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Intermittently open/closed estuaries (IOCE) are wave-dominated estuaries with entrances that temporarily close to the ocean. Wave–current interactions play a major role in estuary entrance morphodynamics and influence the degree of energy transfer from the ocean into the lagoon. This study utilizes artificial entrance openings of multiple ICOE in Victoria, Australia, to capture continuous hydrodynamic and geomorphic data throughout the opening cycle. We illustrate that water level oscillations in the infragravity (IG) band) are present in the basin during open entrance conditions. IG waves were observed to propagate up to 1.8 km upstream of the mouth while the entrance was open. Our work identifies that changes in cross-sectional area, bed depth at the berm position, and offshore wave height control the magnitude of IG waves within the estuary basin. IG wave magnitude is also tidally modulated and increases with high tides when the nearshore water level is higher. Late during the drainage phase, waves were observed to track the margins of the channel, away from the thalweg, and reach the basin. IG wave energy was highest immediately after the basin had ceased draining and while channel dimensions at the mouth were within 10% of their maximum value. As the entrance aggrades, IG wave magnitude decreases in the absence of energetic offshore wave conditions. We relate the changes in IG wave magnitude and frequency to a six-stage conceptual model of the opening–closure sequence. Within the basin, IG wave energy, height and frequency were also consistently highest closer to the mouth and decreased with distance upstream. Our findings indicate that water level oscillations in the IG band are a persistent feature in IOCE and may be the norm rather than the exception in these systems. As IG waves were captured serendipitously as part of a larger field campaign, future work will focus on instrumenting IOCE to gain high-resolution data to quantify IG wave processes during entrance openings. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Thalweg migration of an alluvial river plays a key role in channel evolution, which may influence the effect of existing river training works and biodiversity on floodplains, and cause losses in riparian land and property. The braided reach of the Lower Yellow River underwent continuous channel aggradation during the period from 1986 to 1999, and then remarkable channel degradation in 1999–2015 owing to the state of operation of the Xiaolangdi Reservoir in 1999. Here we quantify associated thalweg migration changes and identify the key influencing factor in the braided reach. Thalweg-migration distances and intensities at section- and reach-scales were calculated during the past 30 years from 1986 to 2015, in order to investigate the characteristics of thalweg migration in the reach. There was a 47% reduction in the reach-scale thalweg-migration distance and a 35% reduction in the corresponding migration intensity after the reservoir operation. It is also revealed that fluvial erosion intensity is a dominant factor in controlling the thalweg migration, based on the investigation into various influencing factors in the study reach. The thalweg-migration intensity of the braided reach can be expressed as a power function of the previous four-year average fluvial erosion intensity. The calculated thalweg-migration intensities in 1986–2015 using the proposed relation generally agree with the observed data. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The effects of ice cover on flow characteristics in meandering rivers are still not completely understood. Here, we quantify the effects of ice cover on flow velocity, the vertical and spatial flow distribution, and helical flow structure. Comparison to open-channel low flow conditions is performed. The Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) is used to measure flow from up to three meander bends, depending on the year, in a small sandy meandering subarctic river (Pulmanki River) during two consecutive ice-covered winters (2014 and 2015). This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Under ice, flow velocities and discharges were predominantly slower than during the preceding autumn open-channel conditions. Velocity distribution was almost opposite to theoretical expectations. Under ice, velocities reduced when entering deeper water downstream of the apex in each meander bend. When entering the next bend, velocities increased again together with the shallower depths. The surface velocities were predominantly greater than bottom/riverbed velocities during open-channel flow. The situation was the opposite in ice-covered conditions, and the maximum velocities occurred in the middle layers of the water columns. High-Velocity Core (HVC) locations varied under ice between consecutive cross-sections. Whereas in ice-free conditions the HVC was located next to the inner bank at the upstream cross-sections, the HVC moved towards the outer bank around the apex and again followed the thalweg in the downstream cross-sections. Two stacked counter-rotating helical flow cells occurred under ice around the apex of symmetric and asymmetric bends: next to the outer bank, top- and bottom-layer flows were towards the opposite direction to the middle layer flow. In the following winter, no clear counter-rotating helical flow cells occurred due to the shallower depths and frictional disturbance by the ice cover. Most probably the flow depth was a limiting factor for the ice-covered helical flow circulation, similarly as the shallow depths hinder secondary flow in open-channel conditions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

This paper provides comprehensive evidence that sediment routing around pools is a key mechanism for pool-riffle maintenance in sinuous upland gravel-bed streams. The findings suggest that pools do not require a reversal in energy for them to scour out any accumulated sediments, if little or no sediments are fed into them. A combination of clast tracing using passive integrated transponder (PIT) tagging and bedload traps (positioned along the thalweg on the upstream riffle, pool entrance, pool exit and downstream riffle) are used to provide information on clast pathways and sediment sorting through a single pool-riffle unit. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is also used to explore hydraulic variability and flow pathways. Clast tracing results provide a strong indication that clasts are not fed through pools, rather they are transported across point bar surfaces, or around bar edges (depending upon previous clast position, clast size, and event magnitude). Spatial variations in bedload transport were found throughout the pool-riffle unit. The pool entrance bedload trap was often found to be empty, when the others had filled, further supporting the notion that little or no sediment was fed into the pool. The pool exit slope trap would occasionally fill with sediment, thought to be sourced from the eroding outer bank. CFD results demonstrate higher pool shear stresses (τ ≈ 140 N m–2) in a localized zone adjacent to an eroding outer bank, compared to the upstream and downstream riffles (τ ≈ 60 N m–2) at flows of 6 · 2 m3 s–1 (≈ 60% of the bankfull discharge) and above. There was marginal evidence for near-bed velocity reversal. Near-bed streamlines, produced from velocity vectors indicate that flow paths are diverted over the bar top rather than being fed through the thalweg. Some streamlines appear to brush the outer edge of the pool for the 4 · 9 m3 s–1 to 7 · 8 m3 s–1 (between 50 and 80% of the bankfull discharge) simulations, however complete avoidance was found for discharges greater than this. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In the first decades of the 20th century, the Ebro River was the Iberian channel with the most active fluvial dynamics and the most remarkable spatial-temporal evolution. Its meandering typology, the dimensions of its floodplain, and the singularities of its flow regime produced an especially interesting set of river functions. The largest dynamics of the Ebro River are concentrated along the meandering profile of the central sector. During the 20th century, this sector experienced a large alteration of its geomorphological structure. We present here an analysis of this evolution through the cartographic study of a long segment of the river (~250 km) in 1927, 1956 and 2003. The results show a large reduction in bank sinuosity, a progressive loss of fluvial territory, and a large decrease in channel width. These changes are especially clear in the areas previously most ecologically connected with the active channel. The fluvial territory of the river in 2003 was approximately half that found during the first decades of the 20th century. Forest plantations, which were non-existent in 1927, occupied more than 1500 ha of the study area in the last decade. This intense geomorphological transformation becomes ecologically visible in (i) a 35% reduction of the area occupied by riparian vegetation; (ii) a loss of the heterogeneity of riparian forest spots, which were formerly structured in an irregular mosaic far from the river thalweg; and (iii) a modification of the riparian forest structure, which is currently linear, uniform, thin and very close to the river axis. The ecomorphological alteration was intensified by the remarkable reduction in bank length (13%) and the reduced dynamism of the present river system, indicated by an increase in the percentage of fluvial territory occupied by riparian forests and a reduction in the area occupied by the active channel. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Considerable attention has been focused on the role of gullies as a contributor to contemporary sediment loads of rivers in Australia. In southern Australia rapid acceleration of hillslope gully erosion has been widely documented in the post-European period (∼ last 200 years). In the northern Australian tropics, however, gully erosion processes operating along alluvial plains have not been well documented and can differ substantially from those gullies eroding into colluvium on hillslopes. Aerial reconnaissance surveys in 2004 along 13 500 km of the main stem rivers that drain into the Gulf of Carpentaria (GoC), identified extensive areas of alluvial lands that have been impacted by a pervasive form of gully erosion. More detailed remote sensing based mapping within the 31 000 km2 Mitchell River fluvial megafan has identified that active gullying into alluvium occupies ∼ 0·4% (129 km2) of the lower Mitchell catchment. These alluvial gullies are concentrated along main drainage channels and their scarp heights are highly correlated to the local relief between the floodplain and river thalweg. While river incision into the megafan since the Pleistocene has developed the relief potential for erosion, other factors such as floodplain hydrology, soil dispersibility, and vegetation also influence the distribution of gullies. In this paper we present a conceptual model of alluvial gullies, and contend that they represent a distinct end member in the continuum of gully forms that have been described in the geomorphic literature. An understanding of the processes driving this form of alluvial gullying can only be gained when they are differentiated from widely described colluvial hillslope gully models and theories. We present evidence of type examples of alluvial gullying in the Mitchell, and through analysis of their distribution and morphology at different scales, highlight some of the key mechanisms that are potentially initiating these features and driving their expansion. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Surveys of wood along 30 forested headwater stream reaches in La Selva Biological Station in north-eastern Costa Rica represent the first systematic data reported on wood loads in neotropical streams. For streams with drainage areas of 0·1–8·5 km2 and gradients of 0·2–8%, wood load ranged from 3 to 34·7 m3 wood/100 m channel and 41–612 m3 wood/ha channel. These values are within the range reported for temperate streams. The variables wood diameter/flow depth, stream power, the presence of backflooding, and channel width/depth are consistently selected as significant predictors by statistical models for wood load. These variables explain half to two-thirds of the variability in wood load. These results, along with the spatial distribution of wood with respect to the thalweg, suggest that transport processes exert a greater influence on wood loads than recruitment processes. Wood appears to be more geomorphically effective in altering bed elevations in gravel-bed reaches than in reaches with coarser or finer substrate. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

River restoration and bank stabilization programs often use vegetation for improving stream corridor habitat, aesthetic and function. Yet no study has examined the use of managed vegetation plantings to transform a straight, degraded stream corridor into an ecologically functional meandering channel. Experimental data collected using a distorted Froude-scaled flume analysis show that channel expansion and widening, thalweg meandering and riffle and pool development are possible using discrete plantings of rigid, emergent vegetation, and the magnitudes of these adjustments depend on the shape of the vegetation zone and the density of the vegetation. These experimental results were verified and validated using a recently developed numerical model, and model output was then used to discuss mechanistically how rivers respond to the introduction of in-stream woody vegetation. Finally, a hybrid method of meander design is proposed herein where managed vegetation plantings are used to trigger or force the desired morphologic response, transforming a straight, degraded reach into a more functional meandering corridor. It is envisioned that such numerical models could become the primary tool for designing future stream restoration programs involving vegetation and assessing the long-term stability of such activities. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Floodplain sediments can be dated precisely based on the change in anatomy of tree rings upon burial. When a stem of tamarisk (Tamarix ramosissima) or sandbar willow (Salix exigua) is buried, subsequent annual rings in the buried section resemble the rings of roots: rings become narrower, vessels within the rings become larger, and transitions between rings become less distinct. We combined observations of these changes with tree-ring counts to determine the year of deposition of sedimentary beds exposed in a 150-m-long trench across the floodplain of the Rio Puerco, a rapidly filling arroyo in New Mexico. This method reliably dated most beds thicker than about 30 cm to within a year of deposition. Floodplain aggradation rates varied dramatically through time and space. Sediment deposition was mostly limited to brief overbank flows occurring every few years. The most rapid deposition occurred on channel-margin levees, which migrated laterally during channel narrowing. At the decadal timescale, the cross-section-average sediment deposition rate was steady, but there was a shift in the spatial pattern of deposition in the 1980s. From 1936 to 1986, sediment deposition occurred by channel narrowing, with little change in elevation of the thalweg. After 1986 sediment deposition occurred by vertical aggradation. From 1936 to 2000 about 27 per cent of the arroyo cross-section filled with sediment. The rate of filling from 1962 to 2000 was 0·8 vertical m/decade or 85 m2/decade. Published in 2005 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The concentration of cosmogenic nuclides in rocks exposed at the Earth’s surface is proportional to the total duration of their exposure. This is the basis for bedrock surface exposure dating and has been used to constrain valley lowering rates in the Taroko gorge, eastern Central Range, Taiwan. Taroko gorge contains a uniquely complete geomorphic record of fluvial valley lowering: continuous, fluvially sculpted surfaces are present in the lower 200 m of this marble gorge. Assuming no post-fluvial erosion of the gorge wall, the concentration of in situ-produced cosmogenic 36 Cl measured in gorge wall marbles reveals exposure ages from 0·2 ka in the active channel to 6·5 ka at 165 m above the present river. These ages imply an average fluvial incision rate of 26 ± 3m m a −1 throughout the middle and late Holocene. Taking into account lateral gorge wall retreat after initial thalweg lowering would give rise to calculated older exposure ages. Without considering gorge wall retreat, our estimates therefore represent maximum incision rates. Estimated maximum Holocene incision rates are higher than the long-term exhumation rates derived from fission track dating. The longterm gorge development governed by tectonic uplift is superimposed by short-term variations in incision rates caused by climatic or regional tectonic changes. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

As a response to channelization projects undertaken near the turn of the 20th century and in the late 1960s, upstream reaches and tributaries of the Yalobusha River, Mississippi, USA, have been rejuvenated by upstream-migrating knickpoints. Sediment and woody vegetation delivered to the channels by mass failure of streambanks has been transported downstream to form a large sediment/debris plug where the downstream end of the channelized reach joins an unmodified sinuous reach. Classification within a model of channel evolution and analysis of thalweg elevations and channel slopes indicates that downstream reaches have equilibrated but that upstream reaches are actively degrading. The beds of degrading reaches are characterized by firm, cohesive clays of two formations of Palaeocene age. The erodibility of these clay beds was determined with a jet-test device and related to critical shear stresses and erosion rates. Repeated surveys indicated that knickpoint migration rates in these clays varied from 0·7 to 12 m a−1, and that these rates and migration processes are highly dependent upon the bed substrate. Resistant clay beds of the Porters Creek Clay formation have restricted advancement of knickpoints in certain reaches and have caused a shift in channel adjustment processes towards bank failures and channel widening. Channel bank material accounts for at least 85 per cent of the material derived from the channel boundaries of the Yalobusha River system. Strategies to reduce downstream flooding problems while preventing upstream erosion and land loss are being contemplated by action agencies. One such proposal involves removal of the sediment/debris plug. Bank stability analyses that account for pore-water and confining pressures have been conducted for a range of hydrologic conditions to aid in predicting future channel response. If the sediment/debris plug is removed to improve downstream drainage, care should be taken to provide sufficient time for drainage of groundwater from the channel banks so as not to induce accelerated bank failures. Published in 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Threshold conditions for rill incision are well known, but few studies have examined the effect of network geometry on water and sediment fluxes within an evolving rill system. This paper reports the first in a series of studies designed to identify the influence of soil properties on rill network and confluence geometry, and on water and sediment fluxes in rill systems. The object of this study was to prepare detailed rill network water and sediment budgets identifying important sources and sinks. Simulated rainfall experiments were carried out on a Canadian silt loam soil in a 7·1 m × 2·4 m flume on a 5° slope. Rill networks of varying complexity developed, which were ultimately constrained by flume boundaries. Sediment and water fluxes and hydraulic conditions were measured within networks and at a terminal weir. Networks evolved by initial knickpoint incision in the lower flume, as flow shear velocities reached critical levels of 4·5–5 cm s−1 followed by headward migration and tributary development. Microtopography determined tributary location, but the timing and intensity of development were controlled by the incision and migration rate of the main channel, which changed local thalwegs and base levels, raising shear velocities on side slopes above critical levels. Sediment discharge at the weir broadly reflected rill incision intensity and transport-limited conditions, but as active incision moved headward, the linkage became attenuated and identification of discrete erosional incidents (e.g. local bank collapse) in the signal of the weir record became very difficult. Detailed water and sediment budgets showed much more complex patterns of localized incision and deposition within networks, strongly influenced by local changes in thalweg and in water discharge due to seepage or return flow, and by the effect of confluences on hydraulic conditions. Results indicate the value of detailed sediment budgets in interpreting weir water and sediment flux records, and the necessity of linking such measurements for erosion plots and hillslope segments to rill network characterization. Experimental results are consistent with a simple model of rill system evolution based on channel incision, headward migration, and the critical shear velocities for rill initiation. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This study used successive longitudinal thalweg profiles in gravel-bed rivers to monitor changes in bed topography followingfloodsandassociatedlargesedimentinputs.Variationsinchannelbedelevations,distributionsofresidualwater depths,percentage of channellengthoccupied byriffles,andaspatial autocorrelationcoefficient (Moran’sI) wereused to quantify changes in morphological diversity and spatial structure in Redwood Creek basin, northwestern California. Bed topographyinRedwoodCreekanditsmajortributariesconsistsprimarilyofaseriesofpoolsandriffles.Thesize,frequency and spatial distribution of the pools and riffles have changed significantly during the past 20 years. Following large floods and highsediment input inRedwood Creek and its tributaries in 1975, variation in channelbed elevations was low and the percentageofthechannellengthoccupiedbyriffleswashigh.Overthenext20years,variationinbedelevationsincreased while the length of channel occupied by riffles decreased. An index [(standard deviation of residual water depth/bankfull depth) 100]wasdevelopedtocomparevariationsinbedelevationoverarangeofstreamsizes,withahigherindexbeing indicativeofgreatermorphologicaldiversity.Spatialautocorrelationinthebedelevationdatawasapparentatbothfineand coarsescalesinmanyofthethalwegprofilesandtheobservedspatialpatternofbedelevationswasfoundtoberelatedtothe dominant channel material and the time since disturbance. River reaches in which forced pools dominated, and in which large woody debris and bed particles could not be easily mobilized, exhibited a random distribution of bed elevations. In contrast, in reaches where alternate bars dominated, and both wood and gravel were readily transported, regularly spaced bed topography developed at a spacing that increased with time since disturbance. This pattern of regularly spaced bed featureswasreversedfollowinga12-yearfloodwhenbedelevationsbecamemorerandomlyarranged.Copyright#1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Anabranches of braided rivers typically migrate and avulse across the floodplain to produce new channel junctions, scour and subsequent mid-channel bar growth immediately downstream. Few quantitative studies have been made of this bar development process and the link to change in channel geometry and local flow strength and direction. This paper provides data on the spatial and temporal pattern of surface velocity as mid-channel bar growth is initiated downstream of a fixed junction scour in a generic scale flume model. The sequence of channel changes is: (i) development of a confluence scour with flow convergence and maximum velocity in the channel centre; (ii) exceedance of the local transport capacity and initial stalling of coarse sediment in the channel thalweg downstream of the scour; (iii) bar growth through entrapment of all sizes of bedload; (iv) change from velocity maximum to minimum and flow convergence to divergence when the bar height is approximately 55 per cent of the thalweg depth; (v) broadening of the bartop platform, a drop in local competence and bankward migration of the two distributaries whose cross-section and velocity remains approximately constant. These flume data and interpretations are compared to descriptions in the literature of the braiding process with particular reference to the flume work of Leopold and Wolman (1957) and Ashmore (1991, 1993). A new model for mid-channel bar growth is presented which helps explain the long-term development of the confluence–diffluence unit.

Rill erosion is an important erosional form on agricultural soils in England, causing large losses of soil, particularly on cultivated slopes. This paper describes a rill system that developed in a small agricultural catchment in north Oxfordshire during the winter of 1992–93. The rill system comprised two components: a system of ‘feeder rills’ along the valley-side slopes, which were the result of flow concentration and erosion along wheelings, and a thalweg rill, which formed along a dry valley bottom as a result of surface runoff concentration from the feeder rills. Total volumetric soil loss from the rill system was 32·28 m3, equivalent to 3·01 m3, ha−1 for the rill catchment area, or 3·91 t ha−1. Mean discharge for the thalweg rill and feeder rills, calculated during a storm event, was 31·101s−1 and 1·171s−1, respectively. All flows were fully turbulent and supercritical. We emphasize the need for a spatially distributed approach to the study of runoff and erosion at the catchment scale.

The main characteristics of river flow and grainsize in a bend of the sand bedded meandering river Dommel, The Netherlands, are presented. Measurements were carried out at a relatively low discharge in a sharply curved bend following a long straight reach. In the studied bend, secondary circulation is restricted to the thalweg area; only in the downstream part of the bend it exists over the entire cross-section. Therefore, on the entire pointbar platform, which comprises the larger part of the bend, the median sedimentation diameter of the bedload material is governed by the distribution of the longitudinal components of the bed shear stress only.