Water Stewardship Information Sources

Citation Church, M. 2006. Bed material transport and the morphology of alluvial river channels. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Science. 34:325-354.
Organization UBC
URL http://geofaculty.uwyo.edu/neil/teaching/4880_files/ChurchAnnRev2006.pdf
Abstract/Description or Keywords alluvial sedimentation, channel geometry, fluvial bedforms, fluvial
geomorphology, sediment transport
Abstract
The morphology of an alluvial river channel is the consequence of sediment transport
and sedimentation in the river. Morphological style is determined chiefly by
the caliber and quantity of sediment delivered to the channel, although modulated
by channel scale. Yet the relations between sediment transport and river morphology
have received only limited, qualitative attention. In this review, the problem is
studied by defining sediment transport regimes on the basis of the Shields number, a
nondimensional measure of the capacity of the channel to move sediment of a given
caliber. The problem is also approached from an inverse perspective by which the
quantity and character of sediment deposits are used to infer details about the variation
of sediment transport and sedimentation along a channel. Coupling the two
approaches establishes a basis to gain new insights into the origins of alluvial channel
morphology.
Information Type article
Regional Watershed Province
Sub-watershed if known
Aquifer #
Comments
Project status complete
Contact Name Michael Church
Contact Email [email protected]