Multichannel rivers : their definition and classification

Auteur(s) et Affiliation(s)



Description :
The etymology and historic usage of such terms as anabranch, anastamose and braided within river science are reviewed. The AA. find that existing typologies remain pragmatically utilitarian rather than fundamentally physics-based and too often fail to discriminate between 2 distinctive and important processes integral to new channel initiation and flow-splitting : 1) in-channel bar accretion, and 2) channel avulsion and floodplain excision. It is suggested that, first, if channel planform is to remain central to river typologies, then more rigorous quantitative approaches to the analysis of extended integral channel networks at extended reach scales (rather than network components) are required to correctly determine whether visually-different channel patterns can be discriminated consistently; and, second, if such visually-different styles do in fact differ in their governing processes of formation and maintenance.


Type de document :
Article de périodique

Source :
Earth surface processes and landforms, issn : 0197-9337, 2014, vol. 39, n°. 1, p. 26-37, nombre de pages : 12, Références bibliographiques : 3 p.

Date :
2014

Editeur :
Pays édition : Royaume-Uni, Chichester, Wiley