Headward erosion is erosion that lengthens a stream, a valley or a gully at its head. If headward erosion continues long enough, it can cause a stream to break through into a neighboring watershed and capture drainage that previously flowed to another stream. For example, headward erosion by the Shenandoah River in the U.S. state of Virginia, a tributary of the Potomac River, permitted the Shenandoah to capture successively the original upstream segments of Beaverdam Creek, Gap Run and Goose Creek, three smaller tributaries of the Potomac. As each capture added to the Shenandoah's discharge, it accelerated the process of headward erosion until the Shenandoah captured all drainage to the Potomac west of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Reference

• Judson, S., and Kauffman, M.E., 1990, Physical Geology, 8th edition, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs NJ, pp. 288-289. ISBN 0136664059

Geological processes | Hydrology