Network‐scale dynamics of grain‐size sorting: implications for downstream fining,stream‐profile concavity,and drainage basin morphology

We explore the link between channel‐bed texture and river basin concavity in equilibrium catchments using a numerical landscape evolution model. Theory from homogeneous sediment transport predicts that river basin concavity directly increases with bed sediment size. If the effective grain size on a river bed governs its concavity, then natural phenomena such as grain‐size sorting and channel armouring should be linked to concavity. We examine this hypothesis by allowing the bed sediment texture to evolve in a transport‐limited regime using a two grain‐size mixture of sand and gravel. Downstream ?ning through selective particle erosion is produced in equilibrium. As the channel‐bed texture adjusts downstream so does the local slope. Our model predicts that it is not the texture of the original sediment mixture that governs basin concavity. Rather, concavity is linked to the texture of the sorted surface layer. Two different textural regimes are produced in the experiments: a transitional regime where the mobility of sand and gravel changes with channel‐bed texture, and a sand‐dominated region where the mobility of sand and gravel is constant. The concavity of these regions varies depending on the median gravel‐ or sand‐grain size, erosion rate, and precipitation rate. The results highlight the importance of adjustments in both surface texture and slope in natural rivers in response to changes in ?uvial and sediment inputs throughout a drainage network. This adjustment can only be captured numerically using multiple grain sizes or empirical downstream ?ning rules. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The particle size characteristics of fine‐grained channel deposits in the River Exe Basin,Devon, UK

Deposition and storage of fine‐grained (<62·5 μm) sediment in the hyporheic zone of gravel bed rivers frequently represents an important cause of aquatic habitat degradation. The particle size characteristics of such fine‐grained bed sediment (FGBS) exert an important control on its hydrodynamic properties and environmental impact. Traditionally, particle size analysis of FGBS in gravel bed rivers has focused on the absolute size distribution of the chemically dispersed mineral fraction. However, recent work has indicated that in common with fluvial suspended sediment, significant differences may exist between the absolute and the in situ, or effective, particle size composition of FGBS, as a result of the existence of aggregates, or composite particles. In the investigation reported in this paper, sealable bed traps that could be remotely opened to sample sediment deposited during specific storm runoff events and a laser back‐scatter probe were used to quantify the temporal and spatial variability of both the absolute and effective particle size composition of FGBS, and the associated suspended sediment from four gravel bed rivers in the Exe Basin, Devon, UK. The absolute particle size distributions of both the FGBS and suspended sediment evidenced c. >95%<62·5 μm sized primary particles and displayed a seasonal winter–summer fining, while the opposite trend was displayed by the effective particle size distribution of the FGBS and suspended sediment. The effective particle size distributions of both were typically highly aggregated, comprising up to 68%>62·5 μm sized particles. Spatial variation in the effective particle size and aggregation parameters was of secondary importance relative to temporal variation. The effective particle size distribution of the FGBS was consistently coarser and more aggregated than the associated suspended sediment and there was evidence of aggregate break‐up in samples of resuspended bed sediment. The implications of these findings for sediment transport modelling are considered. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Influence of bed clusters and size gradation on operational time distribution for non‐uniform bed‐load transport

The operational time distribution (OTD) defines the time for bed‐load sediment spent in motion, which is needed to characterize the random nature of sediment transport. This study explores the influence of bed clusters and size gradation on OTD for non‐uniform bed‐loads. First, both static and mobile bed armouring experiments were conducted in laboratorial flumes to monitor the transport of mixed sand/gravel sediments. Only in the mobile armouring experiment did apparent bed clusters develop, because of stable feeding and a longer transport period. Second, a generalized subordinated advection (GSA) model was applied to quantify the observed dynamics of tracer particles. Results show that for the static armour layer (without sediment feed), the best‐fit OTD assigns more weight to the large displacement of small particles, likely because of the size‐selective entrainment process. The capacity coefficient in the GSA model, which affects the width of the OTD, is space dependent only for small particles whose dynamics can be significantly affected by larger particles and whose distribution is more likely to be space dependent in a mixed sand and gravel system. However, the OTD for the mobile armour layer (with sediment recirculation) exhibited longer tails for larger particles. This is because the trailing edge of larger particles is more resistant to erosion, and their leading front may not be easily trapped by self‐organized bed clusters. The strong interaction between particle–bed may cause the capacity coefficient to be space‐dependent for bed‐load transport along mobile armour layers. Therefore, the combined laboratory experiments and stochastic model analysis show that the OTD may be affected more by particle–bed interactions (such as clusters) than by particle–particle interactions (e.g. hiding and exposing), and that the GSA model can quantify mixed‐size sand/gravel transport along river beds within either static or mobile armour layers. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Downstream variation in bed sediment size along the East Carpathian rivers: evidence of the role of sediment sources

Taking as an example six main rivers that drain the western flank of the Eastern Carpathians, a conceptual model has been developed, according to which fluvial bed sediment bimodality can be explained by the overlapping of two grain size distribution curves of different origins. Thus, for Carpathian tributaries of the Siret, coarse gravel joins an unimodal distribution presenting a right skewness with enhanced downstream fining. The source of the coarse material distributions is autohtonous (by abrasion and hydraulic sorting mechanisms). A second distribution with a sandy mode is, in general, skewed to the left. The source of the second distribution is allohtonous (the quantity of sand that reaches the river‐bed through the erosion of the hillslope basin terrains). The intersection of the two distributions occurs in the area of the 0·5–8 mm fractions, where, in fact, the right skewness (for gravel) and left skewness (for sand) histogram tails meet. This also explains the lack of particles in the 0·5–8 mm interval. For rivers where fine sediment sources are low, the 0·5–8 mm fractions have a higher proportion than the fractions under 1 mm. For the Siret River itself, bed sediment bimodality is greatly enhanced due to the fact that the second mode is more than 25% of the full sample. As opposed to its tributaries, the source of the first mode, of gravel, is allohtonous to the Siret river, generated by the massive input of coarse sediment through the Carpathian tributaries, while the second mode, of the sands, is local. In this case we can also observe that the two distributions of particles of different origins overlap in the 0·5–8 mm fraction domain, creating the illusion of ‘particle lack’ in the fluvial bed sediments. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of sand content on initial gravel motion in gravel‐bed rivers

When fine sediments are present in gravel streambeds (gravel‐framework beds), the gravel can be more easily removed from its original position, compared with gravel in a streambed without fine sediment but otherwise under the same hydraulic conditions. In this study, the effect of the presence of sand on the initiation of gravel motion in gravel riverbeds was investigated using flume experiments. The relationship between the critical Shields stress for gravel motion initiation and the fraction of sand in the bed was determined experimentally. The results can be summarized as follows. (1) When the fraction of sand in the bed is smaller than about 0.4, the critical Shields stress for the initiation of gravel motion decreases with increasing fraction of sand. The critical Shields stress increases, however, with increasing fraction of sand when it is larger than about 0.4. (2) The difference between the value of the critical Shields stress predicted by the Egiazaroff equation and the value obtained from the experimental data becomes maximum at about 0.4 of the fraction of sand. Here an empirical relation between the critical Shields stress and the fraction of sand is proposed so as to consider the effects of the ratio of the characteristic gravel size to the mean size of the bed material on the critical Shields stress. (3) Gravel in armored beds can be more easily mobilized by supplying sand as part of a sediment augmentation scheme. The sand fraction in the subsurface layer of the bed appears to reduce the friction angle of exposed particles. Sediment augmentation using sand has been recently demonstrated to be a viable alternative for mobilizing gravel for the restoration of gravel‐bed rivers downstream of dams. The quantitative evaluation obtained through the experiments reported here may be useful for the design of augmentation schemes. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How does the bed surface impact low-magnitude bedload transport rates over gravel-bed rivers?

Bedload transport is a complex phenomenon that is not well understood, especially for poorly sorted sediment and low transport rates, which is what is typically found in alpine gravel-bed rivers. In this paper, the interaction between bedload rate, bed stability and flow is investigated using flume experiments. Significant differences in bedload rates were observed for experiments conducted on beds formed with the same gravel material but presenting diverse arrangements and bedforms. Tests were performed under regimes of low transport rate, which are mainly controlled by gravel-bed roughness. Different scales of roughness were identified using the statistical characteristics of detailed bed elevation measurements: grain, structure and large bedform scales. The role played by these different roughness scales in bedload dynamics was examined. For quasi-flat beds, bed stability was quantified using a combination of bed surface criteria describing grain and structure scales. It was found that bed stability affects the bedload rate directly and not only through its influence on the flow or on the incipient motion. For beds with large bedforms, the analysis of bedload dynamics also showed the importance of accounting for effective bed shear stress distributions. An empirical bedload model for low transport regimes was suggested. Compared with previous formulae developed for alpine rivers, this model accounts for bed stability and distribution of effective bed shear stress. It significantly improves the understanding of gravel dynamics over complex beds such as arranged beds or those with large bedforms. However, further tests are needed to use the model outside the range of conditions of this study. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Water‐worked gravel beds in laboratory flumes – a natural analogue?

An investigation has been conducted to identify the key parameters that are likely to scale laboratory sediment deposits to the field scale. Two types of bed formation were examined: one where sediment is manually placed and screeded and the second where sediment is fed into a running flume. This later technique created deposits through sequential cycles of sediment transport and deposition. Detailed bed surface topography measurements have been made over a screeded bed and three fed beds. In addition, bulk subsurface porosity and hydraulic conductivity have been measured. By comparing the four beds, results revealed that certain physical properties of the screeded bed were clearly different from those of the fed beds. The screeded bed had a random organization of grains on both the surface and within the subsurface. The fed beds exhibited greater surface and subsurface organization and complexity, and had a number of properties that closely resembled those found for water‐worked gravel beds. The surfaces were water‐worked and armoured and there was preferential particle orientation and direction of imbrication in the subsurface. This suggested that fed beds are able to simulate, in a simplified manner, both the surface and subsurface properties of established gravel‐bed river deposits. The near‐bed flow properties were also compared. It revealed that the use of a screeded bed will typically cause an underestimation in the degree of temporal variability in the flow. Furthermore, time‐averaged streamwise velocities were found to be randomly organized over the screeded bed but were organized into long streamwise flow structures over the fed beds. It clearly showed that caution should be taken when comparing velocity measurements over screeded beds with water‐worked beds, and that the formation of fed beds offers an improved way of investigating intragravel flow and sediment–water interface exchange processes in gravel‐bed rivers at a laboratory scale. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analysis of bedload transport characteristics of Idaho streams and rivers

Field data are essential in evaluating the adequacy of predictive equations for sediment transport. Each dataset based on the sediment transport rates and other relevant information gives an increased understanding and improved quantification of different factors influencing the sediment transport regime in the specific environment. Data collected for 33 sites on 31 mountain streams and rivers in Central Idaho have enabled the analysis of sediment transport characteristics in streams and rivers with different geological, topographic, morphological, hydrological, hydraulic, and sedimentological characteristics. All of these streams and rivers have armored, poorly sorted bed material with the median particle size of surface layer coarser than the subsurface layer. The fact that the largest particles in the bedload samples did not exceed the median particle size of the bed surface material indicates that the armor layer is stable for the observed flow discharges (generally bankfull or less, and in some cases two times higher than bankfull discharge). The bedload transport is size‐selective. The transport rates are generally low, since sediment supply is less than the ability of flow to move the sediment for one range of flow discharges, or, the hydraulic ability of the stream is insufficient for entrainment of the coarse bed material. Detailed analyses of bedload transport rates, bedload and bed material characteristics were performed for each site. The obtained results and conclusions are used to identify different influences on bedload transport rates in analyzed gravel‐bed rivers. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does the permeability of gravel river beds affect near‐bed hydrodynamics?

The permeability of river beds is an important control on hyporheic flow and the movement of fine sediment and solutes into and out of the bed. However, relatively little is known about the effect of bed permeability on overlying near‐bed flow dynamics, and thus on fluid advection at the sediment–water interface. This study provides the first quantification of this effect for water‐worked gravel beds. Laboratory experiments in a recirculating flume revealed that flows over permeable beds exhibit fundamental differences compared with flows over impermeable beds of the same topography. The turbulence over permeable beds is less intense, more organised and more efficient at momentum transfer because eddies are more coherent. Furthermore, turbulent kinetic energy is lower, meaning that less energy is extracted from the mean flow by this turbulence. Consequently, the double‐averaged velocity is higher and the bulk flow resistance is lower over permeable beds, and there is a difference in how momentum is conveyed from the overlying flow to the bed surface. The main implications of these results are three‐fold. First, local pressure gradients, and therefore rates of material transport, across the sediment–water interface are likely to differ between impermeable and permeable beds. Second, near‐bed and hyporheic flows are unlikely to be adequately predicted by numerical models that represent the bed as an impermeable boundary. Third, more sophisticated flow resistance models are required for coarse‐grained rivers that consider not only the bed surface but also the underlying permeable structure. Overall, our results suggest that the effects of bed permeability have critical implications for hyporheic exchange, fluvial sediment dynamics and benthic habitat availability. © 2017 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Transport of moderately sorted gravel at low bed shear stresses: The role of fine sediment infiltration

A reliable estimation of sediment transport in gravel‐bed streams is important for various practical engineering and biological studies (e.g., channel stability design, bed degradation/aggradation, restoration of spawning habitat). In the present work, we report original laboratory experiments investigating the transport of gravel particles at low bed shear stresses. The laboratory tests were conducted under unsteady flow conditions inducing low bed shear stresses, with detailed monitoring of the bed topography using a laser scanner. Effects of bed surface arrangements were documented by testing loose and packed bed configurations. Effects of fine sediments were examined by testing beds with sand, artificial fine sand or cohesive silt infiltrated in the gravel matrix. Analysis of the experimental data revealed that the transport of gravel particles depends upon the bed arrangement, the bed material properties (e.g., size and shape, consolidation index, permeability) and the concentration of fine sediments within the surface layer of moving grains. This concentration is directly related to the distribution of fine particles within the gravel matrix (i.e., bottom‐up infiltration or bridging) and their transport mode (i.e., bedload or suspended load). Compared to loose beds, the mobility of gravel is reduced for packed beds and for beds clogged from the bottom up with cohesive fine sediments; in both cases, the bed shear stress for gravel entrainment increases by about 12%. On the other hand, the mobility of gravel increases significantly (bed shear stress for particle motion decreasing up to 40%) for beds clogged at the surface by non‐cohesive sand particles. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Defining phases of bedload transport using piecewise regression

Differences in the transport rate and size of bedload exist for varying levels of flow in coarse‐grained channels. For gravel‐bed rivers, at least two phases of bedload transport, with notably differing qualities, have been described in the literature. Phase I consists primarily of sand and small gravel moving at relatively low rates over a stable channel surface. Transport rates during Phase II are considerably greater than Phase I and more coarse grains are moved, including material from both the channel surface and subsurface. Transition from Phase I to Phase II indicates initiation and transport of grains comprising the coarse surface layer common in steep mountain channels. While the existence of different phases of transport is generally acknowledged, the threshold between them is often poorly defined. We present the results of the application of a piecewise regression analysis to data on bedload transport collected at 12 gravel‐bed channels in Colorado and Wyoming, USA. The piecewise regression recognizes the existence of different linear relationships over different ranges of discharge. The inflection, where the fitted functions intersect, is interpreted as the point of transition from Phase I to Phase II transport; this is termed breakpoint. A comparison of grain sizes moved during the two phases shows that coarse gravel is rarely trapped in the samplers during Phase I transport, indicating negligible movement of grains in this size range. Gravel larger than about D₁₆ of the channel surface is more consistently trapped during Phase II transport. The persistence of coarse gravel in bedload samples provides good evidence that conditions suitable for coarse grain transport have been reached, even though the size of the sediment approaches the size limits of the sampler (76 mm in all cases). A relative breakpoint (R_br) was defined by the ratio between the discharge at the breakpoint and the 1·5‐year flow (a surrogate for bankfull discharge) expressed as a percentage. The median value of R_br was about 80 percent, suggesting that Phase II begins at about 80 percent of the bankfull discharge, though the observed values of R_br ranged from about 60 to 100 percent. Variation in this value appears to be independent of drainage area, median grain size, sorting of bed materials, and channel gradient, at least for the range of parameters measured in 12 gravel‐bed channels. Published in 2002 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

PREDICTION OF THE GRAIN SIZE OF SUSPENDED SEDIMENT： IMPLICATIONS FOR CALCULATING SUSPENDED SEDIMENT CONCENTRATIONS USING SINGLE FREQUENCY ACOUSTIC BACKSCATTER

Collection of samples of suspended sediment transported by streams and rivers is difficult and expensive. Emerging technologies, such as acoustic backscatter, have promise to decrease costs and allow more thorough sampling of transported sediment in streams and rivers. Acoustic backscatter information may be used to calculate the concentration of suspended sand-sized sediment given the vertical distribution of sediment size. Therefore, procedures to accurately compute suspended sediment size distributions from easily obtained river data are badly needed. In this study, techniques to predict the size of suspended sand are examined and their application to measuring concentrations using acoustic backscatter data are explored. Three methods to predict the size of sediment in suspension using bed sediment, flow criteria, and a modified form of the Rouse equation yielded mean suspended sediment sizes that differed from means of measured data by 7 to 50 percent. When one sample near the bed was used as a reference, mean error was reduced to about 5 percent. These errors in size determination translate into errors of 7 to 156 percent in the prediction of sediment concentration using backscatter data from 1 MHz single frequency acoustics.     

Evolution of grain size distributions and bed mobility during hydrographs in gravel-bed braided rivers

Evolution of bed material mobility and bedload grain size distributions under a range of discharges is rarely observed in braiding gravel-bed rivers. Yet, the changing of bedload grain size distributions with discharge is expected to be different from laterally-stable, threshold, channels on which most gravel bedload theory and observation are based. Here, simultaneous observations of flow, bedload transport rate, and morphological change were made in a physical model of a gravel-bed braided river to document the evolution of grain size distributions and bed mobility over three experimental event hydrographs. Bedload transport rate and grain size distributions were measured from bedload samples collected in sediment baskets. Morphological change was mapped with high-resolution (~1 mm precision) digital elevation models generated from close-range digital photogrammetry. Bedload transport rates were extremely low below a discharge equivalent to ~50% of the channel-forming discharge (dimensionless stream power ~70). Fractional transport rates and plots of grain size distributions indicate that the bed experienced partial mobility at low discharge when the coarsest grains on the bed were immobile, weak selective mobility at higher discharge, and occasionally near-equal mobility at peak channel-forming discharge. The transition to selective mobility and increased bedload transport rates coincided with the lower threshold for morphological change measured by the morphological active depth and active width. Below this threshold discharge, active depths were of the order of D₉₀ and active widths were narrow (< 3% of wetted width). Above this discharge, both increased so that at channel-forming discharge, the active depth had a local maximum of 9D₉₀ while active width was up to 20% of wetted width. The modelled rivers approached equal mobility when rates of morphological change were greatest. Therefore, changes in the morphological active layer with discharge are directly connected to the conditions of bed mobility, and strongly correlated with bedload transport rate. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Distribution and species composition of macroinvertebrates in the hyporheic zone of bed sediment

The hyporheic zone is a layer of substrate on a river bed where benthic animals normally live,grow,feed,reproduce,and exist for any portion of their life cycle.The hyporheic zone was studied by samplin...     

Gravel‐bed river evolution in earthquake‐prone regions subject to cycled hydrographs and repeated sediment pulses

Sediment often enters rivers in the form of sediment pulses associated with landslides and debris flows. This is particularly so in gravel‐bed rivers in earthquake‐prone mountain regions, such as Southwest China. Under such circumstances, sediment pulses can rapidly change river topography and leave the river in repeated states of gradual recovery. In this paper, we implement a one‐dimensional morphodynamic model of river response to pulsed sediment supply. The model is validated using data from flume experiments, so demonstrating that it can successfully reproduce the overall morphodynamics of experimental pulses. The model is then used to explore the evolution of a gravel‐bed river subject to cycled hydrographs and repeated sediment pulses. These pulses are fed into the channel in a fixed region centered at a point halfway down the calculational domain. The pulsed sediment supply is in addition to a constant sediment supply at the upstream end. Results indicate that the river can reach a mobile‐bed equilibrium in which two regions exist within which bed elevation and surface grain size distribution vary periodically in time. One of these is at the upstream end, where a periodic discharge hydrograph and constant sediment supply are imposed, and the other is in a region about halfway down the channel where periodic sediment pulses are introduced. Outside these two regions, bed elevation and surface grain size distribution reach a mobile‐bed equilibrium that is invariant in time. The zone of fluctuation‐free mobile‐bed equilibrium upstream of the pulse region is not affected by repeated sediment pulses under the scenarios tested, but downstream of the pulse region, the channel reaches different fluctuation‐free mobile‐bed equilibriums under different sediment pulse scenarios. The vertical bed structure predicted by the simulations indicates that the cyclic variation associated with the hydrograph and sediment pulses can affect the substrate stratigraphy to some depth. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sediment variability and bed material sampling in gravel-bed rivers

In a 350 m wide reach of the braided, gravel-bed Ashley River, the surface layer of the bed material was sampled in 141 areas of homogeneous graded sediment along seven cross-sections, and 30 kg bulk samples were collected at 86 randomly selected locations along the cross-sections. At one location, a single 854 kg sample composed of 28 subsamples was also collected. Analysis of the single large sample indicate that accurate determination of mean grain size D at that site requires, desirably, a sample of ～ 100 kg, but that samples in which the weight of the largest stone is less than 5 per cent of the total weight have unbiased estimates of D. Spatial variability of bulk material is such that 228 and 50 samples are needed to estimate D to ± 10 and ± 20 per cent respectively of the true value; requirements for estimating inclusive graphic standard duration are only 11 and 3 respectively. The grain-size distribution of the surface layer is only weakly related to the bulk material beneath. The results of ‘Wolman sampling’ along 12 cross-sections at two pace intervals (average 120 stones per cross-section) indicate that estimation of overall surface D to ±10 and ±20 per cent would require sampling along 64 and 14 cross-sections respectively. It is concluded that accurate characterization of bed sediment in gravel-bed rivers is very demanding of labour and resources, and that careful planning is needed to ensure efficiency and meaningful results.     

Modelling dam-break flows over mobile beds using a 2D coupled approach

Dam-break flows usually propagate along rivers and floodplains, where the processes of fluid flow, sediment transport and bed evolution are closely linked. However, the majority of existing two-dimensional (2D) models used to simulate dam-break flows are only applicable to fixed beds. Details are given in this paper of the development of a 2D morphodynamic model for predicting dam-break flows over mobile beds. In this model, the common 2D shallow water equations are modified, so that the effects of sediment concentrations and bed evolution on the flood wave propagation can be considered. These equations are used together with the non-equilibrium transport equations for graded sediments and the equation of bed evolution. The governing equations are solved using a matrix method, thus the hydrodynamic, sediment transport and morphological processes can be jointly solved. The model employs an unstructured finite volume algorithm, with an approximate Riemann solver, based on the Roe-MUSCL scheme. A predictor–corrector scheme is used in time stepping, leading to a second-order accurate solution in both time and space. In addition, the model considers the adjustment process of bed material composition during the morphological evolution process. The model was first verified against results from existing numerical models and laboratory experiments. It was then used to simulate dam-break flows over a fixed bed and a mobile bed to examine the differences in the predicted flood wave speed and depth. The effects of bed material size distributions on the flood flow and bed evolution were also investigated. The results indicate that there is a great difference between the dam-break flow predictions made over a fixed bed and a mobile bed. At the initial stage of a dam-break flow, the rate of bed evolution could be comparable to that of water depth change. Therefore, it is often necessary to employ the turbid water governing equations using a coupled approach for simulating dam-break flows.     

Graded and uniform bed load sediment transport in a degrading channel

Twenty runs of experiments are carried out to investigate non-equilibrium transport of graded and uniform bed load sediment in a degrading channel. Well-sorted gravel and sand are employed to compose four kinds of sediment beds with different gravel/sand contents, i.e., uniform 100%gravel bed, uniform 100% sand bed, and two graded sediment beds respectively with 53% gravel and 47% sand as well as 22%gravel and 78%sand. For different sediment beds, the experiments are conducted under the same discharges, thereby allowing for the role of sediment composition in dictating the bed load transport rate to be identified. A new observed dataset is generated concerning the flow, sediment transport and evolution of bed elevation and composition, which can be exploited to underpin devel-opments of mathematical river models. The data shows that in a degrading channel, the sand greatly promotes the transport of gravel, whilst the gravel considerably hinders the transport of sand. The promoting and hindering effects are evaluated by means of impact factors defined based on sediment transport rates. The impact factors are shown to vary with flow discharge by orders of magnitude, being most pronounced at the lowest discharge. It is characterized that variations in sand or gravel inputs as a result of human activities and climate change may lead to severe morphological changes in degrading channels.     

Co-evolution of coarse grain structuring and bed roughness in response to episodic sediment supply in an experimental aggrading channel

We use flume experiments to better understand how gravel-bed channels maintain bed surface stability in response to pulses of sediment supply. Bed elevations and surface imagery at high spatial resolutions were used to quantify the co-evolution of surface grain-size distribution (GSD), bed roughness statistics, and bed surface structures (clusters, cells and transverse features). Using a new semi-automated method, we identified individual stone structures over a 2 m × 1 m area throughout the experiments. After an initial coarsening, surface GSD and armouring ratio remained nearly stable as sediment pulses caused net bed aggradation. In contrast, individual grain structures continued to form, increase or decrease in size, and disappear throughout the experiments. The response of the bed to sediment pulses depended on the history of surface roughness evolution and bed surface structure development, as these factors changed much more in response to supply perturbations earlier in the experiments compared to later, even as the bed continued to aggrade. We interpret that the dynamic production and destruction of bed surface structures can act as a ‘buffer’ to sediment supply pulses, maintaining a stable bed surface during aggradation with minimal change in grain size or armouring. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.