Late-glacial sedimentological and morphological changes in a lowland river in response to climatic change: the Maas,southern Netherlands

The late Pleniglacial and Late-glacial Maas valley, south of Nijmegen, contains four terraces. Three river systems are described based on the morphology of channel scars on these terrace surfaces and by sediment characteristics. The River Maas reacted to climatic warming at the start of the Weichselian Late-glacial by changing its river system slowly, from a braided system to a transitional phase between braiding and meandering and finally to a highly sinuous meandering system. The Maas reacted rapidly to the Younger Dryas climate deterioration by again establishing a braiding system. At the onset of the Holocene, the river changed abruptly to a meandering river without a transitional phase. The triggering factor for change in the Maas river pattern is almost certainly the changing climate in the Late Glacial. Gradient lines on the terrace surfaces show that tectonic activity did not modify the morphology of the channels. A division of the terraces is shown, the morphological, sedimentological and petrographical characteristics are presented and the linking of changing fluvial patterns with climatic changes or tectonic movements is discussed. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.