin-invert"> <img class="mw-logo-wordmark" alt="Wikipedia" src="/static/images/mobile/copyright/wikipedia-wordmark-en.svg" style="width: 7.5em; height: 1.125em;"> <img class="mw-logo-tagline" alt="The Free Encyclopedia" src="/static/images/mobile/copyright/wikipedia-tagline-en.svg" width="117" height="13" style="width: 7.3125em; height: 0.8125em;"> </span> </a> </div> <div class="vector-header-end"> <div id="p-search" role="search" class="vector-search-box-vue vector-search-box-collapses vector-search-box-show-thumbnail vector-search-box-auto-expand-width vector-search-box"> <a href="/wiki/Special:Search" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only search-toggle" title="Search Wikipedia [f]" accesskey="f"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-search mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-search"></span> <span>Search</span> </a> <div class="vector-typeahead-search-container"> <div class="cdx-typeahead-search cdx-typeahead-search--show-thumbnail cdx-typeahead-search--auto-expand-width"> <form action="/w/index.php" id="searchform" class="cdx-search-input cdx-search-input--has-end-button"> <div id="simpleSearch" class="cdx-search-input__input-wrapper" data-search-loc="header-moved"> <div class="cdx-text-input cdx-text-input--has-start-icon"> <input class="cdx-text-input__input" type="search" name="search" placeholder="Search Wikipedia" aria-label="Search Wikipedia" autocapitalize="sentences" title="Search Wikipedia [f]" accesskey="f" id="searchInput" > <span class="cdx-text-input__icon cdx-text-input__start-icon"></span> </div> <input type="hidden" name="title" value="Special:Search"> </div> <button class="cdx-button cdx-search-input__end-button">Search</button> </form> </div> </div> </div> <nav class="vector-user-links vector-user-links-wide" aria-label="Personal tools"> <div class="vector-user-links-main"> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-preferences" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-userpage" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <nav class="vector-appearance-landmark" aria-label="Appearance"> <div id="vector-appearance-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown " title="Change the appearance of the page's font size, width, and color" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-appearance-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-appearance-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Appearance" > <label id="vector-appearance-dropdown-label" for="vector-appearance-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-appearance mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-appearance"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Appearance</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-appearance-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-notifications" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-overflow" class="vector-menu mw-portlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-sitesupport-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="https://donate.wikimedia.org/?wmf_source=donate&wmf_medium=sidebar&wmf_campaign=en.wikipedia.org&uselang=en" class=""><span>Donate</span></a> </li> <li id="pt-createaccount-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=Headward+erosion" title="You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory" class=""><span>Create account</span></a> </li> <li id="pt-login-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Headward+erosion" title="You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [o]" accesskey="o" class=""><span>Log in</span></a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div id="vector-user-links-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-user-menu vector-button-flush-right vector-user-menu-logged-out" title="Log in and more options" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-user-links-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-user-links-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Personal tools" > <label id="vector-user-links-dropdown-label" for="vector-user-links-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-ellipsis mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-ellipsis"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Personal tools</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="p-personal" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-personal user-links-collapsible-item" title="User menu" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-sitesupport" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="https://donate.wikimedia.org/?wmf_source=donate&wmf_medium=sidebar&wmf_campaign=en.wikipedia.org&uselang=en"><span>Donate</span></a></li><li id="pt-createaccount" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=Headward+erosion" title="You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-userAdd mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-userAdd"></span> <span>Create account</span></a></li><li id="pt-login" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Headward+erosion" title="You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [o]" accesskey="o"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-logIn mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-logIn"></span> <span>Log in</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-user-menu-anon-editor" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-user-menu-anon-editor" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Pages for logged out editors <a href="/wiki/Help:Introduction" aria-label="Learn more about editing"><span>learn more</span></a> </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-anoncontribs" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:MyContributions" title="A list of edits made from this IP address [y]" accesskey="y"><span>Contributions</span></a></li><li id="pt-anontalk" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:MyTalk" title="Discussion about edits from this IP address [n]" accesskey="n"><span>Talk</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </header> </div> <div class="mw-page-container"> <div class="mw-page-container-inner"> <div class="vector-sitenotice-container"> <div id="siteNotice"></div> </div> <div class="vector-column-start"> <div class="vector-main-menu-container"> <div id="mw-navigation"> <nav id="mw-panel" class="vector-main-menu-landmark" aria-label="Site"> <div id="vector-main-menu-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="vector-sticky-pinned-container"> <nav id="mw-panel-toc" aria-label="Contents" data-event-name="ui.sidebar-toc" class="mw-table-of-contents-container vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-toc-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> <div id="vector-toc" class="vector-toc vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-toc-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-pinned" data-feature-name="toc-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-toc" > <h2 class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Contents</h2> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-toc.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-toc.unpin">hide</button> </div> <ul class="vector-toc-contents" id="mw-panel-toc-list"> <li id="toc-mw-content-text" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a href="#" class="vector-toc-link"> <div class="vector-toc-text">(Top)</div> </a> </li> <li id="toc-Stream_types_created_by_headward_erosion" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Stream_types_created_by_headward_erosion"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1</span> <span>Stream types created by headward erosion</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Stream_types_created_by_headward_erosion-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Drainage_patterns_created_by_headward_erosion" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Drainage_patterns_created_by_headward_erosion"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2</span> <span>Drainage patterns created by headward erosion</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Drainage_patterns_created_by_headward_erosion-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-See_also" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#See_also"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3</span> <span>See also</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-See_also-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-References" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#References"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4</span> <span>References</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-References-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="mw-content-container"> <main id="content" class="mw-body"> <header class="mw-body-header vector-page-titlebar"> <nav aria-label="Contents" class="vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-titlebar-toc vector-button-flush-left" title="Table of Contents" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Toggle the table of contents" > <label id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-label" for="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-listBullet mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-listBullet"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Toggle the table of contents</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading mw-first-heading"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Headward erosion</span></h1> <div id="p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown mw-portlet mw-portlet-lang" > <input type="checkbox" id="p-lang-btn-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox mw-interlanguage-selector" aria-label="Go to an article in another language. Available in 13 languages" > <label id="p-lang-btn-label" for="p-lang-btn-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive mw-portlet-lang-heading-13" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-language-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language-progressive"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">13 languages</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-an mw-list-item"><a href="https://an.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erosi%C3%B3n_regresiva" title="Erosión regresiva – Aragonese" lang="an" hreflang="an" data-title="Erosión regresiva" data-language-autonym="Aragonés" data-language-local-name="Aragonese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Aragonés</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-az mw-list-item"><a href="https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reqressiv_eroziya" title="Reqressiv eroziya – Azerbaijani" lang="az" hreflang="az" data-title="Reqressiv eroziya" data-language-autonym="Azərbaycanca" data-language-local-name="Azerbaijani" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Azərbaycanca</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-cs mw-list-item"><a href="https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zp%C4%9Btn%C3%A1_eroze" title="Zpětná eroze – Czech" lang="cs" hreflang="cs" data-title="Zpětná eroze" data-language-autonym="Čeština" data-language-local-name="Czech" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Čeština</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-es mw-list-item"><a href="https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erosi%C3%B3n_remontante" title="Erosión remontante – Spanish" lang="es" hreflang="es" data-title="Erosión remontante" data-language-autonym="Español" data-language-local-name="Spanish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Español</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fa mw-list-item"><a href="https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%B3%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B4_%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%DB%8C%DB%8C" title="فرسایش سربالایی – Persian" lang="fa" hreflang="fa" data-title="فرسایش سربالایی" data-language-autonym="فارسی" data-language-local-name="Persian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>فارسی</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fr mw-list-item"><a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89rosion_r%C3%A9gressive" title="Érosion régressive – French" lang="fr" hreflang="fr" data-title="Érosion régressive" data-language-autonym="Français" data-language-local-name="French" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Français</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-it mw-list-item"><a href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erosione_regressiva" title="Erosione regressiva – Italian" lang="it" hreflang="it" data-title="Erosione regressiva" data-language-autonym="Italiano" data-language-local-name="Italian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Italiano</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-he mw-list-item"><a href="https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A1%D7%97%D7%99%D7%A4%D7%94_%D7%9C%D7%90%D7%97%D7%95%D7%A8" title="סחיפה לאחור – Hebrew" lang="he" hreflang="he" data-title="סחיפה לאחור" data-language-autonym="עברית" data-language-local-name="Hebrew" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>עברית</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ms mw-list-item"><a href="https://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakisan_menghulu" title="Hakisan menghulu – Malay" lang="ms" hreflang="ms" data-title="Hakisan menghulu" data-language-autonym="Bahasa Melayu" data-language-local-name="Malay" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Bahasa Melayu</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-nl mw-list-item"><a href="https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terugschrijdende_erosie" title="Terugschrijdende erosie – Dutch" lang="nl" hreflang="nl" data-title="Terugschrijdende erosie" data-language-autonym="Nederlands" data-language-local-name="Dutch" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Nederlands</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pl mw-list-item"><a href="https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erozja_wsteczna" title="Erozja wsteczna – Polish" lang="pl" hreflang="pl" data-title="Erozja wsteczna" data-language-autonym="Polski" data-language-local-name="Polish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Polski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pt mw-list-item"><a href="https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eros%C3%A3o_remontante" title="Erosão remontante – Portuguese" lang="pt" hreflang="pt" data-title="Erosão remontante" data-language-autonym="Português" data-language-local-name="Portuguese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Português</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-zh mw-list-item"><a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%90%91%E6%BA%90%E4%BE%B5%E8%9D%95" title="向源侵蝕 – Chinese" lang="zh" hreflang="zh" data-title="向源侵蝕" data-language-autonym="中文" data-language-local-name="Chinese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>中文</span></a></li> </ul> <div class="after-portlet after-portlet-lang"><span class="wb-langlinks-edit wb-langlinks-link"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q2537553#sitelinks-wikipedia" title="Edit interlanguage links" class="wbc-editpage">Edit links</a></span></div> </div> </div> </div> </header> <div class="vector-page-toolbar"> <div class="vector-page-toolbar-container"> <div id="left-navigation"> <nav aria-label="Namespaces"> <div id="p-associated-pages" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs mw-portlet mw-portlet-associated-pages" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-nstab-main" class="selected vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Headward_erosion" title="View the content page [c]" accesskey="c"><span>Article</span></a></li><li id="ca-talk" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Talk:Headward_erosion" rel="discussion" title="Discuss improvements to the content page [t]" accesskey="t"><span>Talk</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="vector-variants-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown emptyPortlet" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-variants-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-variants-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Change language variant" > <label id="vector-variants-dropdown-label" for="vector-variants-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">English</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="p-variants" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-variants emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> <div id="right-navigation" class="vector-collapsible"> <nav aria-label="Views"> <div id="p-views" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs mw-portlet mw-portlet-views" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-view" class="selected vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Headward_erosion"><span>Read</span></a></li><li id="ca-edit" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Headward_erosion&action=edit" title="Edit this page [e]" accesskey="e"><span>Edit</span></a></li><li id="ca-history" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Headward_erosion&action=history" title="Past revisions of this page [h]" accesskey="h"><span>View history</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> <nav class="vector-page-tools-landmark" aria-label="Page tools"> <div id="vector-page-tools-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-tools-dropdown" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-tools-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-tools-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Tools" > <label id="vector-page-tools-dropdown-label" for="vector-page-tools-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Tools</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-tools-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> <div id="vector-page-tools" class="vector-page-tools vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-page-tools-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-unpinned" data-feature-name="page-tools-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-page-tools" data-pinned-container-id="vector-page-tools-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-page-tools-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Tools</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-page-tools.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-page-tools.unpin">hide</button> </div> <div id="p-cactions" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-cactions emptyPortlet vector-has-collapsible-items" title="More options" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Actions </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-more-view" class="selected vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Headward_erosion"><span>Read</span></a></li><li id="ca-more-edit" class="vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Headward_erosion&action=edit" title="Edit this page [e]" accesskey="e"><span>Edit</span></a></li><li id="ca-more-history" class="vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Headward_erosion&action=history"><span>View history</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-tb" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-tb" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> General </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="t-whatlinkshere" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:WhatLinksHere/Headward_erosion" title="List of all English Wikipedia pages containing links to this page [j]" accesskey="j"><span>What links here</span></a></li><li id="t-recentchangeslinked" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Headward_erosion" rel="nofollow" title="Recent changes in pages linked from this page [k]" accesskey="k"><span>Related changes</span></a></li><li id="t-upload" class="mw-list-item"><a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:File_Upload_Wizard" title="Upload files [u]" accesskey="u"><span>Upload file</span></a></li><li id="t-permalink" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Headward_erosion&oldid=1277898769" title="Permanent link to this revision of this page"><span>Permanent link</span></a></li><li id="t-info" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Headward_erosion&action=info" title="More information about this page"><span>Page information</span></a></li><li id="t-cite" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CiteThisPage&page=Headward_erosion&id=1277898769&wpFormIdentifier=titleform" title="Information on how to cite this page"><span>Cite this page</span></a></li><li id="t-urlshortener" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UrlShortener&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FHeadward_erosion"><span>Get shortened URL</span></a></li><li id="t-urlshortener-qrcode" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:QrCode&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FHeadward_erosion"><span>Download QR code</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-coll-print_export" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-coll-print_export" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Print/export </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="coll-download-as-rl" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:DownloadAsPdf&page=Headward_erosion&action=show-download-screen" title="Download this page as a PDF file"><span>Download as PDF</span></a></li><li id="t-print" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Headward_erosion&printable=yes" title="Printable version of this page [p]" accesskey="p"><span>Printable version</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-wikibase-otherprojects" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-wikibase-otherprojects" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> In other projects </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="wb-otherproject-link wb-otherproject-commons mw-list-item"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Headward_erosion" hreflang="en"><span>Wikimedia Commons</span></a></li><li id="t-wikibase" class="wb-otherproject-link wb-otherproject-wikibase-dataitem mw-list-item"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q2537553" title="Structured data on this page hosted by Wikidata [g]" accesskey="g"><span>Wikidata item</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-column-end"> <div class="vector-sticky-pinned-container"> <nav class="vector-page-tools-landmark" aria-label="Page tools"> <div id="vector-page-tools-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> </div> </nav> <nav class="vector-appearance-landmark" aria-label="Appearance"> <div id="vector-appearance-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> <div id="vector-appearance" class="vector-appearance vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-appearance-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-pinned" data-feature-name="appearance-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-appearance" data-pinned-container-id="vector-appearance-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-appearance-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Appearance</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-appearance.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-appearance.unpin">hide</button> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div id="bodyContent" class="vector-body" aria-labelledby="firstHeading" data-mw-ve-target-container> <div class="vector-body-before-content"> <div class="mw-indicators"> </div> <div id="siteSub" class="noprint">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</div> </div> <div id="contentSub"><div id="mw-content-subtitle"></div></div> <div id="mw-content-text" class="mw-body-content"><div class="mw-content-ltr mw-parser-output" lang="en" dir="ltr"><div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none">Geographical process</div> <figure class="mw-default-size mw-halign-right" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Headward_erosion.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/Headward_erosion.jpg/250px-Headward_erosion.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="152" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/Headward_erosion.jpg/330px-Headward_erosion.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/Headward_erosion.jpg/500px-Headward_erosion.jpg 2x" data-file-width="700" data-file-height="484" /></a><figcaption>Headward erosion is demonstrated in this 1906 photo taken near <a href="/wiki/Mount_Tamalpais" title="Mount Tamalpais">Mount Tamalpais</a> in <a href="/wiki/Marin_County,_California" title="Marin County, California">Marin County, California</a>. <a href="/wiki/Groundwater_sapping" title="Groundwater sapping">Groundwater sapping</a> is causing this gully to lengthen up the slope.</figcaption></figure> <figure class="mw-default-size mw-halign-right" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Canyonlands_NP18.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3e/Canyonlands_NP18.jpg/220px-Canyonlands_NP18.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="149" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3e/Canyonlands_NP18.jpg/330px-Canyonlands_NP18.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3e/Canyonlands_NP18.jpg/440px-Canyonlands_NP18.jpg 2x" data-file-width="2304" data-file-height="1556" /></a><figcaption>At <a href="/wiki/Canyonlands_National_Park" title="Canyonlands National Park">Canyonlands National Park</a> in <a href="/wiki/Utah" title="Utah">Utah</a>, sheets of water flow across the plains and enter the canyons. As they do so, the top edge of the canyon erodes back into the plain above, both lengthening and widening the canyon. Widening of a canyon by erosion inside the canyon below the top, because of the flow of the stream inside the canyon, is not called headward erosion.</figcaption></figure> <figure class="mw-default-size mw-halign-right" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Cox_Lavaka_W16.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/Cox_Lavaka_W16.jpg/250px-Cox_Lavaka_W16.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="165" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/Cox_Lavaka_W16.jpg/330px-Cox_Lavaka_W16.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/Cox_Lavaka_W16.jpg/500px-Cox_Lavaka_W16.jpg 2x" data-file-width="1280" data-file-height="960" /></a><figcaption>Active headward erosion (<a href="/wiki/Lavaka" title="Lavaka">lavaka</a>) on right, with inactive, largely infilled older examples to left</figcaption></figure> <p><b>Headward erosion</b> is <a href="/wiki/Erosion" title="Erosion">erosion</a> at the origin of a <a href="/wiki/Channel_(geography)" title="Channel (geography)">stream channel</a>, which causes the origin to move back away from the direction of the stream flow, lengthening the stream channel.<sup id="cite_ref-EG_1-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-EG-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> It can also refer to the widening of a <a href="/wiki/Canyon" title="Canyon">canyon</a> by erosion along its very top edge, when sheets of water first enter the canyon from a more roughly planar surface above it, such as at <a href="/wiki/Canyonlands_National_Park" title="Canyonlands National Park">Canyonlands National Park</a> in <a href="/wiki/Utah" title="Utah">Utah</a>. When sheets of water on a roughly planar surface first enter a depression in it, this erodes the top edge of the depression. The stream is forced to grow longer at the very top of the stream, which moves its origin back, or causes the canyon formed by the stream to grow wider as the process repeats. Widening of the canyon by erosion inside the canyon, below the canyon side top edge, or origin or the stream, such as erosion caused by the streamflow inside it, is not called headward erosion. </p><p>Headward erosion is a <a href="/wiki/Fluvial" class="mw-redirect" title="Fluvial">fluvial</a> process of <a href="/wiki/Erosion" title="Erosion">erosion</a> that lengthens a <a href="/wiki/Stream" title="Stream">stream</a>, a <a href="/wiki/Valley" title="Valley">valley</a> or a <a href="/wiki/Gully" title="Gully">gully</a> at its <a href="/wiki/Source_(river_or_stream)" class="mw-redirect" title="Source (river or stream)">head</a> and also enlarges its <a href="/wiki/Drainage_basin" title="Drainage basin">drainage basin</a>. The stream erodes away at the rock and soil at its headwaters in the opposite direction that it flows. Once a stream has begun to cut back, the erosion is sped up by the steep gradient the water is flowing down. As water erodes a path from its headwaters to its mouth at a standing body of water, it tries to cut an ever-shallower path. This leads to increased erosion at the steepest parts, which is headward erosion. If this continues long enough, it can cause a stream to break through into a neighboring <a href="/wiki/Drainage_basin" title="Drainage basin">watershed</a> and <a href="/wiki/Stream_capture" title="Stream capture">capture</a> drainage that previously flowed to another stream. </p><p>For example, headward erosion by the <a href="/wiki/Shenandoah_River" title="Shenandoah River">Shenandoah River</a>, a <a href="/wiki/Tributary" title="Tributary">tributary</a> of the <a href="/wiki/Potomac_River" title="Potomac River">Potomac River</a> in the U.S. state of <a href="/wiki/Virginia" title="Virginia">Virginia</a>, permitted the Shenandoah to capture successively the original upstream segments of <a href="/w/index.php?title=Beaverdam_Creek_(Virginia)&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Beaverdam Creek (Virginia) (page does not exist)">Beaverdam Creek</a>, <a href="/w/index.php?title=Gap_Run&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Gap Run (page does not exist)">Gap Run</a> and <a href="/wiki/Goose_Creek_(Potomac_River)" class="mw-redirect" title="Goose Creek (Potomac River)">Goose Creek</a>, three smaller tributaries of the Potomac. As each capture added to the Shenandoah's <a href="/wiki/Effluent" title="Effluent">effluent</a>, or discharge, it accelerated the process of headward erosion until the Shenandoah captured all drainage to the Potomac west of the <a href="/wiki/Blue_Ridge_Mountains" title="Blue Ridge Mountains">Blue Ridge Mountains</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Judson_2-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Judson-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Stream_types_created_by_headward_erosion">Stream types created by headward erosion</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Headward_erosion&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Stream types created by headward erosion"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Three kinds of streams are formed by headward erosion: <i>insequent streams</i>, <i>subsequent streams</i>, and <i>obsequent and resequent streams</i> (<i>See <a href="/wiki/Fluvial_landforms_of_streams" class="mw-redirect" title="Fluvial landforms of streams">Fluvial landforms of streams</a></i>.) <b>Insequent streams</b> form by random headward erosion, usually from sheetflow of water over the landform surface. The water collects in channels where the velocity and erosional power increase, cutting into and extending the heads of gullies. <b>Subsequent streams</b> form by selective headward erosion by cutting away at less resistive rocks in the terrain. <b>Obsequent and resequent streams</b> form after time in an area of insequent or subsequent streams. Obsequent streams are insequent streams that now flow in an opposite direction of the original drainage pattern. Resequent streams are subsequent streams that have also changed direction from their original drainage patterns.<sup id="cite_ref-Easterbrook_3-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Easterbrook-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Drainage_patterns_created_by_headward_erosion">Drainage patterns created by headward erosion</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Headward_erosion&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Drainage patterns created by headward erosion"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Headward erosion creates three major kinds of drainage patterns: <i><a href="/wiki/Drainage_system_(geomorphology)" title="Drainage system (geomorphology)">dendritic</a> patterns</i>, <i><a href="/wiki/Drainage_system_(geomorphology)" title="Drainage system (geomorphology)">trellis</a> patterns</i>, and <i>rectangular and angular patterns</i>. <br /> </p> <ul><li><b>Dendritic patterns</b> form in homogenous landforms where the underlying bedrock has no structural control over where the water flows. They have a very characteristic pattern of branching at acute angles with no common or similarly repeating pattern.</li> <li><b>Trellis patterns</b> form where the underlying bedrock contains repeating weaker and stronger types of rock. The trellis pattern cuts down deeper into the weaker bedrock, and is characterized by nearly parallel streams that branch at higher angles.</li> <li><b>Rectangular and angular patterns</b> are characterized by branching of tributaries at nearly right angles and tributaries which themselves exhibit right-angle bends in their channels. These usually form in jointed igneous bedrocks, horizontal sedimentary beds with well-developed jointing or intersecting faults.<sup id="cite_ref-Easterbrook_3-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Easterbrook-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li></ul> <p>Four minor kinds of drainage patterns also can be created: <i><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/radial" class="extiw" title="wikt:radial">radial</a> patterns</i>, <i><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/annular" class="extiw" title="wikt:annular">annular</a> patterns</i>, <br /> <i><a href="/wiki/Centripetal_force" title="Centripetal force">centripetal</a> patterns</i> and <i><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/parallel" class="extiw" title="wikt:parallel">parallel</a> patterns</i>. </p> <ul><li><b>Radial patterns</b> are characterized by flow of water outward from a central point, such as down a newly formed cinder volcano cone or an intrusive dome.</li> <li><b>Annular patterns</b> form on domes of alternating weak and hard bedrocks. The pattern formed is similar to that of a <a href="/wiki/Bullseye_(target)" title="Bullseye (target)">bullseye</a> when viewed from above, as the weaker bedrocks are eroded and the harder are left in place.</li> <li><b>Centripetal patterns</b> form where water flows into a central location, such as in a <a href="/wiki/Karst_topography" class="mw-redirect" title="Karst topography">karst</a> limestone terrain where the water flows down into a <a href="/wiki/Sinkhole" title="Sinkhole">sinkhole</a> and then underground.</li> <li><b>Parallel patterns</b> are not very common and form on unidirectional regional slope or parallel landform features. They are usually limited to a small, generalized area.<sup id="cite_ref-Easterbrook_3-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Easterbrook-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Headward_erosion&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Lavaka" title="Lavaka">Lavaka</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Headward_erosion&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-EG-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-EG_1-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Essentials of Geology, 3rd Ed, Stephen Marshak</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Judson-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Judson_2-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite id="CITEREFJudsonKauffman1990" class="citation book cs1">Judson, Sheldon; Kauffman, M.E. (1990). <i>Physical geology</i> (8th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall. pp. <span class="nowrap">288–</span>289. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-13-666405-9" title="Special:BookSources/0-13-666405-9"><bdi>0-13-666405-9</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Physical+geology&rft.place=Englewood+Cliffs%2C+N.J.&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E288-%3C%2Fspan%3E289&rft.edition=8th&rft.pub=Prentice+Hall&rft.date=1990&rft.isbn=0-13-666405-9&rft.aulast=Judson&rft.aufirst=Sheldon&rft.au=Kauffman%2C+M.E.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHeadward+erosion" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Easterbrook-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Easterbrook_3-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Easterbrook_3-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Easterbrook_3-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFEasterbrook1999" class="citation book cs1">Easterbrook, Don J. (1999). <i>Surface processes and landforms</i> (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall. pp. <span class="nowrap">147–</span>152. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-13-860958-6" title="Special:BookSources/0-13-860958-6"><bdi>0-13-860958-6</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Surface+processes+and+landforms&rft.place=Upper+Saddle+River%2C+N.J.&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E147-%3C%2Fspan%3E152&rft.edition=2nd&rft.pub=Prentice+Hall&rft.date=1999&rft.isbn=0-13-860958-6&rft.aulast=Easterbrook&rft.aufirst=Don+J.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHeadward+erosion" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> </ol></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239549316">.mw-parser-output .refbegin{margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul{margin-left:0}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul>li{margin-left:0;padding-left:3.2em;text-indent:-3.2em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents ul,.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents ul li{list-style:none}@media(max-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul>li{padding-left:1.6em;text-indent:-1.6em}}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-columns ul{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .refbegin{font-size:90%}}</style><div class="refbegin" style=""> </div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1235681985">.mw-parser-output .side-box{margin:4px 0;box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid #aaa;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em;background-color:var(--background-color-interactive-subtle,#f8f9fa);display:flow-root}.mw-parser-output .side-box-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output .side-box-text{padding:0.25em 0.9em}.mw-parser-output .side-box-image{padding:2px 0 2px 0.9em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .side-box-imageright{padding:2px 0.9em 2px 0;text-align:center}@media(min-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .side-box-flex{display:flex;align-items:center}.mw-parser-output .side-box-text{flex:1;min-width:0}}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .side-box{width:238px}.mw-parser-output .side-box-right{clear:right;float:right;margin-left:1em}.mw-parser-output .side-box-left{margin-right:1em}}</style><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1237033735">@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .sistersitebox{display:none!important}}@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sistersitebox img[src*="Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg"]{background-color:white}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sistersitebox img[src*="Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg"]{background-color:white}}</style><div class="side-box side-box-right plainlinks sistersitebox"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1126788409">.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul{line-height:inherit;list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol li,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul li{margin-bottom:0}</style> <div class="side-box-flex"> <div class="side-box-image"><span class="noviewer" typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Commons-logo.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/40px-Commons-logo.svg.png" decoding="async" width="30" height="40" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/60px-Commons-logo.svg.png 1.5x" data-file-width="1024" data-file-height="1376" /></a></span></div> <div class="side-box-text plainlist">Wikimedia Commons has media related to <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Headward_erosion" class="extiw" title="commons:Category:Headward erosion">Headward erosion</a></span>.</div></div> </div> <div class="navbox-styles"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1129693374">.mw-parser-output .hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul{margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt,.mw-parser-output .hlist li{margin:0;display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ul{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist .mw-empty-li{display:none}.mw-parser-output .hlist dt::after{content:": "}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li::after{content:" · ";font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li:last-child::after{content:none}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li li:first-child::before{content:" (";font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd li:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt li:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li li:last-child::after{content:")";font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol{counter-reset:listitem}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol>li{counter-increment:listitem}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol>li::before{content:" "counter(listitem)"\a0 "}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd ol>li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt ol>li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li ol>li:first-child::before{content:" ("counter(listitem)"\a0 "}</style><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236075235">.mw-parser-output .navbox{box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid #a2a9b1;width:100%;clear:both;font-size:88%;text-align:center;padding:1px;margin:1em auto 0}.mw-parser-output .navbox .navbox{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox-styles+.navbox{margin-top:-1px}.mw-parser-output .navbox-inner,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{width:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-title,.mw-parser-output .navbox-abovebelow{padding:0.25em 1em;line-height:1.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group{white-space:nowrap;text-align:right}.mw-parser-output .navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{background-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-list{line-height:1.5em;border-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-list-with-group{text-align:left;border-left-width:2px;border-left-style:solid}.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-group,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-image,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-list{border-top:2px solid #fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-title{background-color:#ccf}.mw-parser-output .navbox-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-title{background-color:#ddf}.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-abovebelow{background-color:#e6e6ff}.mw-parser-output .navbox-even{background-color:#f7f7f7}.mw-parser-output .navbox-odd{background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td dl,.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td ol,.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td ul,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist ul{padding:0.125em 0}.mw-parser-output .navbox .navbar{display:block;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-title .navbar{float:left;text-align:left;margin-right:0.5em}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .navbox-image img{max-width:none!important}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .navbox{display:none!important}}</style></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="Rivers,_streams_and_springs876" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks hlist mw-collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374" /><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239400231">.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:inline;font-size:88%;font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .navbar-collapse{float:left;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .navbar-boxtext{word-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .navbar ul{display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;line-height:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::before{margin-right:-0.125em;content:"[ "}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::after{margin-left:-0.125em;content:" ]"}.mw-parser-output .navbar li{word-spacing:-0.125em}.mw-parser-output .navbar a>span,.mw-parser-output .navbar a>abbr{text-decoration:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-mini abbr{font-variant:small-caps;border-bottom:none;text-decoration:none;cursor:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-full{font-size:114%;margin:0 7em}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-mini{font-size:114%;margin:0 4em}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}@media(prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}}@media print{.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:none!important}}</style><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Rivers,_streams_and_springs" title="Template:Rivers, streams and springs"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Rivers,_streams_and_springs" title="Template talk:Rivers, streams and springs"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Rivers,_streams_and_springs" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Rivers, streams and springs"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="Rivers,_streams_and_springs876" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="/wiki/River" title="River">Rivers</a>, <a href="/wiki/Stream" title="Stream">streams</a> and <a href="/wiki/Spring_(hydrology)" title="Spring (hydrology)">springs</a></div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/River" title="River">Rivers</a><br />(<a href="/wiki/Lists_of_rivers" title="Lists of rivers">lists</a>)</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Alluvial_river" title="Alluvial river">Alluvial river</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Braided_river" title="Braided river">Braided river</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Blackwater_river" title="Blackwater river">Blackwater river</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Channel_(geography)" title="Channel (geography)">Channel</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Channel_pattern" title="Channel pattern">Channel pattern</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Channel_types" title="Channel types">Channel types</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Confluence" title="Confluence">Confluence</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Distributary" title="Distributary">Distributary</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Drainage_basin" title="Drainage basin">Drainage basin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Subterranean_river" title="Subterranean river">Subterranean river</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/River_bifurcation" title="River bifurcation">River bifurcation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/River_ecosystem" title="River ecosystem">River ecosystem</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/River_source" title="River source">River source</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tributary" title="Tributary">Tributary</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Stream" title="Stream">Streams</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Arroyo_(watercourse)" title="Arroyo (watercourse)">Arroyo</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bourne_(stream)" title="Bourne (stream)">Bourne</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Burn_(landform)" title="Burn (landform)">Burn</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Chalk_stream" title="Chalk stream">Chalk stream</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Coulee" title="Coulee">Coulee</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Current_(hydrology)" title="Current (hydrology)">Current</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Stream_bed" title="Stream bed">Stream bed</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Stream_channel" class="mw-redirect" title="Stream channel">Stream channel</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Streamflow" title="Streamflow">Streamflow</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Stream_gradient" title="Stream gradient">Stream gradient</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Stream_pool" title="Stream pool">Stream pool</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Perennial_stream" class="mw-redirect" title="Perennial stream">Perennial stream</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Winterbourne_(stream)" title="Winterbourne (stream)">Winterbourne</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Spring_(hydrology)" title="Spring (hydrology)">Springs</a><br />(<a href="/wiki/List_of_springs" title="List of springs">list</a>)</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Estavelle" title="Estavelle">Estavelle/Inversac</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Geyser" title="Geyser">Geyser</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Holy_well" title="Holy well">Holy well</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hot_spring" title="Hot spring">Hot spring</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/List_of_hot_springs" title="List of hot springs">list</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_hot_springs_in_the_United_States" title="List of hot springs in the United States">list in the US</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Karst_spring" title="Karst spring">Karst spring</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/List_of_karst_springs" title="List of karst springs">list</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mineral_spring" title="Mineral spring">Mineral spring</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ponor" title="Ponor">Ponor</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rhythmic_spring" title="Rhythmic spring">Rhythmic spring</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Spring_horizon" title="Spring horizon">Spring horizon</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Sediment" title="Sediment">Sedimentary processes</a><br />and <a href="/wiki/Erosion" title="Erosion">erosion</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Abrasion_(geology)" title="Abrasion (geology)">Abrasion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Anabranch" title="Anabranch">Anabranch</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Aggradation" title="Aggradation">Aggradation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Armor_(hydrology)" title="Armor (hydrology)">Armor</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bed_load" title="Bed load">Bed load</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bed_material_load" title="Bed material load">Bed material load</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Granular_flow" class="mw-redirect" title="Granular flow">Granular flow</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Debris_flow" title="Debris flow">Debris flow</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Deposition_(geology)" title="Deposition (geology)">Deposition</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dissolved_load" title="Dissolved load">Dissolved load</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Downcutting" title="Downcutting">Downcutting</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Erosion" title="Erosion">Erosion</a></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Headward erosion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Knickpoint" title="Knickpoint">Knickpoint</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Palaeochannel" title="Palaeochannel">Palaeochannel</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Progradation" title="Progradation">Progradation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Retrogradation" title="Retrogradation">Retrogradation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Saltation_(geology)" title="Saltation (geology)">Saltation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Secondary_flow#River_bends" title="Secondary flow">Secondary flow</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sediment_transport" title="Sediment transport">Sediment transport</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Suspended_load" title="Suspended load">Suspended load</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wash_load" title="Wash load">Wash load</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Water_gap" title="Water gap">Water gap</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Fluvial#Fluvial_landforms" class="mw-redirect" title="Fluvial">Fluvial landforms</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Ait" title="Ait">Ait</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Alluvial_fan" title="Alluvial fan">Alluvial fan</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Antecedent_drainage_stream" title="Antecedent drainage stream">Antecedent drainage stream</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Avulsion_(river)" title="Avulsion (river)">Avulsion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bank_(geography)" title="Bank (geography)">Bank</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bar_(river_morphology)" title="Bar (river morphology)">Bar</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bayou" title="Bayou">Bayou</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Billabong" title="Billabong">Billabong</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Canyon" title="Canyon">Canyon</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Chine" title="Chine">Chine</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cut_bank" title="Cut bank">Cut bank</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Estuary" title="Estuary">Estuary</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Floating_island" title="Floating island">Floating island</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fluvial_terrace" title="Fluvial terrace">Fluvial terrace</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gill_(ravine)" title="Gill (ravine)">Gill</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gulch" title="Gulch">Gulch</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gully" title="Gully">Gully</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Glen" title="Glen">Glen</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Meander_scar" title="Meander scar">Meander scar</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mouth_bar" title="Mouth bar">Mouth bar</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Oxbow_lake" title="Oxbow lake">Oxbow lake</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Riffle-pool_sequence" title="Riffle-pool sequence">Riffle-pool sequence</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Point_bar" title="Point bar">Point bar</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ravine" title="Ravine">Ravine</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rill" title="Rill">Rill</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/River_island" title="River island">River island</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rock-cut_basin" title="Rock-cut basin">Rock-cut basin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sedimentary_basin" title="Sedimentary basin">Sedimentary basin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sedimentary_structures" title="Sedimentary structures">Sedimentary structures</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Strath" title="Strath">Strath</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Thalweg" title="Thalweg">Thalweg</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Valley" title="Valley">River valley</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wadi" title="Wadi">Wadi</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Fluvial#Fluvial_processes" class="mw-redirect" title="Fluvial">Fluvial flow</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Helicoidal_flow" title="Helicoidal flow">Helicoidal flow</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/International_scale_of_river_difficulty" title="International scale of river difficulty">International scale of river difficulty</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Log_jam" title="Log jam">Log jam</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Meander" title="Meander">Meander</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Plunge_pool" title="Plunge pool">Plunge pool</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rapids" title="Rapids">Rapids</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Riffle" title="Riffle">Riffle</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Shoal" title="Shoal">Shoal</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Stream_capture" title="Stream capture">Stream capture</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Waterfall" title="Waterfall">Waterfall</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Whitewater" title="Whitewater">Whitewater</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Surface_runoff" title="Surface runoff">Surface runoff</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Agricultural_wastewater" class="mw-redirect" title="Agricultural wastewater">Agricultural wastewater</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/First_flush" title="First flush">First flush</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Urban_runoff" title="Urban runoff">Urban runoff</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Flood" title="Flood">Floods</a> and <a href="/wiki/Stormwater" title="Stormwater">stormwater</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/100-year_flood" title="100-year flood">100-year flood</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Crevasse_splay" title="Crevasse splay">Crevasse splay</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Flash_flood" title="Flash flood">Flash flood</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Flood" title="Flood">Flood</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Urban_flooding" title="Urban flooding">Urban flooding</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_non-water_floods" title="List of non-water floods">Non-water flood</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Flood_barrier" title="Flood barrier">Flood barrier</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Flood_control" class="mw-redirect" title="Flood control">Flood control</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Flood_forecasting" title="Flood forecasting">Flood forecasting</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Flood-meadow" title="Flood-meadow">Flood-meadow</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Floodplain" title="Floodplain">Floodplain</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Flood_pulse_concept" title="Flood pulse concept">Flood pulse concept</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Flooded_grasslands_and_savannas" title="Flooded grasslands and savannas">Flooded grasslands and savannas</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Flooding_of_the_Nile" title="Flooding of the Nile">Inundation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Storm_Water_Management_Model" title="Storm Water Management Model">Storm Water Management Model</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Return_period" title="Return period">Return period</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Water_pollution#Pollution_from_point_sources" title="Water pollution">Point source pollution</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Effluent" title="Effluent">Effluent</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Industrial_wastewater" class="mw-redirect" title="Industrial wastewater">Industrial wastewater</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sewage" title="Sewage">Sewage</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">River measurement<br />and modelling</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Baer%27s_law" class="mw-redirect" title="Baer's law">Baer's law</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Baseflow" title="Baseflow">Baseflow</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bradshaw_model" title="Bradshaw model">Bradshaw model</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Discharge_(hydrology)" title="Discharge (hydrology)">Discharge (hydrology)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Drainage_density" title="Drainage density">Drainage density</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Exner_equation" title="Exner equation">Exner equation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Groundwater_model" title="Groundwater model">Groundwater model</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hack%27s_law" title="Hack's law">Hack's law</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hjulstr%C3%B6m_curve" title="Hjulström curve">Hjulström curve</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hydrograph" title="Hydrograph">Hydrograph</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hydrological_model" title="Hydrological model">Hydrological model</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hydrological_transport_model" title="Hydrological transport model">Hydrological transport model</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Infiltration_(hydrology)" title="Infiltration (hydrology)">Infiltration (hydrology)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Main_stem" title="Main stem">Main stem</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Playfair%27s_law" title="Playfair's law">Playfair's law</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Relief_ratio" class="mw-redirect" title="Relief ratio">Relief ratio</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/River_Continuum_Concept" title="River Continuum Concept">River Continuum Concept</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rouse_number" title="Rouse number">Rouse number</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Runoff_curve_number" title="Runoff curve number">Runoff curve number</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Runoff_model_(reservoir)" title="Runoff model (reservoir)">Runoff model (reservoir)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Stream_gauge" title="Stream gauge">Stream gauge</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Universal_Soil_Loss_Equation" title="Universal Soil Loss Equation">Universal Soil Loss Equation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/WAFLEX" title="WAFLEX">WAFLEX</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wetted_perimeter" title="Wetted perimeter">Wetted perimeter</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Volumetric_flow_rate" title="Volumetric flow rate">Volumetric flow rate</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/River_engineering" title="River engineering">River engineering</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Aqueduct_(bridge)" title="Aqueduct (bridge)">Aqueduct</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Balancing_lake" title="Balancing lake">Balancing lake</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Canal" title="Canal">Canal</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Check_dam" title="Check dam">Check dam</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dam" title="Dam">Dam</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Drop_structure" title="Drop structure">Drop structure</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Daylighting_(streams)" title="Daylighting (streams)">Daylighting</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Detention_basin" title="Detention basin">Detention basin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Erosion_control" title="Erosion control">Erosion control</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fish_ladder" title="Fish ladder">Fish ladder</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Floodplain_restoration" title="Floodplain restoration">Floodplain restoration</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Flume" title="Flume">Flume</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Infiltration_basin" title="Infiltration basin">Infiltration basin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Leat" title="Leat">Leat</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Levee" title="Levee">Levee</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/River_morphology" title="River morphology">River morphology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Retention_basin" title="Retention basin">Retention basin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Revetment" title="Revetment">Revetment</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Riparian-zone_restoration" title="Riparian-zone restoration">Riparian-zone restoration</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Stream_restoration" title="Stream restoration">Stream restoration</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Weir" title="Weir">Weir</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">River sports</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Canyoning" title="Canyoning">Canyoning</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fly_fishing" title="Fly fishing">Fly fishing</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rafting" title="Rafting">Rafting</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/River_surfing" title="River surfing">River surfing</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Riverboarding" title="Riverboarding">Riverboarding</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Stone_skipping" title="Stone skipping">Stone skipping</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Triathlon" title="Triathlon">Triathlon</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Whitewater_canoeing" title="Whitewater canoeing">Whitewater canoeing</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Whitewater_kayaking" title="Whitewater kayaking">Whitewater kayaking</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Whitewater_slalom" class="mw-redirect" title="Whitewater slalom">Whitewater slalom</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Related</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Aquifer" title="Aquifer">Aquifer</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Aquatic_toxicology" title="Aquatic toxicology">Aquatic toxicology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Body_of_water" title="Body of water">Body of water</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hydraulic_civilization" class="mw-redirect" title="Hydraulic civilization">Hydraulic civilization</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Limnology" title="Limnology">Limnology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Riparian_zone" title="Riparian zone">Riparian zone</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/River_valley_civilization" title="River valley civilization">River valley civilization</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/River_cruise" title="River cruise">River cruise</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sacred_waters" title="Sacred waters">Sacred waters</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Surface_water" title="Surface water">Surface water</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wild_river" title="Wild river">Wild river</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><td class="navbox-abovebelow" colspan="2"><div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/List_of_rivers_by_length" class="mw-redirect" title="List of rivers by length">Rivers by length</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_rivers_by_discharge" title="List of rivers by discharge">Rivers by discharge rate</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_drainage_basins" class="mw-redirect" title="List of drainage basins">Drainage basins</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_whitewater_rivers" title="List of whitewater rivers">Whitewater rivers</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_flash_floods" title="List of flash floods">Flash floods</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_river_name_etymologies" title="List of river name etymologies">River name etymologies</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_countries_without_rivers" title="List of countries without rivers">Countries without rivers</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table></div>    </div><noscript><img src="https://auth.wikimedia.org/loginwiki/wiki/Special:CentralAutoLogin/start?useformat=desktop&type=1x1&usesul3=1" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border: none; position: absolute;"></noscript> <div class="printfooter" data-nosnippet="">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Headward_erosion&oldid=1277898769">https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Headward_erosion&oldid=1277898769</a>"</div></div> <div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" data-mw="interface"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="/wiki/Help:Category" title="Help:Category">Categories</a>: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Erosion" title="Category:Erosion">Erosion</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Hydrology" title="Category:Hydrology">Hydrology</a></li></ul></div><div id="mw-hidden-catlinks" class="mw-hidden-catlinks mw-hidden-cats-hidden">Hidden categories: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Articles_with_short_description" title="Category:Articles with short description">Articles with short description</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Short_description_is_different_from_Wikidata" title="Category:Short description is different from Wikidata">Short description is different from Wikidata</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Commons_category_link_from_Wikidata" title="Category:Commons category link from Wikidata">Commons category link from Wikidata</a></li></ul></div></div> </div> </main> </div> <div class="mw-footer-container"> <footer id="footer" class="mw-footer" > <ul id="footer-info"> <li id="footer-info-lastmod"> This page was last edited on 27 February 2025, at 10:15<span class="anonymous-show"> (UTC)</span>.</li> <li id="footer-info-copyright">Text is available under the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_4.0_International_License" title="Wikipedia:Text of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License</a>; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the <a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Terms_of_Use" class="extiw" title="foundation:Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Terms of Use">Terms of Use</a> and <a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy_policy" class="extiw" title="foundation:Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy policy">Privacy Policy</a>. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://wikimediafoundation.org/">Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.</a>, a non-profit organization.</li> </ul> <ul id="footer-places"> <li id="footer-places-privacy"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy_policy">Privacy policy</a></li> <li id="footer-places-about"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:About">About Wikipedia</a></li> <li id="footer-places-disclaimers"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:General_disclaimer">Disclaimers</a></li> <li id="footer-places-contact"><a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contact_us">Contact Wikipedia</a></li> <li id="footer-places-wm-codeofconduct"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Universal_Code_of_Conduct">Code of Conduct</a></li> <li id="footer-places-developers"><a href="https://developer.wikimedia.org">Developers</a></li> <li id="footer-places-statslink"><a href="https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/en.wikipedia.org">Statistics</a></li> <li id="footer-places-cookiestatement"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Cookie_statement">Cookie statement</a></li> <li id="footer-places-mobileview"><a href="//en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Headward_erosion&mobileaction=toggle_view_mobile" class="noprint stopMobileRedirectToggle">Mobile view</a></li> </ul> <ul id="footer-icons" class="noprint"> <li id="footer-copyrightico"><a href="https://www.wikimedia.org/" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button--enabled"><picture><source media="(min-width: 500px)" srcset="/static/images/footer/wikimedia-button.svg" width="84" height="29"><img src="/static/images/footer/wikimedia.svg" width="25" height="25" alt="Wikimedia Foundation" lang="en" loading="lazy"></picture></a></li> <li id="footer-poweredbyico"><a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button--enabled"><picture><source media="(min-width: 500px)" srcset="/w/resources/assets/poweredby_mediawiki.svg" width="88" height="31"><img src="/w/resources/assets/mediawiki_compact.svg" alt="Powered by MediaWiki" lang="en" width="25" height="25" loading="lazy"></picture></a></li> </ul> </footer> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-header-container vector-sticky-header-container"> <div id="vector-sticky-header" class="vector-sticky-header"> <div class="vector-sticky-header-start"> <div class="vector-sticky-header-icon-start vector-button-flush-left vector-button-flush-right" aria-hidden="true"> <button class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-sticky-header-search-toggle" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="ui.vector-sticky-search-form.icon"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-search mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-search"></span> <span>Search</span> </button> </div> <div role="search" class="vector-search-box-vue vector-search-box-show-thumbnail vector-search-box"> <div class="vector-typeahead-search-container"> <div class="cdx-typeahead-search cdx-typeahead-search--show-thumbnail"> <form action="/w/index.php" id="vector-sticky-search-form" class="cdx-search-input cdx-search-input--has-end-button"> <div class="cdx-search-input__input-wrapper" data-search-loc="header-moved"> <div class="cdx-text-input cdx-text-input--has-start-icon"> <input class="cdx-text-input__input" type="search" name="search" placeholder="Search Wikipedia"> <span class="cdx-text-input__icon cdx-text-input__start-icon"></span> </div> <input type="hidden" name="title" value="Special:Search"> </div> <button class="cdx-button cdx-search-input__end-button">Search</button> </form> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-sticky-header-context-bar"> <nav aria-label="Contents" class="vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-sticky-header-toc" class="vector-dropdown mw-portlet mw-portlet-sticky-header-toc vector-sticky-header-toc vector-button-flush-left" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-sticky-header-toc-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-sticky-header-toc" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Toggle the table of contents" > <label id="vector-sticky-header-toc-label" for="vector-sticky-header-toc-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-listBullet mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-listBullet"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Toggle the table of contents</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-sticky-header-toc-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <div class="vector-sticky-header-context-bar-primary" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="mw-page-title-main">Headward erosion</span></div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-sticky-header-end" aria-hidden="true"> <div class="vector-sticky-header-icons"> <a href="#" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only" id="ca-talk-sticky-header" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="talk-sticky-header"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-speechBubbles mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-speechBubbles"></span> <span></span> </a> <a href="#" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only" id="ca-subject-sticky-header" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="subject-sticky-header"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-article mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-article"></span> <span></span> </a> <a href="#" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only" id="ca-history-sticky-header" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="history-sticky-header"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-history mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-wikimedia-history"></span> <span></span> </a> <a href="#" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only mw-watchlink" id="ca-watchstar-sticky-header" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="watch-sticky-header"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-star mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-wikimedia-star"></span> <span></span> </a> <a href="#" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only" id="ca-edit-sticky-header" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="wikitext-edit-sticky-header"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-wikiText mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-wikimedia-wikiText"></span> <span></span> </a> <a href="#" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only" id="ca-ve-edit-sticky-header" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="ve-edit-sticky-header"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-edit mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-wikimedia-edit"></span> <span></span> </a> <a href="#" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only" id="ca-viewsource-sticky-header" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="ve-edit-protected-sticky-header"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-editLock mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-wikimedia-editLock"></span> <span></span> </a> </div> <div class="vector-sticky-header-buttons"> <button class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet mw-interlanguage-selector" id="p-lang-btn-sticky-header" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-p-lang-btn-sticky-header"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-wikimedia-language"></span> <span>13 languages</span> </button> <a href="#" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive" id="ca-addsection-sticky-header" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="addsection-sticky-header"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-speechBubbleAdd-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-speechBubbleAdd-progressive"></span> <span>Add topic</span> </a> </div> <div class="vector-sticky-header-icon-end"> <div class="vector-user-links"> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="mw-portlet mw-portlet-dock-bottom emptyPortlet" id="p-dock-bottom"> <ul> </ul> </div> <script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.config.set({"wgHostname":"mw-web.codfw.main-66d47bf9fb-q9krd","wgBackendResponseTime":137,"wgPageParseReport":{"limitreport":{"cputime":"0.263","walltime":"0.364","ppvisitednodes":{"value":609,"limit":1000000},"postexpandincludesize":{"value":33305,"limit":2097152},"templateargumentsize":{"value":600,"limit":2097152},"expansiondepth":{"value":14,"limit":100},"expensivefunctioncount":{"value":1,"limit":500},"unstrip-depth":{"value":1,"limit":20},"unstrip-size":{"value":18547,"limit":5000000},"entityaccesscount":{"value":0,"limit":400},"timingprofile":["100.00% 292.706 1 -total"," 27.20% 79.627 1 Template:Rivers,_streams_and_springs"," 26.43% 77.371 2 Template:Cite_book"," 26.28% 76.911 1 Template:Short_description"," 25.90% 75.814 1 Template:Navbox"," 14.58% 42.678 1 Template:Commonscat"," 13.66% 39.979 1 Template:Sister_project"," 12.90% 37.773 1 Template:Side_box"," 12.00% 35.131 2 Template:Pagetype"," 5.99% 17.522 2 Template:Main_other"]},"scribunto":{"limitreport-timeusage":{"value":"0.164","limit":"10.000"},"limitreport-memusage":{"value":4409139,"limit":52428800}},"cachereport":{"origin":"mw-web.codfw.main-5c6f46dcf-g25rv","timestamp":"20250331040158","ttl":2592000,"transientcontent":false}}});});</script> <script type="application/ld+json">{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"Article","name":"Headward erosion","url":"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Headward_erosion","sameAs":"http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q2537553","mainEntity":"http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q2537553","author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Contributors to Wikimedia projects"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.org\/static\/images\/wmf-hor-googpub.png"}},"datePublished":"2006-05-09T18:26:44Z","dateModified":"2025-02-27T10:15:09Z","image":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/5\/5b\/Headward_erosion.jpg","headline":"erosion at the origin of a stream channel, moving the origin upstream"}</script> </body> </html>