Hydrological characterization of dammed rivers in the NW Mediterranean region

Water scarcity and climatic variability in the Mediterranean region have traditionally required the construction of dams to guarantee water supply for irrigation, industrial and urban uses and hydropower production. Reservoirs affect the hydrology of the river downstream, but the magnitude and persistence of these effects are still poorly unknown. Understanding the magnitude of these effects is the objective of this paper, in which we analyse the flow regimes of twelve rivers located in the NW Mediterranean region. Different temporal scales (daily, monthly and annual) are used for the analysis and also to estimate flow variables associated with flow magnitude, frequency, duration and variability. It is shown that dams alter the hydrological regime of most of the studied rivers, with special influence on monthly flows and flood magnitude and frequency. The most altered rivers (Muga and Siurana, NE Iberian Peninsula) experience a complete overturn in their flow regime with, for instance, flood reduction reaching up to 76% for the 2‐year flood event. Other rivers showed lower changes in hydrology (e.g. Orb and Têt). Annual runoff showed a pattern of decrease in all the studied rivers (regulated and non‐regulated) indicating that besides dams (i.e. reservoir evaporation), other factors likely affect water yield. A general recovery downstream from dams is also observed at all temporal scales, mainly because of the inflow from tributaries. Although dams have a clear impact on the hydrology of Mediterranean rivers, water withdrawals and diversions for irrigation and other consumptive uses also affected the hydrological patterns. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reconstructing fluvial bar surfaces from compound cross‐strata and the interpretation of bar accretion direction in large river deposits

The interpretation of fluvial styles from the rock record is based for a significant part on the identification of different types of fluvial bars, characterized by the geometric relationship between structures indicative of palaeocurrent and surfaces interpreted as indicative of bar form and bar accretion direction. These surfaces of bar accretion are the boundaries of flood‐related bar increment elements, which are typically less abundant in outcrops than what would be desirable, particularly in large river deposits in which each flood mobilizes large volumes of sediment, causing flood‐increment boundary surfaces to be widely spaced. Cross‐strata set boundaries, on the other hand, are abundant and indirectly reflect the process of unit bar accretion, inclined due to the combined effect of the unit bar surface inclination and the individual bedform climbing angle, in turn controlled by changes in flow structure caused by local bar‐scale morphology. This work presents a new method to deduce the geometry of unit bar surfaces from measured pairs of cross‐strata and cross‐strata set boundaries. The method can be used in the absence of abundant flood‐increment bounding surfaces; the study of real cases shows that, for both downstream and laterally accreting bars, the reconstructed planes are very similar to measured bar increment surfaces.     

Remote sensing and information value (IV) model for regional mapping of fluvial channels and topographic wetness in the Saudi Arabia

This study aims to map regions of near surface fluvial channels, mega-basins and topographic wetness in Saudi Arabia using remote sensing data and an information value (IV) model, which is a modified approach of weight of evidence. We used the new version of the Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) to delineate the fluvial channels, mega-basin, and slope. These hydrological parameters were used to index the topographic wetness of each mega-basin in the region based on IV in a Geographic Information System. We validated our method using the Space Imaging Radar-C and Landsat 8 images and compared the textural features (fluvial channels) evident from SRTM digital elevation model and to determine whether these patterns were different. Our results revealed that the region is drained by nine tributaries and that the Err Rub Al Khali and Sahba mega-basins have the highest value of the IV and topographic wetness values; the Arran and coastal mega-basins have the lowest value of the IV and topographic wetness values. An integrated approach is timely and economically effective and can be applied throughout the arid and semi-arid regions to help hydrologists and urban developers.     

Role of hydrological regime and floodplain sediments in channel instability of the Bhagirathi River,Ganga-Brahmaputra Delta,India

Abstract

This research deals with the surface dynamics and key factors – hydrological regime, sediment load, and erodibility of floodplain facies – of frequent channel shifting, intensive meandering, and lateral instability of the Bhagirathi River in the western part of the Ganga-Brahmaputra Delta (GBD). At present, the floodplain of the Bhagirathi is categorized as a medium energy (specific stream power of 10–300 W m^?2), non-cohesive floodplain, which exhibits a mixed-load and a meandering channel, an entrenchment ratio >2.2, width–depth ratio >12, sinuosity >1.4, and channel slope <0.02. In the study area, since 1975, four meander cutoffs have been shaped at an average rate of one in every 9–10 years. In the active meander belt and sand-silt dominated floodplains of GBD, frequent shifting of the channel and meander migration escalate severe bank erosion (e.g. 2.5 × 10⁶ m³ of land lost between 1999 and 2004) throughout the year. Remote sensing based spatio-temporal analysis and stratigraphic analysis reveal that the impact of the Farakka barrage, completed in 1975, is not the sole factor of downstream channel oscillation; rather, hydrogeomorphic instability induced by the Ajay–Mayurakshi fluvial system and the erodibility of floodplain sediments control the channel dynamics of the study area.     

Unconsolidated sediment distribution patterns in the KwaZulu-Natal Bight,South Africa: the role of wave ravinement in separating relict versus active sediment populations

This paper examines the distribution of unconsolidated sediment in the KwaZulu-Natal Bight located along the east coast of South Africa. Results show that there is a general shelf-wide sediment distribution of coarser grain sizes between depths of 60 and 100?m, punctuated by a broad swathe of mud offshore of the Thukela River. Seasonal changes in sediment distribution patterns are small, being restricted to seaward fining on the inner shelf off the fluvial sources. Sediment distribution reflects a partitioning between sediment populations that are current- influenced and relict (palimpsest) populations associated with submerged shorelines. Wave ravinement during the deglacial transgression, the reworking of submerged shorelines during sea-level stillstands and, to a lesser extent, the Agulhas Current system, are the dominant controls on sediment distribution.     

Sedimentology of the continental end‐Permian extinction event in the Sydney Basin,eastern Australia

Upper Permian to Lower Triassic coastal plain successions of the Sydney Basin in eastern Australia have been investigated in outcrop and continuous drillcores. The purpose of the investigation is to provide an assessment of palaeoenvironmental change at high southern palaeolatitudes in a continental margin context for the late Permian (Lopingian), across the end‐Permian Extinction interval, and into the Early Triassic. These basins were affected by explosive volcanic eruptions during the late Permian and, to a much lesser extent, during the Early Triassic, allowing high‐resolution age determination on the numerous tuff horizons. Palaeobotanical and radiogenic isotope data indicate that the end‐Permian Extinction occurs at the top of the uppermost coal bed, and the Permo‐Triassic boundary either within an immediately overlying mudrock succession or within a succeeding channel sandstone body, depending on locality due to lateral variation. Late Permian depositional environments were initially (during the Wuchiapingian) shallow marine and deltaic, but coastal plain fluvial environments with extensive coal‐forming mires became progressively established during the early late Permian, reflected in numerous preserved coal seams. The fluvial style of coastal plain channel deposits varies geographically. However, apart from the loss of peat‐forming mires, no significant long‐term change in depositional style (grain size, sediment‐body architecture, or sediment dispersal direction) was noted across the end‐Permian Extinction (pinpointed by turnover of the palaeoflora). There is no evidence for immediate aridification across the boundary despite a loss of coal from these successions. Rather, the end‐Permian Extinction marks the base of a long‐term, progressive trend towards better‐drained alluvial conditions into the Early Triassic. Indeed, the floral turnover was immediately followed by a flooding event in basinal depocentres, following which fluvial systems similar to those active prior to the end‐Permian Extinction were re‐established. The age of the floral extinction is constrained to 252.54 ± 0.08 to 252.10 ± 0.06 Ma by a suite of new Chemical Abrasion Isotope Dilution Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometry U‐Pb ages on zircon grains. Another new age indicates that the return to fluvial sedimentation similar to that before the end‐Permian Extinction occurred in the basal Triassic (prior to 251.51 ± 0.14 Ma). The character of the surface separating coal‐bearing pre‐end‐Permian Extinction from coal‐barren post‐end‐Permian Extinction strata varies across the basins. In basin‐central locations, the contact varies from disconformable, where a fluvial channel body has cut down to the level of the top coal, to conformable where the top coal is overlain by mudrocks and interbedded sandstone–siltstone facies. In basin‐marginal locations, however, the contact is a pronounced erosional disconformity with coarse‐grained alluvial facies overlying older Permian rocks. There is no evidence that the contact is everywhere a disconformity or unconformity.     

北祁连西段肃南地区下志留统肮脏沟组河流相的发现及其大地构造意义

北祁连地区位于中国中央造山带中段,具有典型造山带的特征。区内志留系肮脏沟组沉积环境存在较大争议,以致对其沉积期古地理格局的认识就存在很大差异。本研究选取志留系肮脏沟组发育齐全的肃南地区老虎沟剖面为研究对象,通过野外剖面实测、室内薄片鉴定和碎屑岩粒度分析等方法对老虎沟剖面肮脏沟组沉积充填序列、沉积构造和沉积相类型进行了细致分析。北祁连肃南地区老虎沟剖面志留系肮脏沟组发育大套的砾岩、砂砾岩和含砾砂岩,沉积构造以大型槽状交错层理、板状交错层理、平行层理和底冲刷构造为主,其中砂岩碎屑的成分和结构成熟度都较低;砂岩段的滚动组分含量较高,纵向剖面上显示为向上远离物源区,粒度变细的演化序列。沉积特征指示北祁连肃南地区老虎沟剖面志留系肮脏沟组的沉积相为辫状河流相,并非前人认为的造山俯冲阶段或者弧陆碰撞阶段的深水海相沉积,而是已经发生陆—陆碰撞形成的陆相沉积。此时北祁连东部地区还未发生陆—陆碰撞,由此可知北祁连在早志留世碰撞为"西早东晚"的不规则点式碰撞。本研究有助于深化对北祁连造山带志留纪的古地理格局和其大地构造背景的认识。     

青藏高原古里雅冰帽冰碛和冰水沉积物粒度特征及其意义

冰冻圈演化不仅与青藏高原水塔变化、地表侵蚀风化及荒漠化密切相关,还深刻影响着亚洲季风系统和全球气候,冰碛物的粒度组成可以为冰冻圈演化提供重要信息,但高原冰碛物的特征粒度组成及其形成机理仍不清楚,高原冰碛物与高原冷黄土及河湖沉积物的关系也不明确。为此,选择青藏高原最大的冰帽——古里雅冰帽的冰碛物及系列冰水沉积物,开展系统粒度组成研究。研究发现：自终碛到冰川前端冰水扇及下游河流冰水沉积均表现出特征的双峰模态,即1~3 Φ（500~125 μm）的中细砂峰和6~8 Φ（16~4 μm）的细粉砂峰,前者可能由冰川压碎、寒冻风化崩裂作用造成,后者由冰川研磨作用形成,并受到源区基岩岩性软弱和组成颗粒大小的影响。冰川磨蚀的细粉砂组分含量,从冰碛物经冰水扇、河流到湖滩沉积物整体呈现减小趋势,粗粉砂在湖滩沉积中几乎完全被风吹走,粗粉砂直接成为下游黄土的物源并富集其中成为黄土特征组分,水流分选在开口湖泊中产生粗、细粉砂的明显富集,这些证据揭示出,无论是与冰川发育相关的尾闾湖沉积还是近源、远源的青藏高原及周边黄土沉积,其粉砂组成和来源,均可为高原冰冻圈的形成演化提供重要信息。     

曲率属性在河流相储层内部不连续性检测中的应用

河流相砂岩储层内部由于岩性、物性和微小构造变化导致的不连续性特征是阻隔流体流动,影响注采受效的重要因素。因此对这些特征的研究对于油田开发具有重要意义。这类不连续特征在地震资料上通常表现为地震振幅和波形的变化、同相轴的扭曲等,尺度通常小于地震资料分辨率。本文研究了基于曲率算法的储层不连续性特征的识别方法,通过模型正演分析发现曲率属性对于砂体之间不连续性特征具有较高的检测精度。在渤海某油田砂体单元的应用分析表明,曲率属性对于储层不连续性的检测结果与后期生产动态及示踪剂测试结果吻合,验证了该方法的可靠性。该方法技术能够为油田高效开发提供有力的技术支撑。     

断陷湖盆缓坡带古河道定量恢复方法及油气地质意义：以霸县凹陷文安斜坡东营组为例

河流沉积砂体定量表征是油田高效勘探开发的重要基础。文章综合利用定量岩心分析、测井相分析、定量地震沉积学和三维地震剖面识别方法,对霸县凹陷文安斜坡东营组古河道砂体厚度,河道（带）宽度,（满岸）河道水深等河流参数进行了定量化计算。研究表明,文安斜坡东营组发育北部苏桥、中部文安和南部长丰镇三个物源输入口,河流呈NEE-SWW向分散于文安斜坡带,其中河道带宽度（w）为1.04~2.61 km,平均宽度（wcb）为1.71 km;主河道宽度（W）为15.2~179.6 m,平均宽度（Wc）为84.4 m;主河道沉积水深（D）为1.34~5.21 m,平均水深（Dc）为3.29 m;主河道满岸水深（Dmax）为2.35~9.15 m,平均满岸水深（Dmaxa）为5.77 m;主河道沉积厚度（H）为2.15~8.32 m,平均厚度（Hc）为5.25 m,河道长度（L）为18.5~28.2 km,平均河道带长度（Lcb）为25.1 km,流向（A）为40°~65°。确定文安斜坡东营组发育辫状河沉积,斜坡东侧中外带为主要的砂岩卸载区,河流以垂向挖掘性河流为主,侧向迁移为辅,河道砂岩平面呈“条—带”状。文安斜坡西侧内带以侧向迁移河流为主,下蚀作用为辅,河道砂岩呈“席—带”状。东营组河道砂岩具有“下生上储”的有利成藏条件,具有良好的岩性、构造—岩性圈闭（油气藏）勘探前景。