The environmental state of freshwater resources in Greece (rivers and lakes)

 The dominant factor regulating Greek riverine dissolved inorganic solid concentrations is chemical weathering, which depends on catchment climate and petrography. The majority of Greek rivers are moderately polluted and only a few of them show significant human impact and an increase in pollutant concentrations over time. Due to droughts in recent years and anthropogenic influence, the mean annual riverine dissolved solid concentrations exhibit a general interannual increase and significant long-term variations in their intra-annual hydrochemical fluctuations. The shallow Greek lakes are eutrophic, while the deep ones are oligo-mesotrophic. The majority of the lakes are monomictic and show summer thermal stratification, while the shallow ones are characterized by anoxic hypolimnetic conditions. Catchment petrography is not a dominant factor in the composition of lake waters since biochemical processes prevail. The majority of Greek lakes are also moderately polluted and are characterized by phosphorous-limited photosynthesis. Received: 17 March 1997 · Accepted: 16 January 1998     

Response of river channel patterns to the spatially varying suspended sediment concentrations

River channel pattern transformation is dealt with in a broad background of suspended sediment concentration, varying from low, medium, high to hyperconcentration. Based on data from about 100 alluvial rivers in China, suspended sediment transport rate has been plotted against mean annual water discharge, showing that all points can be divided into four belts by three straight lines, as stable braided pattern, meandering pattern with ordinary sediment concentrations, wandering braided pattern, and meandering pattern with hyperconcentration of sediment. This picture of channel pattern transformation can be well explained by the law of the water flow's energy expenditure varying with its sediment concentration. The energy expenditure increases with sediment concentration, reaching a maximum, then declines. Rivers falling in different ranges of sediment concentrations adjust their own energy expenditure in different manners, leading to occurrence of different channel patterns. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 49671011).     

黑龙江省北三江地区地质环境质量综合评价

利用模糊数学对北三江地区地质环境质量进行综合评判。首先确定参与评价的地质环境要素和各要素数值化等级及取值，然后将评价区分为若干个较小单元，接着利用计算机计算出每个单元的地质环境质量优劣程度。最后划分出地质环境质量三大区并进行评价。     

Geomorphic analysis of large alluvial rivers

Geomorphic analysis of a large river presents particular challenges and requires a systematic and organised approach because of the spatial scale and system complexity involved. This paper presents a framework and blueprint for geomorphic studies of large rivers developed in the course of basic, strategic and project-related investigations of a number of large rivers. The framework demonstrates the need to begin geomorphic studies early in the pre-feasibility stage of a river project and carry them through to implementation and post-project appraisal. The blueprint breaks down the multi-layered and multi-scaled complexity of a comprehensive geomorphic study into a number of well-defined and semi-independent topics, each of which can be performed separately to produce a clearly defined, deliverable product. Geomorphology increasingly plays a central role in multi-disciplinary river research and the importance of effective quality assurance makes it essential that audit trails and quality checks are hard-wired into study design. The structured approach presented here provides output products and production trails that can be rigorously audited, ensuring that the results of a geomorphic study can stand up to the closest scrutiny.     

The Spey Bay geomorphological study

The Spey Bay coastline and the estuary of the River Spey exhibit a rapidly evolving planform. They provide an opportunity to study geomorphological changes in a coupled coastal/estuarine system which can be measured over hours and days rather than the years and decades associated with more slowly evolving landscape features. Attempting to understand coastal and estuarine geomorphology provides engineers and earth scientists with an exciting intellectual challenge. This is not, however, simply an academic challenge because the successful management of coastal and estuarine environments depends on improving this understanding. The impetus behind our work in this area is the protection of land-use interests. It is in this context that Babtie Dobbie Limited have been employed in studying the River Spey since 1962. This paper is based on a practical case study performed for coastal and river engineering purposes between 1990 and 1992. The case study was formulated using the results and conclusions of earlier geomorphological studies of the area undertaken over the past 32 years. Knowledge gained from previous studies was crucial in designing the detailed methods and techniques employed in the 1990–1992 geomorphological study. Methods used included historical analyses, photogrammetry, numerical modelling, geographic information systems (GIS) and interpretation of the complex processes which drive landform changes in the estuary and along the adjacent shoreline. The improved understanding of geomorphological processes that has been achieved has enabled engineers to formulate a new management strategy. Central to this strategy are engineering solutions to river and coastal stability and flooding problems which are in sympathy with the environment and which take maximum advantage of our understanding of geomorphological processes.     

Water quality in rivers of western Switzerland: Application of an adaptable index based on benthic invertebrates

Water quality was estimated from 205 samples of benthic invertebrates collected between 1982 and 1986 in 51 rivers of western Switzerland (canton of Vaud). Each sample consisted of the combined list of taxa resulting from one spring sample pooled with one summer sample. Water quality was indicated by total number of taxa and number of taxa intolerant of pollution: i. e. Heptageniidae, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera with a case. Six classes of values were delimited for each of these two variables by cluster analysis. Values from zero to five were attributed to each class. The index of water quality was computed by adding these two values in each sample. According to this index, good water quality was indicated by 42% of samples. This index can be adapted to other rivers because its components are easily modified.     

The influence of microform bed roughness elements on flow and sediment transport in gravel bed rivers: Comment on a paper by marwan A. Hassan and ian reid

Data from Turkey Brook are used to demonstrate that the interaction between gravel bedforms, flow resistance and bedload transport is a dynamic one, both between and within hydrographs. and that creation of a significant component of form drag through construction of microforms (pebble clusters) may precede the eventual break-up of the bed in a transport event. This process of drag augmentation', which can be seen as a feedback mechanism delaying transport and can be likened to dilation of a soil tested in a direct shear apparatus, itself appears to be dependent on the characteristics of turbulence, and therefore involves feedback at a finer resolution than envisaged by Hassan and Reid (1990).     

Major ion chemistry of the Ganga source waters: Weathering in the high altitude Himalaya

A systematic study of the major ion chemistry of the Ganga source waters—the Bhagirathi, Alaknanda and their tributaries—has been carried out to assess the chemical weathering processes in the high altitude Himalaya. Among major ions, Ca, Mg, HCO₃ and SO₄ are the most abundant in these river waters. These results suggest that weathering of carbonate rocks by carbonic and sulphuric acids dominates in these drainage basins. On an average, silicate weathering can contribute up to ∼ 30% of the total cations. The concentration of total dissolved salts in the Bhagirathi and the Alaknanda is 104 and 115mg/l, respectively. The chemical denudation rate in the drainage basins of the Bhagirathi and the Alaknanda is, respectively, 110 and 137 tons/km²/yr, significantly higher than that derived for the entire Ganga basin, indicating intense chemical erosion of the Himalaya.     

Velocity-reversal hypothesis: A model approach

Hydraulic modelling of a riffle-pool-riffle sequence in a straight reach of Dry Creek near Winters, California, indicates that while at low flow the mean (section average) velocity at riffles exceeds that of an adjacent pool, during high flow the mean velocity of the pool exceeds that of adjacent riffles. This supports the velocity-reversal hypothesis which is based on limited field measurements of near-bed flow velocity. A velocity reversal does not occur at the same discharge in both riffle-pool sequences modelled, and a more detailed explanation is necessary to account for complex aspects of channel form and process in riffle-pool sequences. Nevertheless, the velocity-reversal hypothesis helps to explain many of the observations and processes that operate in the riffle-pool environment.     

Variability of bedload transport and channel morphology in a braided river hydraulic model

This paper investigates variability in bedload transport and channel morphology for 11 replicate experimental runs in an approximately 1:50 braided river model. The experiments, each of 90 h duration, were carried out in a 20 × 3m tilting flume. All the experiments started with the same initial conditions. Bedload transport was measured at 5 min intervals in a collection drum at the exit from the flume. The model showed reasonable hydraulic similarity when compared to prototype rivers. Results show that mean bedload transport rates for the 11 runs vary in the range 0·98 to 1·49gs^?1 (mean + 1·21, coefficient of variation 11 per cent). Within-run transport rates commonly vary from close to zero, to two and occasionally three or four times the mean rate. Within the bedload series, several irregular phases of transport intensity can be observed, but time series analysis of the data show little underlying serial structure (an AR(2) autoregressive model is appropriate). Channel patterns are narrow/braided, are established quickly and remain relatively stable throughout the runs, although channel widths increase between 20 and 103 per cent over the 11 runs. Channel behaviour varies from aggradational to transitional between aggradation and degradation. Time-averaged bedload transport rate is weakly correlated with braiding intensity. In general, these results demonstrate that for a given set of controlling variables, bedload transport and channel morphology can be approximately replicated.