Three classes are recognised : 1) high-energy non-cohesive; 2) medium-energy non-cohesive; and 3) low-energy cohesive floodplains. Thirteen derivative orders and suborders, ranging from confined, coarse-grained, non-cohesive floodplains in high
-energy environments to unconfined fine-grained cohesive floodplains in low-energy environments, are defined on the basis of nine factors (mostly floodplain forming processes). Finally, it is proposed that, because floodplains are derivative of the parent
stream system, substantial environmental change will result in the predictable transformation of one floodplain type to another over time.
Floodplains are unique ecosystems. This article focuses on the importance of hydrological inputs to floodplains through 1) their influence on the arrangement of landforms and vegetation communities and 2) the connections between flooding regimes
and the regeneration and turnover time of floodplain vegetation. The development of models for managing flows to achieve different restoration targets is the start of an integrated approach to restoring complex floodplain ecosystems.
Sedimentology of a fine-grained aggrading floodplain
Special issue : Floodplain evolution
Floodplain ; Fluvial processes ; Land use ; Sedimentology ; Statistics ; United States ; Wisconsin
The present study characterizes the entire spatial variation in sedimentological properties along a portion of the presently aggrading floodplain of the Galena River in southwest Wisconsin. Another theme of this study is the detailed
The purpose of this paper is to present a possibly widely applicable morphological and sedimentary classification of vertical accretion deposits which accumulate along a floodplain. The basic research was carried out in 1979-1982 in the Parseta
Floodplain sedimentation: quantities, patterns and processes
Flood ; Floodplain ; Fluvial deposit ; Fluvial processes ; Grain size distribution ; Meuse ; Netherlands (The) ; Rhine ; River bed ; Sediment transport ; Suspended load
This paper presents the results of measurements of floodplain sedimentation using sediment traps. The study was carried out on two embanked floodplains along the Rivers Rhine and Meuse in the Netherlands during a 3 day flood in january 1993. Raster
maps of sediment accumulation were made by interpolating the measurements from the traps using block kriging. The observed patterns of sediment accumulation are related to floodplain topography and possible sediment transporting mechanisms.
Holocene floodplain metamorphosis in the Midlands, United Kingdom
Special issue : Floodplain evolution
England ; Floodplain ; Fluvial processes ; Holocene ; Model ; Paleo-environment ; Quaternary ; United Kingdom
This paper presents a comparison of the pre- and post-late Holocene palaeo landsurfaces and paleochannels using data from the Nene, Soar and Severn valleys. From this comparison it is argued that during the mid to late Holocene floodplains and river
channels underwent a metamorphosis. This metamorphosis, which is explained by the stable-bed aggrading-banks model (SBAB), is the key factor in the Holocene evolution of low-energy floodplain systems in the United Kingdom, upon which more subtle short-term
Floods are considered to be a crucial agent influencing the formation of the floodplain. The knowledge of the floodplain evolution can be therefore an important source of information about the past floods magnitude and frequency. Recent and past
dynamics of the Jeleni potok floodplain (Opava catchment) was analyzed in this study using dendrochronological and geomorphological methods. - (EN)
Water storage of the central Amazon floodplain measured with GIS and remote sensing imagery
Amazonas River ; Brazil ; Drainage network ; Floodplain ; Fluvial dynamics ; Geographical information system ; Hydrology ; Radar ; Remote sensing ; Stream ; Water resources
The A. examines the spatial properties of the image-based local measurements and demonstrates that flow routes across the floodplain can be automatically extracted from SAR imagery using a geographic information system (GIS). Differing flow routes
are analyzed and combined with error estimates to yield measurements of storage changes across the central Amazon floodplain. These values are then compared to previous floodplain storage estimates.
This paper reviews the basis for using fallout Cs 137 measurements of floodplain sediment samples to study rates and patterns of overbank sediment deposition on floodplains. The processes involved in the incorporation of Cs 137 into overbank
floodplain sediments will be discussed, and the primary factors influencing the distribution of Cs 137 in the sediment will be examined. The results obtained from a case study of a floodplain reach of the River Stour, Dorset, UK, will be used to illustrate
the procedures and to demonstrate their utility and potential in floodplain sedimentation investigations.
Quantitative model of the growth of floodplains by vertical accretion
Cross section ; Dendrochronology ; Flood ; Floodplain ; Fluvial deposit ; Fluvial landform ; Fluvial processes ; Ground survey ; Model ; Montana ; Stream ; Suspended load ; United States of America ; Wyoming
This paper describes a quantitative floodplain growth model based on the unsteady nature of the vertically accreting channel-expansion floodplains along the Powder River. This river is one of the few relatively large unregulated rivers in the United
States with plenty of suspended sediment. As such, it provides an outdoor laboratory to study, in accelerated time, how other floodplains with perhaps less suspended sediment might develop. Floodplain growth curves predicted by this model are compared
to empirical growth curves based on dendrochronology and to direct field measurements at 5 floodplain sites.
How does floodplain width affect floodplain river ecology? A preliminary exploration using simulations
Amazonas River ; America ; Biodiversity ; Brazil ; Discharge ; Ecosystem ; Fauna ; Floodplain ; Fluvial hydrology ; Fluvial processes ; Mississippi ; Model ; Papua New Guinea ; River bed ; Seasonal variability ; United States of America ; Vegetation
The AA. explore this question with a simple simulation model of the dynamics of a food web in a river with seasonally fluctuating discharge. Components of this river food web spread across a floodplain when it is inundated at high water
, and the mobile organisms concentrate back into the channel during reconfinement. The AA. explore the consequences of floodplain width for this model food web by comparing trophic structures that develop when the floodplain is one, ten, and forty times the width
A method was developed which permits estimation of the mean flow velocity in the channel and floodplain zones at a given total discharge taken from a rating curve. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate its utility for explaining
the depositional action of flood flow and the role of a floodplain in the transfer and retention of flood water. Results obtained are presented for three cross-sections located on mountain, foothill and piedmont rivers within the upper Vistula drainage basin
, southern Poland, and are considered in relation with the pattern of floodplain sedimentation caused by a major flood of July 1997.
The great flood of 1993. Part III: whither the floodplain?
Flood ; Flood control ; Floodplain ; Geographer's role ; Hydraulic works ; Mississippi ; Natural hazards ; United States of America
Clear exposition of how floodplain management and construction of levees exacerbated the negative effects of this major inundation in the midwestern United States. - (DWG)
Sedimentary facies of borehole cores from the Mekong River floodplain in Cambodia
C 14 dating ; Cambodia ; Core sampling ; Delta ; Floodplain ; Holocene ; Quaternary ; Sedimentology
This study analyzes 3 borehole cores to examine the sedimentary facies of the extensive floodplain of the Mekong River in Cambodia and discusses the relationship between sedimentary facies and surface topography.
The article is conceived as an introduction to the study of the floodplain. It deals with the delimitation of the floodplain from geomorphologic, pedologic, hydrologic and geoecologic point of view. It also describes the basic geomorphological forms
and natural processes, constituting the floodplain system and participating in its formation. - (EN)
Floodplain change in the Glenmalure Valley, South-East Leinster
C 14 dating ; Floodplain ; Heavy metals ; Holocene ; Ireland ; Palaeolake ; Quaternary ; Sediment transport ; Spatial variation ; Stratigraphy
This study describes reach-scale changes in floodplain form over a 25 km stretch of the Glenmalure River in south east Leinster and explains this variability in terms of downstream changes in geomorphological processes and geological inheritance
. The five floodplain types presented in this study provide important evidence of spatial and temporal changes in a river's ability to modify control variables within the constraints of geomorphic antecedence, particularly the buried bedrock topography
Results and discussion of a stratigraphic survey made of a 21-m-profile of floodplain sediments on the watershed between the Chang Jiang (Yangtze River) and Huang He (Yellow River) at 2500 m asl.: distribution of the floodplain deposits
Modelling floodplain flows using a two-dimensional finite element model
Devon ; Earth surface processes ; England ; Floodplain ; Flow ; Fluvial hydrology ; Fluvial processes ; Model ; United Kingdom
A prototype two-dimensional finite element flow model for depth-averaged free surface flows is developed for floodplain environments. Preliminary model results indicate that this modelling approach can be used to identify dynamic variations
in the flow field parameters over length scales of the order of 10-100 m. Potentially, such data have the ability to permit detailed analysis of short-term floodplain sedimentary dynamics.
Floodplain evolution in a New South Wales coastal valley, Australia : spatial process variations
Special issue : Floodplain evolution
Australia ; Climatic variation ; Floodplain ; Fluvial processes ; New South Wales ; Paleo-environment ; Quaternary ; Stratigraphy
The different forms of valley-floor troughs and their long-profile variability are described prior to a discussion of age implications for the floodplain and Holocene evolution in the Bellinger Valley.
Floodplain development based on selective preservation of sediments, Squamish River, British Columbia
Special issue : Floodplain evolution
British Columbia ; Canada ; Earth surface processes ; Floodplain ; Fluvial processes ; Meander ; Model ; Sedimentology
In this study an elemental approach is used to characterize the fluvial sedimentology of a 20 km reach of the Squamish River in which channel planform changes progressively downvalley from braided to meandering. A model of floodplain growth based