Abstract
Rivers are channelized flows of water which drain from the continents the precipitation falling as rain or snow, together with the dissolved and entrained particulate products of rock weathering. Today rivers carry annually to the oceans and seas approximately 14 km3 of weathered material, a substantial proportion of it in solution. Many rivers reach the sea or ocean only after traversing tidal mud-flats and estuaries, where further channels shaped by the mixed fresh and salt waters can be found. Indeed, by their ebbing and flooding, tidal waters can themselves create impressive channel systems in areas of saltmarsh and mud-flat. Confinement within laterally restricted channels seems to be an inevitable and universal feature of virtually all surface waters. River and tidal channels are unstable, however, and bend and shift over time, with the result that structured bodies of fluvial or tidal sediment arise to match the losses due to erosion. Why do river and tidal flows occupy channels? Why are those channels of a particular shape and size? What processes occur in channels, and how do they shape the sediment accumulations there?
Key words
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Readings
Ackers, P. and F. G. Charlton 1970. The geometry of smallmeandering streams. Proc. Instn Civ. Engrs S12, 289–317.
Begin, Z. B. 1981. The relationship between flow-shear stress stream pattern. J. Hydrol. 52, 307–19.
Bluck, B. J. 1971. Sedimentation in the meandering River Endrick. Scott. J. Geol. 7, 93–138.
Brice, J. C. 1974. Evolution of meander loops. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am. 85, 581–6.
Bridge, J. and J. Jarvis 1976. Flow and sedimentary processes in the meandering River South Esk, Glen Clova, Scotland. Earth Surf. Processes 1, 303–36.
Bridge, J. S. and J. Jarvis 1982. The dynamics of a river bend: a study in flow and sedimentary processes. Sedimentology 29, 499–541.
Callander, R. A. 1978. River meandering. Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. 10, 129–58.
Carlston, C. W. 1965. The relation of free meander geometry to stream discharge and its geomorphic implications. Am. J. Sci. 263, 864–85.
Carson, M. A. and M. F. Lapointe 1983. The inherent asymmetry of river meander planform. J. Geol. 91, 41–55.
Dietrich, W. E., J. D. Smith and T. Dunne 1979. Flow and sediment transport in a sand bedded meander. J. Geol. 87,05–15.
Hack, J. T. 1957. Studies of longitudinal stream profiles in Virginia and Maryland. Prof. Pap. US Geol. Surv., no. 94-B.
H’nderson, F. M. 1961. Stability of alluvial channels. J. Hydraul. Div. Am. Soc. Civ. Engrs 87, 109–38.
Hickin, E. J. 1974. The development of meanders in natural river-channels. Am. J. Sci. 274, 414–42.
Hjulström, F. 1935. Studies of the morphological activities of rivers as illustrated by the River Fyris. Bull. Geol. Inst. Univ. Uppsala 25, 221–527.
Jackson, R. G. 1975. Velocity-bedform-texture patterns of meander bends in the lower Wabash River of Illinois and Indiana. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am. 86, 1511–22.
Jackson, R. G. 1976. Depositional model of point bars in the lower Wabash River. J. Sed. Petrol. 46, 579–94.
Lee, L. J. and B. L. Henson 1978. The longitudinal river, valley and regional profiles of the Arkansas River. Z. Geomorph. 22, 182–91.
Leopold, L. B. and M. G. Wolman 1957. River channel patterns; braided, meandering and straight. Prof. Pap. US Geol. Surv., no. 282-B.
Leopold, L. B M. G. Wolman and J. P. Miller 1964. Fluvialprocesses in geomorphology San Francisco: W. H. Freeman.
Lewin, J. 1976. Initiation of bed forms and meanders in coarse-grained sediment. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am. 87, 281–5.
Nami, M. 1976. An exhumed Jurassic meander belt from Yorkshire, England. Geol. Mag. 113, 47–52.
Nanson, G. C. 1980. Point bar and floodplain formation of the meandering Beatton River, northeastern British Columbia, Canada. Sedimentology 28, 3–29.
Noble, C. A. and R. C. Palmquist 1968. Meander growth in artificially straightened streams. Proc. Iowa Acad. Sci. 75, 234–42.
Osterkamp, W. R. 1978. Gradient, discharge, and particle-size relations of alluvial channels in Kansas, with observations on braiding. Am. J. Sci. 278, 1253–68.
Padgett, G. V. and R. Ehrlich 1976. Paleohydrologic analysis of a late Carboniferous fluvial system, southern Morocco. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am. 87, 1101–4.
Page, K and G. Nanson 1982. Concave-bank benches and associated floodplain formation. Earth Surf. Processes Landforms 7, 529–43.
Puigdefabrigas, C. 1973. Miocene point-bar deposits in the Ebro Basin, northern Spain. Sedimentology 20, 133–44.
Richards, K. S. 1982. Rivers. London: Methuen.
Rozovskii, I. L. 1961. The flow of water in bends of open channels. Jerusalem: Israel Program for Scientific Translations.
Wheeler, D. A. 1979. The overall shape of the longitudinal profiles of streams. In Geographical approaches to fluvial processes, A. F. Pitty (ed.), 241–60. Norwich: Geobooks.
Zimmerman, C. 1977. Roughness effects on the flow direction near curved stream beds. J. Hydraul. Res. 15 (1), 73–85.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1985 J.R.L. Allen
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Allen, J.R.L. (1985). Winding down to the sea. In: Principles of Physical Sedimentology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-9683-6_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-9683-6_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-9685-0
Online ISBN: 978-94-010-9683-6
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive