Impact of Kiri dam on the lower reaches of river Gongola, Nigeria

Changes in Geomorphic characteristics in the lower reaches of the Gongola River channel following construction of Kiri dam have been investigated. The study focused on changes in the channel bankfull width and of riverbed width after the control of the river flow, variation in discharge characteristics between pre- and post- dam periods and the impact of discharge variation on post- dam river channel. Results of the analysis revealed that the main effect of the impoundment of the Gongola channel is a drastic decrease in flood peaks below the reservoir by 11.5% (from 1,420 m³/sec to 1,256 m³/sec). The low flows have on the other hand increased by 268% (from 5.7 m³/sec to 21 m³/sec). The resultant effect of decrease in the discharge was reduction in the channel bankfull and riverbed widths by 38.3% and 72.2% respectively. Also, the post- dam channel became less sinuous and braided in some of the reaches downstream. Discharges of high peaks were found during the period of maximum precipitation (June to September) whereas low discharges were recorded during the period of minimum or no precipitation (December to May). Some of the observed implications of the flow control on the geometric variables were reduction in the overall channel width, concave bank erosion and emergence of vegetation in some of the reaches.     

平原河网地区河流曲度及城市化响应

河流曲度是河流平面形态的重要表征指标,以平原河网地区典型区域——上海为例,分析了20世纪50年代中心城区高密度河网的河流曲度特征,诊断了近60年以来快速城市化对区域河网及河流曲度的影响。研究认为:①近60年来上海中心城区河网密度下降幅度达67.22%,高强度人类活动导致区域河网水系分枝结构与自然规律完全相反;②平原河网地区是顺直型河流的典型发育区域,研究初期上海中心城区顺直型河流占85.40%,进一步分析表明曲度小于1.1的河流比例高达70.57%,河流形态接近于直线型;③上海中心城区消亡河流以顺直型为主,其消亡速率约为较高曲度河流的12倍,采用加权平均曲度指标描述区域河网萎缩对河流曲度的影响具有更好的直观性和科学性;④上海城市河流综合整治实践中,工程水利的倾向性强于生态水利,60.9%的河流整治项目开展了裁弯取直工程措施。     

基于过程的分流平原高弯河道砂体储层内部建筑结构分析--以大庆油田萨北地区为例

河道砂体内部结构已成为影响剩余油分布的决定因素。本研究旨在弄清三角洲平原高弯曲河道砂体内部结构,指导开发调整。解剖分为复合河道、单一河道、基本结构要素及要素内部结构等四个层次。基于三角洲平原上高弯河流的形成过程,依据河泛沉积分布及河道沉积体内部沉积特征识别单一河道。依据砂体厚度分布及砂体测井响应所体现的砂体所处的河道位置识别最终废弃河道,依据测井响应特征识别中间废弃河道,通过中间废弃河道及最终废弃河道位置关系,分析河道摆动特征,追踪河道迁移演化。按照河道演化过程识别点坝及其平面展布。在点坝内部通过岩芯、对子井分析确定侧积体的垂向厚度、倾向、倾角,进而获取侧积体平面发育频率,建立点坝内部的结构模型。研究基于河流演化过程,将河流过程与沉积结果统一起来,从过程角度解释了砂体形成,使解剖结果更合理更准确,可很好地指导剩余油预测分析。     

Physical explanations of variations in river meander migration rates from model comparison

In meandering rivers, the local channel migration rate increases with increasing bend sharpness until it reaches a maximum at a certain critical value of the bend sharpness. Beyond this critical value, the migration rate decreases if bend sharpness increases. Similarly, reach‐averaged migration rates attain a maximum at a certain river sinuosity. This work investigates the physics of these phenomena by comparing the results of two physics‐based models of different complexity, in which the migration rates are proportional to the near‐bank flow velocity excess. In the computational tests the river was allowed to meander progressively, starting from an almost straight planimetry. Both models reproduced the observed peak in the curve describing the local migration rate as a function of the ratio radius of curvature‐channel width (R/B), with a rising limb at lower R/B values and a falling limb at higher R/B values. The rising limb can be explained by the decrease in relative lag distance between near‐bank flow velocity and forcing curvature as R/B increases. The falling limb results from the decrease in local channel curvature and near‐bank flow velocity excess. Since the models do not include flow separation, the results indicate that this phenomenon is not needed to explain the decrease of channel migration rates in sharp bends. The models reproduced also the peak in the curve describing the reach‐averaged migration rates as a function of river sinuosity The increase and then decrease of reach‐averaged migration rates as sinuosity increases appears to be mainly caused by the variation of the reach‐averaged value of the ratio R/B. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Channel response in structurally disturbed terrain: evaluation of implication of neotectonic activity through an integrated approach

The anomalous channel pattern in the midland stretch of the river Karamana, having highly sinuous and incised course with varying floodplain, is analysed to determine the different stages of evolution of the river channel in response to the structural disturbances in the area. Geometric analysis of foliation, geospatial analyses of sinuosity index, hypsometry, channel and streamline changes, river channel cross-profile, longitudinal profile and derivation of fold structure from satellite images were attempted in evaluating the characteristic features of the selected river segment. Datasets used in the analysis were collected through the detailed fieldwork, structural mapping and interpretation of satellite images and satellite-derived digital elevation data. Systematic analysis of the channel pattern of the selected reaches of the river, in 1915, 1968 and 2008 classifies the river as tortuously meandering. Implications of tectonic disturbance can be inferred from the presence of channel incision, unpaired terraces, younger terrain with intense erosion, knick points, convex river long profile, and high hypsometric integral, oscillating and unpaired character of the river channel. Structural analysis along with GIS and remote sensing studies proved the presence of a major fold with a NW–SE-trending axial surface. An evolutionary model is proposed to elucidate the channel planform changes in response to the deformation and tectonic uplift of the region.     

Controls on the transition from meandering to straight channels in the wetlands of the Okavango Delta,Botswana

Previous studies of alluvial rivers have shown that channel patterns form a continuum controlled by interactions among factors such as gradient, discharge, sediment size, and bank strength. Data from channels in the permanent wetlands of the Okavango Delta add to these ?ndings by focusing on pattern transitions in channels with banks formed by sedges and grasses that are rooted in peat and underlain by unconsolidated sediment. Channels are well de?ned, and transport ?ne–medium sand as bedload between the vertical, vegetation‐lined banks. Water depths, velocities, grain sizes, and bankline vegetation do not vary signi?cantly or systematically downstream, but the permeable banks allow water to leak from the channels, contributing to an overall downstream decrease in discharge and width. In addition, as the Okavango River ?ows from the <12 km wide ‘Panhandle’ and splits into distributaries in the broader ‘Fan’, valley gradient steepens by c. 60 per cent. These downstream changes result in channel pattern adjustments. In the Panhandle, the Okavango River is a relatively wide (c. 30–100 m), actively meandering, sinuous channel (P > 2·0), but further downstream in the Fan, the narrower (<40 m) distributaries follow laterally stable, less sinuous (‘straight’) courses (P < 1·75). Some channel pattern discrimination diagrams based on simple indices of gradient, discharge, sediment size or stream power are inadequate for analysing the meandering–straight transition in the Okavango but Parker's (1976) approach, based on ratios of depth–width and slope–Froude number, accurately characterizes the transition. Our ?eld observations, combined with the results from previous experimental studies, suggest that in relatively wide channels (w/d > 10), thalweg meandering results in scour of the unconsolidated sediment at the bank base, leading to undermining and collapse of the vegetation, and to slow meander migration. However, as channels narrow downstream (w/d < 10) with discharge losses, proportionally increasing sidewall drag exerted by bankline vegetation suppresses thalweg meandering and bank scour, and channels follow stable, less sinuous courses. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Morphological signatures of normal faulting in low‐gradient alluvial rivers in south‐eastern Louisiana,USA

We explore the fluvial response to faulting in three low‐gradient, sand‐bed rivers in south‐eastern Louisiana, USA, that flow across active normal faults from footwall (upstream) to hangingwall (downstream). We calculate sinuosity, migration rate and migration direction in order to identify anomalies spatially associated with fault scarps. In two of the rivers we model one‐dimensional steady water flow to identify anomalies in surface water slope, width‐to‐depth ratio, and shear stress. In each of these rivers there is one location where flow modeling suggests potential channel incision through the footwall, as indicated by relatively high surface water slopes and shear stress values. In one of these footwall locations, the river straightens and width‐to‐depth ratios decrease, likely contributing to higher surface water slopes and shear stress. This is in contrast to previous studies that have proposed increased sinuosity across fault footwalls and decreased sinuosity across hangingwalls. However, in two hangingwall locations we also observe relatively less sinuous channels. Other planform changes on the hangingwall include topographic steering of channels along and towards the fault and one example of an avulsion. The most notable anomaly in migration rate occurs on the hangingwall of a fault where a river has cut off a meander loop. Although fluvial response to faulting varies here, comparatively large and small channels exhibit similar responses. Further, Pleistocene fault slip rates are orders of magnitude lower than the channel migration rates, suggesting that faulting should not be a major influence on the fluvial evolution. Nonetheless, notable channel anomalies exist near faults, suggesting that recent fault slip rates are higher than Pleistocene rates, and/or that low‐gradient alluvial channels are more sensitive to faulting than previous studies have suggested. Rivers appear to be influenced by faulting in this setting, however background rates of meander loop cutoff may be just as influential as faulting. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

高弯度曲流河砂体规模定量表征研究

曲流河砂体储层是重要的陆相碎屑岩储层类型,采用“将今论古”的思路,以一系列现代高弯度曲流河的基础数据分级构建定量知识库,实现对地下砂体规模的定量表征。从曲流河成因和形态方面对定量表征开展可行性分析,在相对平坦的地形条件下,当河流通过增加河道弯度和加长流路来减小河道坡降比以趋于输沙平衡且做功最少,同时堤岸主要由细粒物质组成时,河型向曲流河转化,河道平面几何形态呈正弦派生曲线,在演化过程中河道形态和砂体规模保持良好的规律性;结合储层构型理论的分级表征思路,基于砂体规模的不确定性,通过现代沉积数据选取恰当的置信水平,分级构建多组经验公式,形成高弯度曲流河定量知识库;压实减孔量是沉积物埋藏后体积减小的主要因素,通过去压实校正,建立现代沉积与地下砂体的定量联系,对地下曲流河砂体规模进行原始沉积状态下的定量表征。经实际资料验证,结果客观准确。     

Fractal sinuosity of stream channels

Analysis of a diverse set of twelve stream channel planforms indicates that at scales relevant to river meandering, river traces are most reasonably treated as fractal curves. The atypically high degree of channel wandering apparent at such scales is a common characteristic of all single-channel streams, while identifiable meandering appears to be only one way in which this tendency is expressed. At smaller scales of view river paths have shapes of smooth curves appropriate to Euclidian geometry, and toward larger scales a distinct change in degree of wandering marks the transition to bends that are considered to be changes in general river course rather than parts of channel pattern. This analysis method provides a natural, objective calculation of river sinuosity as well as other parameters that more completely specify channel planform.     

Interaction of ENSO-driven Flood Variability and Anthropogenic Changes in Driving Channel Evolution: Corryong/Nariel Creek,Australia

Understanding the relative contributions of climatic and anthropogenic drivers of channel change are important to inform river management, especially in the context of environmental change. This global debate is especially pertinent in Australia as catchments have been severely altered since recent European settlement, and there is also strong evidence of cyclical climate variability controlling environmental systems. Corryong/Nariel Creek is an ideal setting to further study the interaction between climate and anthropogenic changes on channel evolution as it has experienced both significant periods of flood and drought, controlled by the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and extensive anthropogenic changes. Since European settlement the floodplain has been completely cleared, the riparian zone almost entirely invaded by willows, and every reach of the channel has experienced some form of direct channel modification. Through the combined analysis of channel evolution, climate changes and anthropogenic history of the river it was found that both the ENSO-driven climate and anthropogenic drivers are significant, although at different scales of channel change. Significant straightening in response to land clearing in the early twentieth century occurred before any records of direct channel modifications. Following this, most river management works were in response to instabilities created in the clearing period, or to instabilities created by flooding triggering a new phase of instability in reaches which had already undergone stabilisation works. Overall, human activities triggered channel instability via land clearing, and management works since then generally exacerbated erosion during high flows that are driven by climate fluctuations. This research raises the interesting question of whether rivers in Australia have become more responsive to the ENSO cycle since the clearing of catchment and riparian vegetation, or whether the past response to climate variability was different.