CHANGES OF RIVER BED PATTERN OF A LOWLAND RIVER: EFFECT OF NATURAL PROCESSES OR ANTHROPOGENIC INTERVENTION?

GPR and aerial surveys were conducted to study changes of channel pattern in the lower course of the Obra River (western Poland). The river is an example of an intensive anthropogenic transformation, however, the origin of the river pattern changes in its lower course is not obvious. The GPR measurements were done using a georadar MALÅ ProEx equipped with a shielded 250 MHz antenna. A 3D analysis of the GPR data supported with lithologic information indicated traces of a multi‐channel pattern. A variable orientation of sediment layering within channel bars and differences in channels depth and width pointed to changes of direction of the river bed migration. Analysis of aerial photographs and a satellite image indicated that only a few of the channels inferred from GPR could be discerned. The reason could be the more than 1 m thick fine sands layer covering all the alluvial structures. Analysis of historical maps from the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries showed that 250 years ago the Obra was a meandering river. The maps illustrate also several meander cutoffs and decreased wetlands surface. The following transformations of the river bed pattern were discerned: 1. From braided to meandering channel pattern which could be a natural process caused by climatic and sediment transport rate changes that was also observed in case of other lowland rivers. 2. From meandering to sinuous pattern with channel islands and then to sinuous with oxbow lakes. However, further research is needed to study reasons and timing of the observed changes.     

宽变幅水沙两相流的冲淤双临界现象及其地貌学意义

通过黄土高原一些河流资料的分析，发现了宽变幅水沙两相流冲淤过程中的2个临界值，位于非高含水流区域中的临界点，可称之为冲淤下临界；位于高含沙水流区域中的临界点，可称之为冲淤上临界，水沙两相流冲淤的双临界现象，对珩多沙河流河道泥沙的输移有重要意义，随着含沙量的增大，排沙比先减小而后增大，2次与代表排沙比等于1的直线相交，这2个交点即分别对应于挟沙水流冲淤的下临界和上临界，运用所揭示的水沙两相流冲淤过程的双临界现象，可以对冲积河流河型的形成进行新的解释，以我国近百条冲积河流的资料为基础，点绘了年均悬移质输沙率与年均流量的关系，并以不同的符号来区分弯曲河型、游荡河型和高含沙曲流河型。结果表明，上述3种河型可以很好于被代表特征含沙量分别为C=60kg/m^3和C=3.3kg/m^3的2条直线所区分，这2个特征含沙量反映了河道水沙两相流冲淤的上、下临界值。     

Geomorphic characterization and diversity of the fluvial systems of the Gangetic Plains

The extensive Gangetic alluvial plains are drained by rivers which differ strongly in terms of hydrological and sediment transport characteristics. These differences are manifested in the geomorphic diversity of the plains. The Western Gangetic Plains (WGP) are marked by a degradational topography with incised channels and extensive badland development in some parts, while the Eastern Gangetic Plains (EGP) are characterized by shallow, aggrading channels with frequent avulsions and extensive flooding. We interpret such geomorphic diversity in terms of differences in stream power and sediment supply from the catchment areas. The rivers draining the western plains are marked by higher stream power and lower sediment yield that result in degradation. In comparison, the rivers draining the eastern Gangetic Plains have lower stream power and higher sediment yield that result in aggradation. The variation of stream power, a function of channel slope and high sediment yield, is attributed to differences in rainfall and rate of uplift in the hinterland. It is suggested that such differences have resulted in a marked geomorphic diversity across the plains. It is also suggested that such diversity has existed for a fairly long time because of climatic and tectonic variance.     

Prediction of alluvial channel pattern of perennial rivers

Purely braided, meandering and straight channels can be considered as end-members of a continuum of alluvial channel patterns. Several researchers have succeeded in separating channel patterns in fields defined by flow related parameters. However, the discriminators of the principal channel patterns derived from these diagrams all require some a priori knowledge of the channel geometry. In this paper a method is presented which enables prediction of the equilibrium conditions for the occurrence of braided and high sinuosity meandering rivers in unconfined alluvial floodplains. The method is based on two, almost channel pattern independent, boundary conditions: median grain size of the river bed material, and a potential specific stream power parameter related to bankfull discharge or mean annual flood and valley gradient. This can be regarded as a potential maximum of the available flow energy corresponding to the minimum sinuosity condition, P = 1. Based on an analysis of 228 datasets of measurement sites along rivers from many parts of the world an independent discriminating function was found that separates the occurrence of braided rivers and meandering rivers with P > 1.5. The function applies to equilibrium conditions of rivers that neither incise nor show rapid aggradation, with a bankfull or mean annual flood discharge above 10 m³/s and a median bed material grain size between 0.1 and 100 mm.     

高含沙型曲流河床形成机理的初步研究

本文描述了在我国黄土高原宽谷中发现的含沙量超过100kg/m^3的曲流河床，并运用高含沙水流的作用对其成因进行了探讨。指出当水流进入高含沙范围时，水流能耗率大幅度降低，挟沙能力大大增加，这是促使河床向弯曲发展的主要原因。由于高含沙水流的稳定输送有赖于边界条件，故边界条件在这种曲流河床的形成中起了重要的作用。文中并讨论了这一地区游荡河型与弯曲河型的判别条件。     

Stability of output fluxes of large rivers in South and East Asia during the last 2 million years: implications on floodplain processes

We compare the present-day sediment discharge (solid phase) of some of the largest rivers in Asia to the average discharge deduced from the mass accumulated in several sedimentary basins during the Quaternary. There is a very good correlation, especially for the largest rivers: the Ganges–Brahmaputra, the Changjiang, the Huanghe and, to a lesser extent, the Indus and the Zhujiang. This suggests that present-day average discharge at the outlet has remained constant throughout the Quaternary at least for very large rivers (drainage area of the order of 10⁵–10⁶ km²). This, in turn, suggests either that continental denudation of large Asian catchments has remained on average constant, implying a strong tectonic control on erosion during the Quaternary, or that the river network has the ability to buffer changes in hillslope erosion or in sea-level in order to conserve the total discharge at the outlet. We show how this buffering capacity relies on the characteristic reaction time-scale of Asian alluvial plains (of the order of 10^5–6 years), that is, much higher than the time-scales of the Quaternary climate oscillations (of the order of 10⁴ years). A short-term perturbation originating in hillslopes will be diluted by the floodplain. At the outlet the signal should have a longer time span and a smaller amplitude. In the same manner, an alluvial plain should not instantaneously react to a 10⁴-year sea-level drop because of its inertia. Along with long-term tectonic control we infer this buffering to be the main cause for the average constancy of sediment yield of large Asian rivers during the Quaternary.     

ANABRANCHED RIVERS

I.ll1troductionWhenLane(I957)triedt0findastatisticalbasisf0rtl1eclassificatiollofvariousriverpatternsbymeansofdischarge-sl0perelation,hesurprisinglyfolll1dthattl1edatafr0lnthelowerYangizeRiver(Cl1al1aiiang)(aswellassevera1otllerrivers)tvitl1tyPical"stable"braidedpatterl1fallingil1t0exactlythedatagroupwl1eret11ed.3taaref1-olllllleallderillgrivers(Figurel)[41.ThesekindsofpatternsspreadinlnanyriversinCllina,andtheyarecalledanabranchedpatter11s0\vil1gtotheessentialdifferencestothebraidedpattern…     

赣江入湖三角洲上的网状河流体系研究

中国南方的冲积河流有许多属于分汊河流，这已被许多研究者进行过比较深入的分析研究，但赣江在其入湖三角洲上的多河道体系与分汊河道有着明显的不同，它的形成是河流自发调整的结果，而不象分汊河流那样由节点控制。它具有网状河流所具有的地貌和沉积物特征，属于典型的网状河流体系。虽然是低含沙河流，但由于其水动力较弱及汛期基准面的上升，洪泛频繁，可输入河间地以大量的泥沙并在低能环境中发生沉积，使河道及河间地能够协调加积升高，并维持多河道体系的稳定性。     

Analysis of controls upon channel planform at the First Great Bend of the Upper Yellow River, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

The 270 km long section of the Upper Yellow River at the First Great Bend is comprised of single channel and multiple channel systems that alternate among anastomosing, anabranching, meandering and braided reaches. The sequence of downstream pattern changes is characterized as： anastomosing-anabranching, anabranching-meandering, meandering-braided and braided-meandering. Remote sensing images, DEM data and field investigations are used to assess ahd interpret controls on these reach transitions. Channel slope and bed sediment size are key determinants of transitions in channel planform. Anas- tomosing reaches have a relatively high bed slope （0.86‰） and coarser sediment bed material （d50 = 3.5 mm）. In contrast, meandering reaches have a low slope （0.30‰） and fine sediment bed material （d50 = 0.036 mm）. The transition from a meandering to braided pattern is characterized by an increase in channel width-depth ratio, indicating the important role of bank strength （i.e. cohesive versus non-cohesive versus channel boundaries）. Interestingly, the braided-meandering and meandering-braided transitions are coincident with variable flow inputs from tributary rivers （Baihe and Heihe rivers respectively）. Theoretical analysis of the meandering-braided transition highlights the key control of channel width-depth ratio as a determinant of channel planform.     

Morphodynamics of a pseudomeandering gravel bar reach

A large number of rivers in Tuscany have channel planforms, which are neither straight nor what is usually understood as meandering. In the typical case, they consist of an almost straight, slightly incised main channel fringed with large lateral bars and lunate-shaped embayments eroded into the former flood plain. In the past, these rivers have not been recognised as an individual category and have often been considered to be either braided or meandering. It is suggested here that this type of river planform be termed pseudomeandering.A typical pseudomeandering river (the Cecina River) is described and analysed to investigate the main factors responsible for producing this channel pattern. A study reach (100×300 m) was surveyed in detail and related to data on discharge, channel changes after floods and grain-size distribution of bed sediments. During 18 months of topographic monitoring, the inner lateral bar in the study reach expanded and migrated towards the concave outer bank which, concurrently, retreated by as much as 25 m. A sediment balance was constructed to analyse bar growth and bank retreat in relation to sediment supply and channel morphology. The conditions necessary to maintain the pseudomeandering morphology of these rivers by preventing them from developing a meandering planform, are discussed and interpreted as a combination of a few main factors such as the flashy character of floods, sediment supply (influenced by both natural processes and human impact), the morphological effects of discharges with contrasting return intervals and the short duration of flood events. Finally, the channel response to floods with variable sediment transport capacity (represented by bed shear stress) is analysed using a simple model. It is demonstrated that bend migration is associated with moderate floods while major floods are responsible for the development of chute channels, which act to suppress bend growth and maintain the low sinuosity configuration of the river.     

游荡性河流演变规律研究进展及其河型归属探讨

游荡性河道在中国广泛分布,其中以黄河下游上段最为典型,但关于游荡性河型的归属问题尚存在很大争议,国际上多将游荡性河流归属为辫状河型。本文以黄河下游游荡性河道为典型案例,系统总结了游荡性河流的演变特征、主要影响因素和形成机理,并从定义、成因、特征及河道形成过程方面,将游荡与辫状河型的异同点进行对比分析。得到以下启示：游荡性河型是一种重要的河道型态,与辫状河型在许多方面存在较明显差异。特别是游荡河型主要发育于能量小于输沙需求的环境,因而形态呈现不稳定特性,但辫状河型不仅出现在能量较多的环境,而且也常在能量较小的环境中出现,因而一部分具有稳定形态,另一部分则表现出不稳定的特性,因此,有必要对游荡性河道和辫状河道给予区分。最后对未来研究进行了展望,提出应重视河型形成的内在机理,对能量理论进行发展及深化,进一步系统性评价游荡性河道与辫状河道的异同性,以解决游荡性河道的河型归属问题。     

"冰臼"是古地貌面上的流水侵蚀遗迹——壶穴——就韩同林《发现冰臼》一书中的资料谈华北北部的"冰臼"

分布在华北北部山顶面上的“冰臼”,无论从地理环境、地貌演化,还是从海拔高度方面分析,都不是第四纪大冰盖的证据,而是古地貌面上流水侵蚀的遗迹。它分布在3个海拔高度不同的山地夷平面上和现代河流谷地内,与当时的地理环境和山地的地貌演化密切相关。未构成山地夷平面前准平原上的河流以河网密集的曲流河为主。随着准平原的抬升,河流也开始下切,下切的河流以溯源侵蚀为主。在源头地区的顺直型谷地中,一是河流流速较急,且挟有数量不多、颗粒较粗的砂砾石;二是源头地区大块石较多,容易形成涡流;三是河水不深,丰水期刚刚没过块石,枯水期块石露出水面。在质地不均的岩体(特别是花岗岩)中,挟带砂砾石的涡流在岩面上形成了壶穴。准平原及壶穴最后被抬升到山地的顶部,构成了山地夷平面。     

Morphological response to river engineering and management in alluvial channels in Italy

In response to various types of human disturbance, most Italian rivers have experienced considerable channel adjustment during the last centuries and in particular in the last decades. This paper reviews all existing published studies and available data, and aims to reconstruct a general outline of the main channel adjustments that have occurred in Italian rivers during the past 100 years.Two main types of channel adjustment have been recognized: (a) incision, which is commonly on the order of 3–4 m, but in some cases is even more than 10 m; (b) narrowing, with channel width reduction up to 50% or more. In some reaches, these adjustments have led to changes in channel pattern in particular from braided to wandering.Such channel adjustments are due to several types of human intervention, particularly sediment extraction, dams and channelization. A strong temporal relationship (specifically, short reaction times) between human disturbance and channel adjustment can be inferred, but trends of adjustment are available for only a few rivers (e.g. the Po, the Arno and the Piave Rivers). These trends show that incision and/or narrowing are more intense immediately after the disturbance and then slow and become asymptotic; the same trends also suggest that larger rivers could have longer relaxation times.The results of this study are synthesised in a general classification scheme that summarises the main styles of adjustment observed in Italian rivers. According to the scheme, braided rivers adjust through prevalent narrowing with varying rates of incision, whereas single-thread rivers adjust mainly through a more pronounced incision accompanied by various amounts of narrowing. The scheme, representing initial and final (present) morphologies and not including intermediate stages of channel adjustment, will need to be tested on the basis of more detailed data to have a wider application both to the Italian context and to fluvial systems elsewhere, affected by similar types of human disturbance causing a reduction of sediment supply.     

Characteristics of freshly deposited sand and finer sediments along an island-braided, gravel-bed river: The roles of water, wind and trees

Over the past two decades there has been a growing interest in the geomorphological mosaic along large floodplain rivers where channel dynamics are seen to drive habitat-patch creation and turnover and to contribute to high biological diversity. This has required a new perspective on fluvial geomorphology that focuses on biological scales of space and time. This study examines the spatial pattern of surface fine sediment accumulations along a reach of a large gravel-bed river, the Tagliamento River in NE Italy; an area with a moist Mediterranean climate and seasonal flow regime. The study investigates changes in sediment characteristics during the summer low-flow period between April and September. Focussing on five areas representing a gradient from open, bar-braided to wooded island-braided morphologies, the paper demonstrates the importance of riparian vegetation and aeolian–fluvial interactions.Significant contrasts in particle size distributions and organic content of freshly deposited sand and finer sediments were found between sampling areas, geomorphological settings, and sampling dates. In particular, wooded floodplain and established islands supported consistently finer sediment deposits than both open bar surfaces and the lee of pioneer islands, and in September significantly finer sediments were also found in deposits located in the lee of pioneer islands than on open bar surfaces. Overall, the September samples had a greater variability in particle size characteristics than those obtained from the same sites in April, with a general coarsening of the D₅ (φ) (i.e., the coarse tail of the particle size distribution). Also in September, crusts of fine sediment (30 μm < D₅₀ < 64 μm) had formed on the surface of some of the open bar and pioneer island deposits within the more open sampling areas along the study reach. These crusts possessed similar particle size characteristics to aeolian crusts found in more arid environments. They were significantly finer than April samples and September subcrust samples obtained from the same sites and had similar particle size characteristics to some samples taken from wooded floodplain, established island surfaces and the lee of pioneer islands that were not crusted.Local climatological and river level data confirm significant wind and rainfall events during a period of consistently low river levels between the April and September sampling periods. These support deflation, deposition and rain wash of finer sediment during the summer, with windblown sediments being deposited on bar surfaces and in the lee of pioneer islands where wood and young trees provide foci for accelerated sedimentation and island growth as well as on marginal floodplains and established islands. We conclude that along braided rivers in moist settings but with a distinct dry season, aeolian reworking of sediment deposits may have a more important role in driving habitat dynamics than previously considered.     

基于对Leopold-Wolman关系修正的河床河型判别

在广泛收集中国和世界上冲积河流资料的基础上,以近200条河流的大样本对著名的、国际上沿用40余年的 Leopold-Wolman关系,即用于河型判别的比降-流量关系进行了检验。结果发现,该关系不能用于包括砾石与砂质河床在内的河型判别。这是由于比降-流量关系主要反映砾石河床与砂质河床之间差异,其次才反映分汊与弯曲河型之间的差异。为此,对于Leopold-Wolman关系进行了改进,提出了以比降和河宽来判别河型的新关系。这一关系综合反映了河流在纵向上的能耗、阻力与输沙特性与在横向上的流场与环流分布特性的组合关系,因而具有更好的河型判别效果,可以用于包括砾石与砂质河床在内的河型判别。     

Catastrophic flood effects in alpine/foothill fluvial system (a case study from the Sudetes Mts, SW Poland)

Depositional effects of two great floods in the Nysa drainage basin have been studied: the alluvial forms and deposits of channels and floodplains. Three types of bars and one overbank form were found in the mountain streams, and four types of bars and three types of overbank forms have been distinguished in main rivers. A specific spatial succession of depositional forms was recognized along the mountain streams, however, no analogous phenomena were noted within the main river valleys. Several types of bars and alluvial lithofacies have been regarded as characteristic effects of the catastrophic flood. The study indicates that the Nysa river is close to the threshold of metamorphosis to a typical braided fluvial system.     

ASYNCHRONOUS TERRACE DEVELOPMENT IN DEGRADING BRAIDED CHANNELS

Terrace remnants are commonly used to reconstruct longitudinal profiles of rivers and floodplains, and to establish temporal correlations of events in fluvial systems. In most cases, it is assumed that the terrace remnants represent time-equivalent surfaces. Our observations of terrace formation in flume experiments and in a degrading braided river, Ash Creek, Arizona, suggest that this assumption is not always valid. Degradation resulted from a reduction in upstream sediment delivery to braided channels. In both the flume and Ash Creek, degradation in the upstream reach produced a number of inset terraces, while the production of sediment in the degrading reach simultaneously caused further aggradation downstream. Thus, stratigraphically lower surfaces in the upstream reaches are temporally equivalent to higher surfaces in downstream reaches. The downstream progression of the wave of incision produced more terraces upstream than downstream, and terrace surfaces could not be correlated on the basis of relative position or elevation above the channel bed. Furthermore, a physically continuous terrace tread was produced by longitudinal accretion of temporally non-equivalent depositional segments, as the locus of deposition progressed downstream. Therefore, in some instances, physically continuous terrace treads may not be time-equivalent surfaces that represent former channel bed or floodplain profiles. [Key words: terrace development, degradation, braided channels, channel pattern change.]     

Three-dimensional analogue modelling of an alluvial basin margin affected by hydrological cycles: processes and resulting depositional sequences

The dynamics between sediment erosion and accumulation at an alluvial basin margin affected by changes in the surface hydrology are explored using scaled analogue models produced in a flume. The presented results differ from previous counterparts in that accumulation or erosion has not been forced at a spreading outlet, but occurred at a slope change produced by previously accumulated sediment. Cyclical upstream incision produced by increased stream discharge generated incised valleys, and these were subsequently filled by sediment carried by less efficient streams generated during the low discharge period. High resolution mapping using 2.5 mm contour maps allowed the study of sediment accumulation and terrain modelling. The results of three selected experiments are analysed. The only variable explored was discharge. The basin margin was simulated by a ramp inserted in a low sloping flume, consisting of two segments of different slopes selected to emulate high and low efficiency flume fans produced elsewhere. Water and fine‐medium sand entered the ramp along a narrow (0.1 m) channel and flow expanded but without occupying the complete 1.2 m flume width. Flows were highly concentrated and noncohesive. Fan‐like accumulation (slope: 0.11) began during low discharge (LD) periods at the ramp slope break, and proceeded upstream, onlapping quickly at first, but shifting to mostly progradation at the end of the period. High discharges (HD) usually generated two or three incised channels at the beginning of the period, but one of them prevailed and rapidly eroded parts of the LD fan and moved the sediment to a more distal low‐sloping fan (slope: 0.045). Both LD and HD fans passed downstream into a system of small parallel channels resembling a braided alluvial plain ending in sediment lobes. The mapping of the accumulated sediment during the various periods allowed calculation of sediment budgets for the entire flume. The stratal architecture of the deposits was investigated along five parallel trenches cut after experiment termination. The regression analysis of depositional profiles at fan‐like features (expanding flow) and at braided plains (parallel flow) indicated that these fan‐like systems are linear and dependent on applied discharge, while the latter showed an exponential decrease of slope downstream, with a starting value set up by the fan slope. Two main types of stratigraphic units were generated, the LDST and HDST (system tracts). The LDST has a nonerosive base over ‘bedrock’ and the previous HDST, filling proximal erosional topography and prograding as well, generating an onlap–downlap array. Its geometry is highly variable and dependent on pre‐existing topography. The HDST base is an important erosive surface comparable to sequence boundaries. However, there are places without erosion due to a marginal position with respect to the main stream. Indeed, the results suggest that the three‐dimensional variability of erosion and depositional processes might produce very different architectures along the same basin margin.     

韩江三角洲地貌发育的新认识

韩江三角洲从晚更新世中期开始沉积,经历了Q_3~(2-1)的古冲积扇、Q_3~(2-2)的占三角洲、Q_3~3的风化和新冲积扇、Q_4~1—Q_4~(2-1)的新三角洲、Q_4~(2-2)的贝壳堤和沼泽以及Q_4~3的沙堤-泻湖等六个发育阶段。发育模式为河流冲积扇与三角洲的交替发展。重新划分了三角洲的界线,面积为915.08km~2。划分出二类十亚类地貌类型。     

Factors influencing the presence or absence of tributary-junction fans in the Iberian Range, Spain

This paper analyses the factors which influence the presence or absence of tributary-junction fans in the Iberian Range, northern Spain. Two valleys were selected, both characterised by wide variations in lithology, altitude, land use and plant cover. Two groups of factors were studied: those related to the internal characteristics of the drainage basins, which particularly control sediment generation; and those related to the characteristics of the depositional area which control accommodation space and main river power. Among the internal factors, the development of alluvial fans was related to: (i) the capacity of the basin to yield large volumes of sediment, (ii) the occurrence of intense human pressure until recent times, a good indicator of sediment yield, and (iii) the capacity of the basin to quickly increase discharge during rainstorms (discharge density and torrentiality). It is suggested that the areas that were intensively cultivated in the past, and have therefore been affected by intense erosion, have played a decisive role on the development of alluvial fans. This would imply that many of these alluvial fans have a relatively recent origin, perhaps related to the beginning of a widespread deforestation. The basins without alluvial fans are characterised by relatively steep hillslope gradients (that is, slopes that never were subjected to historical cultivation), low drainage densities and dense forest and shrub cover, mostly coinciding with high altitude basins composed of quartzite and shale bedrocks. Regarding the external factors, the shape, size and longitudinal gradient of the main river to which the fans are tributary are the most relevant conditioning factors determining the development of alluvial fans.