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Lowland coastal plain rivers are important for navigation and ecosystems, having unique concerns regarding water and sediment management. The Apalachicola River in Florida, the lower end of the ACF (Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–Flint) system, had historical modifications beginning in the 1800s. Most impacts are attributable to the Apalachicola Navigation Project in the latter half of the 20th century, which included dredging, disposal, rock and snag removal, artificial cutoffs, and wing‐dike building. As one of few studies using paired hydrographic surveys over a long reach and time (170 km, 50 years), we defined four zones of bed elevation change between 1960 and 2010 based on the cumulative thalweg elevation plots. The river has four bed change zones: (1) uppermost, marked degradation from river mile (RM) 106 to 85 because of dam construction; (2) middle, minimal degradation from RM 85 to 34; (3) artificial cutoff zone, highest degradation, from RM 34 to 27; and (4) lowermost zone, aggradation from RM 27 to Apalachicola Bay because of upstream bed and bank sediment disturbances. Artificial cutoffs and lithology influence lateral migration, with rates being highest in cutoff zones and least in areas with some bedrock upstream and finer sediments downstream. Length changes from 1941 to 2019 are stable, except for the middle reach, which lengthened nearly 10%, and the lower non‐tidal reach, where length shortened with cutoffs then regained in subsequent decades. Minimizing disturbance has led to 18% of the sand bar area revegetating since a decade of dredging ended. This framework helps in understanding historic and ongoing human activities, notably upstream water consumption, connectivity changes, sediment inputs, and climate change, that will affect the water and sediment management of the river, its floodplain, and bay, thus varying approaches for restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alluvial river landscapes of the lower Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers in the south-central USA are flood prone and have shifted historically in position and form, resulting in interventions for flood reduction, navigation, and water supply. Fisk mapped these landscapes in the middle of the twentieth century as a series of artistic colourful map plates. Selected areas are revisited with modern data sets (LiDAR from 2003, hydrographic surveys from 2006 and 2007) including two sites along the Mississippi River (near the Old River juncture and near Morganza Floodway) and one in the middle Atchafalaya River. By using 2D and 3D geovisualization, we find that the extent, variety, and dimensions of anthropogenic landforms have grown in prominence since Fisk's mapping. The volumes of the highest positive landforms are quantified to provide some indication of direct and indirect anthropogenic activity in these landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of large rivers across the world are dredged for navigation. Dredging removes sediment from the channel, creates spoil mounds in the adjoining floodplain, and disposes sediment along the channel margin on a bar, or in open water. Retrospective studies that examine the placement and fate of this disposed material can provide guidance for other localities where dredging is practiced, and better elucidate the impacts associated with disposal at different types of sites. Many studies exist for impacts and benefits of dredging in the coastal environment, particularly to ecosystems and water quality. Few studies have examined disposal site selection and the fate of dredge spoil placed along a river corridor from a geomorphic and retrospective perspective. The Apalachicola River in Florida was dredged from the 1950s for several decades, with disposal on sand bars, in open water on the channel margins, and on the floodplain. Numerous large and small floodplain dredge-spoil mounds are a legacy from this navigation project. One of the larger mounds, disposal site 40 (DS 40), which locals call "Sand Mountain," stands ~22 m high and extends ~10 ha in area. This disposal site originated in an artificial cutoff created in 1968–69 and grew to hold >625,000 m3 of sediment. Because this section of river was a problem for navigation when dredging was being conducted, detailed historical survey sheets with topographic and bathymetric data exist. The purpose of this paper was to analyze the local floodplain and channel geospatially, coupled with dredging and disposal data, to interpret the geomorphic changes of DS 40 and the adjoining river. Poor placement has resulted in this and other dredge spoil mounds returning sediment to the river through lateral erosion and mass wasting. Intermittent sediment pulses have altered channel morphology adjacent to the spoil mound with the channel becoming wider and shallower than originally, mean bed and thalweg elevations increasing by ~1.5 to 2 m, and width-depth ratio increasing three-fold. Although dredging of this river has not been conducted for nearly two decades, study of historical dredge spoil mounds in this reach suggest poor placement of spoil can continue to stress and alter a river in the decades that follow. Based on our findings, dredging downstream of distributaries will have poor outcomes. Dredge spoil placement in cut-off channels close to the river can be problematic because the river will regain sinuosity. Further, sites on the outer bend of meanders are more subject to erosion, and sites immediately upstream of problem or shallow areas will feed sediment to the problem reach. Findings of this study have implications to other settings, such as intensively mined rivers where unused unconsolidated material is often left on floodplains. • Dredging downstream of distributaries is difficult due to riverbed elevation increases. • Artificial cutoffs regain sinuosity making nearby disposal sites susceptible to erosion. • Outer banks are inferior disposal sites compared to inner bends of meanders. • Sediment from eroding disposal sites affects many channel-form measures for decades. • Placement of the dredge material upstream of shallow areas exacerbates navigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]