Moving boulders in flash floods and estimating flow conditions using boulders in ancient deposits

Boulders moving in flash floods cause considerable damage and casualties. More and bigger boulders move in flash floods than predicted from published theory. The interpretation of flow conditions from the size of large particles within flash flood deposits has, until now, generally assumed that the velocity (or discharge) is unchanging in time (i.e. flow is steady), or changes instantaneously between periods of constant conditions. Standard practice is to apply theories developed for steady flow conditions to flash floods, which are however inherently very unsteady flows. This is likely to lead to overestimates of peak flow velocity (or discharge). Flash floods are characterised by extremely rapid variations in flow that generate significant transient forces in addition to the mean‐flow drag. These transient forces, generated by rapid velocity changes, are generally ignored in published theories, but they are briefly so large that they could initiate the motion of boulders. This paper develops a theory for the initiation of boulder movement due to the additional impulsive force generated by unsteady flow, and discusses the implications.     

Boulders of MIS 5 age deposited by a tsunami on the coast of Otago, New Zealand

A series of elevated imbricated boulders were investigated on the Otago coastline, southeast New Zealand, through field surveying and optical luminescence dating. By using established hydrodynamic relationships of sediment transport the energy required to move the clasts was calculated and compared to the historic record of marine inundations of that coast. The boulders are platy in shape and are over 2 m long in some cases, and are sourced from a locally outcropping conglomerate unit which appears to be the only lithology on this section of coast that erodes to produce clasts of this size. It is estimated that the boulders were deposited by a tsunami between 2 and 3 m high during the latter part of Marine Isotope Stage 5. They therefore represent the first pre-Holocene tsunami deposit and one composed of large boulders described on the New Zealand coastline.     

An extreme wave event in eastern Yucatán,Mexico: Evidence of a palaeotsunami event during the Mayan times

The Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico, has typically been considered a tectonically stable region with little significant seismic activity. The region though, is one that is regularly affected by hurricanes. A detailed survey of ca 100 km of the eastern Yucatán and Cozumel coast identified the presence of ridges containing individual boulders measuring >1 m in length. The boulder ridges reach 5 m in height and their origin is associated with extreme wave event activity. Previously modelled tsunami waves from known seismically active zones in the region (Muertos Thrust Belt and South Caribbean Deformed Belt) are not of sufficient scale in the area of the Yucatán Peninsula to have produced the boulder ridges recorded in this study. The occurrence of hurricanes in this region is more common, but two of the most destructive (Hurricane Gilbert 1988 and Hurricane Wilma 2005) produced coastal waves too small to have created the ridges recorded here. In this paper, a new tsunami model with a source area located on the Motagua/Swan Island Fault System has been generated that indicates a tsunami event may have caused the extreme wave events that resulted in the deposition of the boulder ridges.     

Digital mapping of coastal boulders – high-resolution data acquisition to infer past and recent transport dynamics

Coastal boulder fields provide clues to long-term frequency-magnitude patterns of coastal flooding events and have the potential to play an important role in coastal hazard assessment. Mapping boulders in the field is time and labour-intensive, and work on intertidal reef platforms, as in the present study, is physically challenging. By addressing coastal scientists who are not specialists in remote sensing, this contribution reports on the possibilities and limitations of digital applications in boulder mapping in Eastern Samar, Philippines, where recent supertyphoons Haiyan and Hagupit induced high waves, coastal flooding and boulder transport. It is demonstrated how satellite imagery of sub-metre resolution (from Pléiades and WorldView-3 imagery) enables efficient analysis of transport vectors and distances of larger boulders, reflecting variation in latitudes of both typhoon tracks and approaching angles of typhoon-generated waves. During the investigated events, boulders with a-axes of up to 8 m were clearly identified to have been shifted for up to 32 m, mostly along the seaward margin of the boulder field. It is, however, hard to keep track of smaller boulders, and the length of a-axes and b-axes including their orientation is often impossible to map with sufficient accuracy. Orthophotographs and digital surface models created through the application of an unmanned aerial vehicle and the ‘Structure from Motion’ technique provide ultra-high-resolution data, and have the potential to not only improve the results of satellite image analysis, but also those from field mapping and may significantly reduce overall time in the field. Orthophotographs permit unequivocal mapping of a-axes and b-axes including their orientation, while precise values for c-axes can be derived from the respective digital surface models. Volume of boulders is best inferred from boulder-specific Structure from Motion-based three-dimensional models. Battery power, flight speed and altitude determine the limits of the area covered, while patches shielded by the boulders are difficult to resolve. For some tasks, field mapping remains mandatory and cannot be replaced by currently available remote sensing tools: for example, sampling for rock type, density and age dating, recording of lithological separation of boulders from the underlying geological unit and of geomorphic features on a millimetre to decimetre-scale, or documentation of fine-grained sediment transport in between the boulders in supratidal settings. In terms of future events, the digital products presented here will provide a valuable reference to track boulder transport on a centimetre to decimetre-scale and to better understand the hydrodynamics of extreme-wave events on a fringing reef coastline.     

Using two-dimensional hydrodynamic models at scales of ecological importance

Modeling of flow features that are important in assessing stream habitat conditions has been a long-standing interest of stream biologists. Recently, they have begun examining the usefulness of two-dimensional (2-D) hydrodynamic models in attaining this objective. Current modeling practices consider relatively long channel sections with their bathymetry represented in terms of large, macro-scale, topographic features. Meso-scale topographic features, such as boulders, root-wads and other obstructions are typically not considered in the modeling process. Instead, the overall effects of these flow obstructions are captured through increased values in the channel roughness parameters. Such an approach to 2-D modeling allows one to accurately predict average depth and velocity values; however, it is not capable of providing any information about the flow patterns in the vicinity of these obstructions. Biologists though have known that such meso-scale features and the complex velocity patterns generated by their presence, play an important role in the ecology of streams, and thus cannot be ignored. It is therefore evident that there is a need to develop better tools, capable of modeling flow characteristics at scales of ecological importance. The purpose of this study is to expand the utility of 2-D hydraulic models to capture these flow features that are critical for characterizing stream habitat conditions.

There exists a paucity of research addressing what types of topographic features should be included in 2-D model studies and to what extent a boulder or series of exposed boulders can influence predicted flow conditions and traditional useable habitat computations. Moreover, little research has been performed to evaluate the impact mesh refinement has on model results in natural streams. Numerical simulations, based on a natural river channel containing several large boulders, indicate that explicitly modeling local obstructions/boulders can significantly impact predicted flow parameters. The presence of these obstructions create velocity gradients, velocity shelters, transverse flows and other ecologically important flow features that are not reproduced when their geometry is not incorporated into the hydraulic model. Sensitivity analyses show that reducing element sizes in the vicinity of obstructions and banks is crucial in modeling the spatial flow patterns created by meso-scale topographic features. This information, combined with similar data obtained in future studies, can provide guidelines for the placement of fishrocks and other structures often used in stream restoration projects as well as determining what types of meso-scale topographic features might need to be incorporated into habitat suitability studies. Such information may also ultimately allow new spatial habitat metrics to be developed.     

Mountain bedload yields in the United Kingdom: Further information from undisturbed fluvial environments

Further medium-term estimates of bedload yield are derived from gravel traps formerly operated to keep watercourses open in the Lake District of England. They are compared with the results presented by Richards and McCaig (preceding communication).     

The Effects of Protruding Rock Boulders in Regulating Sediment Intrusion within the Hyporheic Zone of Mountain Streams

Excessive sedimentation in mountain stream ecosystems is a critical environmental problem due to the clogging of streambeds by sediment particles within the hyporheic zone,with detrimental effects on fish spawning habitat.In this research,the effects of an array of boulders in regulating the intrusion of incoming sand within a gravel substrate were evaluated by performing detailed experiments in a laboratory flume.A unique experimental setup and two different sampling techniques were utilized for measuring the infiltrated sand within the gravel bed under two bed shear stress conditions（moderate vs.high）.For comparison purposes,experiments were performed without and with the presence of partially submerged to the flow（protruding） boulders,which is typical for the average flow conditions found in mountain streams.Results indicated that sand infiltrated primarily in the upper part of the gravel bed creating a surface seal which hindered the penetration of sand particles deeper into the bed.An exponential decrease of the amount of the infiltrated sand within the hyporheic zone was observed in all experiments regardless of the presence of boulders.However,the presence of boulders promoted sediment intrusion of sand particles especially for the moderate applied bed shear stress condition,since the total amount of the infiltrated sand was found to be on average 44% greater whenboulders were present.The findings from this study can provide additional insight regarding the role of boulders on promoting downwelling of flow and sediment within the gravel substrate with potential effects on fish habitat.