Headward erosion

Okay kiddo, do you know what erosion is? It's when water, wind, or other things wear away land over time.

Headward erosion is when a stream or river gets longer by eroding (wearing away) new land at its source. Think of it like a straw. When you suck on a straw, the liquid at the bottom of the straw comes up to your mouth. The same thing happens with headward erosion.

When water flows down a stream or river, it carries little pieces of dirt and rocks. As the water keeps flowing, it keeps eroding away more and more land at the head, or source, of the stream or river. This makes the stream or river longer and can even create small valleys or canyons.

So, headward erosion is like a straw that keeps sucking up more and more liquid, except it's water eroding away more and more land at the source of a stream or river.