Response of a Mediterranean Riparian Forest to a 1 in 400 Year Flood,Ouveze River,Drome-Vaucluse,France

This study provides original data concerning the impact of an exceptional 400-year flood on the riparian forest of a six order French Mediterranean river. Both the restricting effects of the forest on the flood and the hydraulic behaviour of the forest during the flood were studied. Twenty-five per cent of the riparian forest was destroyed or profoundly altered as the flood waters enlarged the channel which was initially less than 200 m wide. However, the forest also reduced the flow capacity of the floodplain (lateral reduction of high water level). It also reduced lateral mineral fluxes (lateral reduction of sediment granulometry) and organic deposition (lateral reduction of coarse woody debris mass). However, the lateral extension and topographic accretion of the forest reduces the flood evacuation capacity of the bed and thereby increases the risk of flooding. Future legislation will have to take into account the nature of antropogenic activity in the area of the study. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.