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Nearly all major settlements and civilisations are located within river valleys, and for thousands of years we relied on these rivers for transport, defense, waste disposal and power.
River valleys have a series of features that you need to know about for your exam, including meanders, interlocking spurs, levees, waterfalls, rapids and estuaries. Meanders (the movement of the river across the valley floor which forces back the sides of the valley and deposits rich alluvial soils) are one feature in particular that you need to understand.
Depending on the geology, weather systems, ecosystems and human activity the rivers (and so their valleys and river channels) will have vastly different shapes. Lots of things can affect a river valley's features. The reintroduction of wolves into the Yellowstone National Park lead to the river meandering less and carving a deeper and more stable channel. This was due to the wolves changing the grazing behavior of the deer in the park, and so allowing vegetation to stabilize the banks.
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