Geomorphology

1968 Edition

Rivers—meandering and braiding

  • W. F. TANNER
Reference work entry
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-31060-6_315
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Stream channels are either straight, crooked, meandering (sinuous), or braided (anastomosing: separating and rejoining); variations of each of these types are known. Usually, straight channels are engineered (i.e., dredged), or they follow fault or fracture traces, or they are very short. Most natural streams of any appreciable length are either crooked, meandering, or braided.

Many fluid threads (or fluid currents) other than rivers are known to meander. These include the jet stream (in the atmosphere), the Gulf Stream (near the surface of the North Atlantic ocean), countercurrents in the ocean, and tidal currents. Meandering may be, therefore, the normal aspect of a fluid thread, within certain velocity and viscosity limits, unless hindered by some outside influence.

Meandering streams have traditionally been ascribed to fluvial plains and delta plains (e.g., Thornbury, 1954). From statements of this kind has arisen the notion that meandering is limited to large rivers which are...
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References

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© Reinhold Book Corporation 1968

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  • W. F. TANNER

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