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Awater gap is agap that flowing water has carved through amountain range ormountain ridge and that still carries water today.[1] Such gaps that no longer carry water currents are calledwind gaps. Water gaps and wind gaps often offer a practical route forroad andrail transport to cross the mountain barrier.
A water gap is usually an indication of ariver that is older than the current topography. The likely occurrence is that a river established its course when the landform was at a low elevation, or by a rift in a portion of the crust of the earth having a very lowstream gradient and a thick layer of unconsolidatedsediment.[2]
In a hypothetical example, a river would have established its channel without regard for the deeper layers ofrock. A later period ofuplift would cause increasederosion along the riverbed, exposing the underlying rock layers. As the uplift continued, the river, being large enough, would continue to erode the rising land, cutting through ridges as they formed.
Water gaps are common in theRidge-and-Valley Appalachians of easternNorth America.
Alternatively, a water gap may be formed throughheadward erosion of two streams on opposite sides of a ridge, ultimately resulting in thecapture of one stream by the other.
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