Traditional and multivariate techniques in the interpretation of floodplain sediment grain size variations

The vertical and horizontal variation of sedimentary fades is the raw data for the interpretation of flood plain history from which palaeohydrological inferences are frequently drawn. Mixed and fine floodplain sediments present problems of interpretation because of a large grain size range and frequent polymodality caused by the mixing of process-associated grain size components. This paper discusses the use of traditional grain size statistics and the use of the mode and multivariate statistics. The mode, although much neglected, is indicative of up-profile grain size changes and has practical advantages over the mean for mixed and fine floodplain sediments. Constrained cluster analysis and principal components analysis are used directly on Coulter counter results. These techniques can rapidly divide a floodplain profile into grain size units and indicate the principal vectors of grain size variation which will be related to the changing processes of deposition. Principal components analysis reveals the importance of the medium to fine silt category in accounting for grain size variations, suggesting that a critical factor in determining the type of alluvial unit deposited is the degree to which it has received fine suspended material. Grain size data from the Lower Severn are used to construct a CM diagram which is compared with a texture triangle. From both the CM and multivariate analysis a generalized backswamp profile is constructed which shows the existence of a coarser top unit caused by the addition of a fine to medium sand component to the underlying sediment during the Late Holocene.     

SEDIMENTATION, RIVER GEOMETRY, AND BANK EROSION OF THE KANKAKEE RIVER IN ILLINOIS AND INDIANA

1 BACKGROUND The Kankakee River, which straddles the States of Indiana and Illinois in the Midwest, is shown in Fig. 1. This figure also shows the dividing line between these two states and the streamgaging and few sediment gaging stations in the basin. The main stem of the river in Indiana was channelized, thus bypassing numerous oxbows, meanders, side channels, etc., that existed before the 1890s. Before channelization in Indiana, the river essentially flowed through a wetland/mar…     

Long-term morphological river response to hydrological changes

Hydrologic changes have a great impact on the long-term river morphology. The most common anthropic cause is the construction of dams, which often reduces both the discharge regime and sediment transport, producing a narrowing and degradation of the river bed. In this study we propose a simple, lumped morphodynamic model that describes fluvial cross-section dynamics consequent to changes in discharge and sediment transport induced by external factors. The model provides the temporal dynamics of the river width and bed quote. These dynamics result not to be trivial and can exhibit non monotonic behavior, with aggradations and degradations, and narrowing and widening. The model has been tested on real rivers using data obtained from field studies. The agreement between the outcomes and the data measured in the field works is always satisfactory.     

Channel change and the significance of floodplain stratigraphy: 1990 flood event,lower river Tay,Scotland

During February 1990 a flood event on the River Tay with an estimated recurrence interval of 70 years in its lower reaches caused extensive flooding and geomorphological change. The most extensive area of flooding and dramatic geomorphological change, the erosion of two new channels across the floodplain, was in the vicinity of the village of Caputh, Perthshire. The location of the eroded channels relates to the position of former river courses, identifiable by depressions in the floodplain surface and floodplain stratigraphy. The lower floodplain surface elevation and occurrence of gravel and sand deposits along the line of the former river courses caused the area to be more vulnerable to erosion and controlled the morphology of the eroded channels.     

APPLICATION OF A QUASI-2D HYDRO-MORPHOLOGICAL MODEL TO THE ARGENTINEAN PARAN RIVER

1 INTRODUCTION Mathematical models to analyze the one-dimensional morphological evolution of alluvial rivers, induced either by natural events or anthropic actions, have been commonly applied since the original work of de Vries (1957, 1965, 1969). In the last decades much effort was made in developing suitable 2D horizontal and 3D time-depending mathematical models to study riverbed changes. In fact, full 2D-H hydro-morphological models (Olesen, 1987; Spasojevic and Holly, 1988) as w…     

Modelling floodplain flows using a two-dimensional finite element model

A prototype two-dimensional finite element flow model for depth-averaged free surface flows was developed for floodplain environments. Limited refinement of the model's physical representation was undertaken and the enhanced scheme applied to an 11 km river channel/floodplain reach in the U.K. Preliminary model results indicate that this modelling approach can be used to identify dynamic variations in the flow field parameters over length scales of the order of 10-100 m. Potentially, such data have the ability to permit detailed analysis of short-term floodplain sedimentary dynamics.     

Role of floodplain sediments in reducing the nitrate concentration of subsurface run-off: A case study in the Cotswolds,UK

Discharge of groundwater from a limestone aquifer through floodplain sediments is associated with a large decrease in the nitrate concentration of the water. Results are presented to show that only a small amount of this reduction is caused by dilution of groundwater by water already present within the floodplain sediments; most of the effect is an active reduction process, most probably biological denitrification. The nitrate reduction process appears to operate independently of surface vegetation type and tends to be focused in specific regions of the floodplain where sediments are anaerobic and carbon-rich. The results suggest that active denitrification can operate throughout the winter, when nitrate concentrations in groundwater are at their highest and that the process remains effective even during periods of maximum run-off. The results show that undrained floodplains can be used as buffer zones to protect surface waters from groundwater polluted with agriculturally derived nitrate.     

Hydrochemical and water source variations across a floodplain mire,Insh Marshes,Scotland

Groundwater heads and chemical composition were measured at approximately two week intervals during the summer of 1993 along a 1 km transect across the Insh Marshes floodplain mire in Inverness-shire, Scotland. Groundwater heads were generally higher near the valley side slope, with lower pH values and greater dissolved organic carbon, A1 and C1 concentrations. In the centre of the transect, upward groundwater heads were identified and pH, conductivity and concentrations of base cations were much greater. Near the River Spey, pH and base cation concentrations decreased and A1 and C1 concentrations increased. Deep groundwater followed a similar spatial trend but was generally more base-rich than shallow groundwater. These variations reflect the influence of three major water sources with different chemical signatures. Runoff from the valley side slope increased dissolved organic carbon and A1 in the shallow groundwater, the upward flow of groundwater increased the pH and Ca concentration and inundation near the river decreased the base status and increased C1 and A1.     

APPLICATION OF A QUASI-2D HYDRO-MORPHOLOGICAL MODEL TO THE ARGENTINEAN PARAN(A) RIVER

Herein a simplified quasi-two dimensional horizontal hydro-morphological mathematical model is presented. The governing equations for the quasi-2D horizontal time-depending flow field are represented by the well-known approach of interconnected cells. New discharge laws between cells are incorporated. The model is capable of predicting temporal changes in water depth, velocity distribution,sediment transport, bed elevation, as well as water and suspended sediment exchanges between main stream and flood plains. An application of the model to the middle reach of the Argentinean Parana River is presented. Satisfactory results were obtained during model calibration, validation and application.     

Floodplain storage of mine tailings in the belle fourche river system: A sediment budget approach

Arsenic-contaminated mine tailings that were discharged into Whitewood Creek at Lead, South Dakota, from 1876 to 1978, were deposited along the floodplains of Whitewood Creek and the Belle Fourche River. The resulting arsenic-contaminated floodplain deposit consists mostly of overbank sediments and filled abandoned meanders along White-wood Creek, and overbank and point-bar sediments along the Belle Fourche River. Arsenic concentrations of the contaminated sediments indicate the degree of dilution of mine tailings by uncontaminated alluvium. About 13 per cent of the 110 × 10⁶ Mg of mine tailings that were discharged at Lead were deposited along the Whitewood Creek floodplain. Deposition of mine tailings near the mouth of Whitewood Creek was augmented by an engineered structure. About 29 per cent of the mine tailings delivered by Whitewood Creek were deposited along the Belle Fourche River floodplain. About 60 per cent of that sediment is contained in overbank deposits. Deposition along a segment of the Belle Fourche River was augmented by rapid channel migration. The proportions of contaminated sediment stored along Whitewood Creek and the Belle Fourche River are consistent with sediment storage along the floodplains of perennial streams in other, similar sized watersheds.