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1.
Palaeocompetence analysis and palaeodischarge estimation techniques are applied to a late Pleistocene–early Holocene gravel terrace in the Mahi River Basin, western India. Terrace sedimentology, comprising gravels overlain by sand lithofacies suggests a gradual change in palaeohydrological conditions marking a switch from braided to meandering fluvial styles. The discharge values for the gravel bedforms based on the clast size and the cross bed set thickness are estimated between ∼150–180 m3 s−1 comparable with the present day observed values albeit with a much higher competence. Results indicate that fluvial aggradation occurred under low discharge conditions with intermittent high discharge events depositing longitudinal gravel bars. The incision of these gravel bars and the formation of terraces can be attributed to the higher discharge regime post 9.2 ka. The study further indicates that whereas the aggradation of the gravel terrace during the early Holocene was controlled by the large sediment influx, the incision that followed was in response to the increase in the discharge and competence of the river flow.  相似文献   

2.
《Sedimentary Geology》2007,193(1-4):131-148
This paper characterises the sedimentary impact of a glacial outburst flood or ‘jökulhlaup’ on an ice-contact delta topset at Russell Glacier, Kangerlussuaq, west Greenland. Rapid drainage of an ice-dammed lake in July 1987 generated a jökulhlaup with a peak discharge of ∼ 1300 m3 s− 1, which drained across a 500-m-wide, 200-m-long, delta top into a proglacial lake. The delta topset comprises boulder clusters, ice block obstacle marks with relief of up to 4 m, and is graded to lake levels up to 6 m higher than those during typical non-jökulhlaup conditions. The delta top was dissected by the 1987 jökulhlaup causing a fan-shaped extension of the delta front by 30 m. Surface grain size on the delta decreases rapidly away from the main flood flow direction, reflecting rapid downstream reduction in sediment transport capacity. The 1987 jökulhlaup was predominantly fluidal and turbulent and had peak stream powers of 2846 W m− 2 proximally and < 400 W m− 2 distally. Delta topset sedimentation can be characterised by four lithofacies associations in order of decreasing flow energy: (A) coarse-grained deposits related to a flow expansion; (B) finer-grained peripheral deposits located at the margins of the main flow; (C) lobate bars and delta fronts deposited within distal locations and (D) fine-grained deposits at distance from the delta front associated with slackwater conditions. Jökulhlaup-dominated delta topsets are controlled by the geometry of the channel expansion into the proglacial lake, jökulhlaup hydrograph form, the sediment availability and character, proglacial lake basin depth and surface area, lake outflow spillway erodibility and cross-sectional area, and history of previous jökulhlaups.  相似文献   

3.
The failure of a lava dam 165,000 yr ago produced the largest known flood on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon. The Hyaloclastite Dam was up to 366 m high, and geochemical evidence linked this structure to outburst-flood deposits that occurred for 32 km downstream. Using the Hyaloclastite outburst-flood deposits as paleostage indicators, we used dam-failure and unsteady flow modeling to estimate a peak discharge and flow hydrograph. Failure of the Hyaloclastite Dam released a maximum 11 × 109 m3 of water in 31 h. Peak discharges, estimated from uncertainty in channel geometry, dam height, and hydraulic characteristics, ranged from 2.3 to 5.3 × 105 m3 s−1 for the Hyaloclastite outburst flood. This discharge is an order of magnitude greater than the largest known discharge on the Colorado River (1.4 × 104 m3 s−1) and the largest peak discharge resulting from failure of a constructed dam in the USA (6.5 × 104 m3 s−1). Moreover, the Hyaloclastite outburst flood is the oldest documented Quaternary flood and one of the largest to have occurred in the continental USA. The peak discharge for this flood ranks in the top 30 floods (>105 m3 s−1) known worldwide and in the top ten largest floods in North America.  相似文献   

4.
Sediment trapping and transport in the ACE Basin,South Carolina   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  
A study took place during May 1998 and May 1999 to examine the processes controlling localized accumulation of fine-grained sediments in the lower Ashepoo River. This region, referred to as the Mud Reach, is an area of muddy bottom sediments bounded by fine sands. The Mud Reach is located downstream of the landward extent of the salt intrusion where an estuarine turbidity maximum commonly occurs. Tidal time-series measurements made in the Mud Reach during May 1998, when river discharge was at a 10-yr high, showed high concentrations of suspended sediment (0.05–1 g I−1) during maximum tidal current velocity with concentrations in the bottom 30 cm exceeding 70 g I−1 (fluid mud). A correlation between salinity stratification and increased suspended sediment concentration suggests that inhibited vertical mixing enhances the settling of flocculated sediments to the bed. Measurements made during May 1999 show a two-order-of-magnitude decrease in the concentration of near-bed sediments. A decrease in river discharge during the 1999 observation period of more than 100 m3 s−1 suggests that changes in the hydrography and in the supply of sediments to the system both may be important factors in the trapping of fine-grained sediments in the region. The source of sediments is likely from muddy deposits in the Fenwick Cut, a man-made section of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway about 2 km north of the Mud Reach that connects the Ashepoo and Edisto Rivers. The Fenwick Cut appears to be an effective area for trapping sediments where shoaling has increased by 130% in the last decade. Current measurements show that flow velocities decrease through the Cut, likely allowing for the settling of suspended particles that form the thick deposits of unconsolidated mud observed during both years.  相似文献   

5.
The nature of flow, sediment transport and bed texture and topography was studied in a laboratory flume using a mixed size-density sediment under equilibrium and non-equilibrium (aggradational, degradational) conditions and compared with theoretical models. During each experiment, water depth, bed and water surface elevation, flow velocity, bed shear stress, bedload transport and bed state were continuously monitored. Equilibrium, uniform flow was established with a discharge of about 0.05 m3 s?1, a flow depth of about 0.01 m, a flow velocity of about 0.81–0.88 m s?1, a spatially averaged bed shear stress of about 1.7–2.2 Pa and a sediment transport rate of about 0.005–0.013 kg m?1 s?1 (i.e. close to the threshold of sediment transport). Such equilibrium flow conditions were established prior to and at the end of each aggradation or degradation experiment. Pebble clusters, bedload sheets and low-lying bars were ubiquitous in the experiments. Heavy minerals were relatively immobile and occurred locally in high concentrations on the bed surface as lag deposits. Aggradation was induced by (1) increasing the downstream flow depth (flume tilting) and (2) sediment overloading. Tilt-induced aggradation resulted in rapid deposition in the downstream half of the flume of a cross-stratified deposit with downstream dipping pebbles (pseudo-imbricated). and caused a slight decrease in the equilibrium mean water surface slope and total bedload transport rate. These differences between pre- and post-aggradation equilibrium flow conditions are due to a decrease in the local grain roughness of the bed. Sediment overloading produced a downstream fining and thinning wedge of sediment with upstream dipping pebbles (imbricated), whereas the equilibrium flow and sediment transport conditions remained relatively unchanged. Degradation was induced by (1) decreasing the downstream flow depth (flume tilting) and (2) cutting off the sediment feed. Tilt-induced degradation produced rapid downstream erosion and upstream deposition due to flow convergence with little change to the equilibrium flow and sediment transport conditions. The cessation of sediment feed produced degradation and armour development, a reduction in the mean water surface slope and flow velocity, an increase in flow depth, and an exponential decrease in bedload transport rate as erosion proceeded. A bedload transport model predicted total and fractional transport rates extremely well when the coarse-grained (or bedform trough) areas of the bed are used to define the sediment available to be transported. A sediment routing model, MIDAS, also reproduced the equilibrium and non-equilibrium flow conditions, total and fractional bedload transport rates and changes in bed topography and texture very well.  相似文献   

6.
《Geodinamica Acta》1999,12(1):1-10
The purpose of this study is to link the sediment transit and the flood plain storage of the Saône to hydromorphological characteristics of the hydrosystem, which exemplifies a new approach to sediment dynamics. The study of suspended sediment concentration in terms of temporal evolution, together with sediment deposition in terms of spatial variability, is a way to record the longitudinal evolution of the sediment load, which expresses the available energy gradient from upstream to downstream in hydrosystem. The Saône river is a 480-km-long Rhone tributary, with an oceanic pluvial regime, and an average yearly discharge of 440 m s−1 at Lyons. The watercourse is characterised by very gentle slopes controlled by the neotectonics of the Bresse trough and by Holocene fluvial dynamics. Sediments were sampled during the December 1993–January 1994 flood (2 375 m3 s−1) and the 1995 January–February flood (1 826 m3 s−1). A fine partition into homogeneous sectors, using stream power as well as shear stress, has been realized on a 400 km reach using longitudinal and cross-sections at one kilometre intervals. This partition, compared with the results of the field sampling, shows that the amount of energy is closely connected to the hydromorphological characteristics of the river.  相似文献   

7.
The Burdekin River is an example of a class of tropical streams which experience two to four orders of magnitude variation in discharge, in response to seasonal but erratic monsoonal rainfall. Floods of the Burdekin rise abruptly, reaching peak discharges of up to 40,000 m3 s-1 in less than 24 h; maintain peak flow for up to a few days, and recede exponentially. The geomorphology and deposits of these rivers reflect the extreme discharge fluctuations, and have not previously been described. A stretch of the upper Burdekin River comprising four bends and one straight reach was examined near the town of Charters Towers. The river bed is largely exposed for most of any year, with a small, misfit perennial channel carrying low stage flow. Major geomorphic elements of bends include point bars with ridge-and-swale topography, three distinct types of chute channels, avalanche slipfaces up to 5 m or more high around the downstream edges of bars, and on the outer part of one point bar an elevated, vegetated ridge. Straight reaches are flat or gently inclined, sand- and gravel-covered surfaces. Much of the river bed is covered by well sorted, in places gravelly, coarse to very coarse-grained sand with local accumulations of pebble to boulder gravel. Lower parts of the river bed are periodically draped by mud which is desiccated on exposure. Dunes and plane beds are the most commonly occurring bedforms, with local development of gravelly antidunes. Most bank tops and upper, vegetated bars are covered by silt and fine-grained sand. The river bed also hosts a low-diversity but locally high-abundance, flood-tolerant flora dominated by the paperbark tree Melaleuca argentea, which plays an important role in controlling the distribution of sediment. The gross geomorphology of the river bed and most of the sedimentary features are interpreted as having formed during major (bankfull or near bankfull) flows, which have a recurrence of about 18 years (based on 65 years hydrographic data). The initial rapid drop in discharge following flood peaks appears to preserve flood peak features on upper bars more or less intact, whereas lower areas are subjected to variable degrees of modification during falling stage and by more frequent, non-bankfull discharge events.  相似文献   

8.
Stability of landslide dams and development of knickpoints   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  
The Wenchuan earthquake triggered many landslides and numerous avalanches and created 100 odd quake lakes. The quake lakes may be removed or preserved. The removal strategy was applied to several large landslide dams, which were dangerous because massive amounts of water pooled up in the quake lakes. The dams could eventually fail under the action of dam outburst flooding, potentially endangering the lives of people in the downstream reaches. This paper studied the stability of landslide dams and the development of knickpoints by field investigations and experiments, and analyzing satellite images. The study concluded that if landslide dams were preserved, they would develop into knickpoints and act as a primary control of riverbed incision and, thus, reduce the potential of new landslide. The stability of landslide dams depends mainly on the development of the step-pool system and stream power of the flood flow. If a landslide dam consists of many boulders, a step-pool system may develop on the spillway channel of the dam, which would maximize the resistance, consume most of the flow energy and consequently protect the dam from incision. The development degree of the step-pool system is represented by a parameter S p, which was measured with a specially designed instrument. A preservation ratio of landslide dams is defined as the ratio of preserved height after flood scouring to the original height of the dam. For streams with peak flood discharge lower than 30 m3/s, the preservation ratio is linearly proportional to S p. For rivers with a peak flood discharge higher than 30 m3/s (30–30,000 m3/s), the minimum S p value for stable channel increases with log p, in which p is the unit stream power. For a landslide dam with a poorly developed step-pool system, S p is smaller than the minimum value and the outburst flood incises the spillway channel and causes failure of the dam. For preserved landslide dams, sediment deposits in the quake lakes. A landslide dam may develop into a knickpoint if it is stabilized by long-term action of the flow. Large knickpoints can totally change the fluvial processes and river morphology. Uplift of the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau has caused extensive channel bed incision along almost all rivers. For many rivers, the incision has been partly controlled by knickpoints. Upstream reaches of a knickpoint have a new and unchanging base level. This brings about a transition from degradation to aggradation and from vertical bed evolution to horizontal fluvial process. Multiple and unstable channels are prominent in the reaches, upstream of the knickpoints. If hundreds of landslide dams occurred simultaneously on a reach of a mountain river, the potential energy of bank failure and the slope erosion would be greatly reduced and sediment yield from the watershed may be reduced to nearly zero. The quake lakes may be preserved long term and become beautiful landscapes. Streams with long-term unfilled quake lakes have good aquatic ecology.  相似文献   

9.
《Sedimentology》2018,65(2):492-516
Pre‐vegetation fluvial channels have long been considered predominantly sheet‐like in geometry, owing to hydraulic sections that rapidly widened rather than incise during floods. This motif has been paralleled to that of modern dryland rivers subject to sharp discharge fluctuations during ephemeral floods. However, a number of Precambrian fluvial successions have been recently appraised as the product of deep‐channelled systems characterized by relatively stable – probably perennial – discharge regimes. One such example is the ca 1·0 Ga Applecross Formation, part of the well‐studied Torridon Group of Scotland. To contribute to this debate and to provide refined morphodynamic models for the Applecross Formation, this article presents an integration of three‐dimensional photogrammetry and outcrop sedimentology applied to key exposures at Stoer Peninsula, north‐western Scottish Highlands. Analysis of selected sandbodies reveals that high‐relief fluvial sand bars, both mid‐channel and bank‐attached, evolved within deep, braided‐channel belts. These bars grew through complex mechanisms of accretion and reactivation related to different flood stages: upstream and downstream accretion probably occurred during waning‐flood stages characterized by high hydrograph levels and abundant sediment availability; lateral accretion took place during later waning‐flood stages, and it was associated in some cases with helical recirculation and increase in bend sinuosity. Overall, the depicted morphodynamics are consistent with prolonged flood events that cannot be reconciled with sharply fluctuating discharge regimes. Critical comparisons between the internal geometry of the studied bars and modern counterparts corroborate the findings herein. Thus, this study recommends stricter comparisons between the products of modern braided channels and Precambrian fluvial rock records featuring thick and well‐developed bar forms.  相似文献   

10.
A prominent thrust‐moraine system formed in the inner van Mijenfjorden, Svalbard, during a surge event in a tributary fjord, creating a large temporary lake. Based on geomorphological, sedimentological, stratigraphical and chronological data, the lake began to form shortly after 648–551 cal. a BP. At its maximum, the lake covered an estimated area of 77 km2 with a water volume of 1.2 km3. Lake sediment up to 80 cm thick was rapidly deposited on top of terrestrial and marine sediments. At its maximum extent, the short‐lived lake was the largest of any known Holocene lake in Svalbard. Modern river discharge would fill the lake to its highest shoreline at 23 m a.s.l. in only one season. Drainage was stepwise, as evidenced by four shorelines and abandoned drainage channels. This study has taken advantage of a unique suite of data available for such an ice‐dammed lake. The results demonstrate the power of a multidisciplinary approach for recognizing lake events in the geological record, which is essential given the low preservation potential of such sediments.  相似文献   

11.
Daoming Xu 《GeoJournal》1988,17(4):569-580
A catastrophic outburst of a moraine dammed lake at the head of a tributary of Boqu river on the S-flank of the Tibetan Himalayas took place in 1981. The flood with a peak discharge of 15920 m3/s at the breach and 2316 m3/s at Bharabise, more than 50 km downstream, was 16 times larger than the average annual flood of the river, and caused a large scale sediment morement. Spreading over 50 km or more along Boqu river, the debris flow involved a total of about 4 mio. m3 of solid material. The debris flow valley may be divided into three sections according to erosion and deposition: the section of vertical erosion, the section of lateral erosion-flow passage, and the section of lateral erosion-deposition. Half of the total solid materials was derived from the vertical erosion in the first section and the other half from the lateral erosion in the latter two sections. This debris flow was a sediment-laminated movement under the conditions of an extraordinary flood. The moving layer of sediment may be estimated as being 4 to 10 m in thickness.Debris flow deposits with well developed morphologies are chiefly scattered along the last section of the debris flow valley. The most significant morphologies include the levee (a leteral deposit), the stone pile (a flow surge deposit) and the residual terrace (the residue of the flow). The sedimentology of these deposits is characteristicly coarse grain and of mixed composition with a lack of bedding and sorting, the presence of inverse grading, parallelism of long axes and imbrication. All these features imply an accordance with the grain flow concept developed by R. A. Bagnold in the mechanics of sediment movement.  相似文献   

12.
Interactions between catchment variables and sediment transport processes in rivers are complex, and sediment transport behaviour during high‐flow events is not well documented. This paper presents an investigation into sediment transport processes in a short‐duration, high‐discharge event in the Burdekin River, a large sand‐ and gravel‐bed river in the monsoon‐ and cyclone‐influenced, semi‐arid tropics of north Queensland. The Burdekin's discharge is highly variable and strongly seasonal, with a recorded maximum of 40 400 m3 s?1. Sediment was sampled systematically across an 800 m wide, 12 m deep and straight reach using Helley‐Smith bedload and US P‐61 suspended sediment samplers over 16 days of a 29‐day discharge event in February and March 2000 (peak 11 155 m3 s?1). About 3·7 × 106 tonnes of suspended sediment and 3 × 105 tonnes of bedload are estimated to have been transported past the sample site during the flow event. The sediment load was predominantly supply limited. Wash load included clay, silt and very fine sand. The concentration of suspended bed material (including very coarse sand) varied with bedload transport rate, discharge and height above the bed. Bedload transport rate and changes in channel shape were greatest several days after peak discharge. Comparison between these data and sparse published data from other events on this river shows that the control on sediment load varies between supply limited and hydraulically limited transport, and that antecedent weather is an important control on suspended sediment concentration. Neither the empirical relationships widely used to estimate suspended sediment concentrations and bedload (e.g. Ackers & White, 1973) nor observations of sediment transport characteristics in ephemeral streams (e.g. Reid & Frostick, 1987) are directly applicable to this river.  相似文献   

13.
The Alaknanda and Bhagirathi Rivers originate in the mountainous regions of the Himalayas (Garhwal) and result in high sediment yields causing flood hazards downstream of the Ganga River and high sediment flux to the Bay of Bengal. The rivers are perennial, since runoff in these rivers is controlled by both precipitation and glacial melt. In the present study, three locations in the upper reaches of the Ganga River were monitored for 1 yr (daily observations of, more than >1000 samples) for suspended sediment concentrations. In addition, more than one hundred samples were collected from various locations of the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi Rivers at different periods to observe spatial and temporal variations in river suspensions. Further, multi-annual data (up to 40 yrs) of water flow and sediment concentrations were used for inferring the variations in water flow and sediment loads on longer time scales. In most previous studies of Himalayan Rivers, there has been a general lack of long term water flow and sediment load data. In the present study, we carried out high frequency sampling, considered long term discharge data and based on these information, discussed the temporal and spatial variations in water discharge and sediment loads in the rivers in the Himalayan region. The results show that, >75% of annual sediment loads are transported during the monsoon season (June through September). The annual physical weathering rates in the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi River basins at Devprayag are estimated to be 863 tons km−2 yr−1 (3.25 mm yr−1) and 907 tons km−2 yr−1 (3.42 mm yr−1) respectively, which are far in excess of the global average of 156 tons km−2 yr−1 (0.58 mm yr−1).  相似文献   

14.
对长江芦家河浅滩段演变特性的新认识   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  
根据实测资料,分析了长江芦家河浅滩段退水过程中沙泓冲刷流量(Q=10000～25000m3/s)的持续时间与当年航道发生青黄不接现象之间的联系.在此基础上,利用计算资料,分析了三峡建库以后来水来沙过程的改变对沙泓冲淤演变的影响趋势.  相似文献   

15.
Barforms of mesotidal to macrotidal fluvial–tidal transitions, regardless of fluvial-discharge, are currently thought to display a sedimentary architecture dominated by tidal signatures. Due to the scarcity of observations from modern mesotidal fluvial–tidal transitions, especially those of multi-channelled large-rivers (mean annual discharge ≥7000 m3 s−1 and peak discharges ≥15 000 m3 s−1) with mid-channel bars, this concept remains unproven. The present study analyses data produced by a combination of high-resolution ground penetrating radar and coupled shallow vibracores (<5 m depth), collected from modern fluvial–tidal mid-channel bars of the mesotidal multi-channelled Lower Columbia River, Washington/Oregon, USA, which can experience peak discharges ≥18 000 m3 s−1. These data were used alongside time-sequenced aerial imagery to characterize the spatio-temporal sedimentological evolution of these barforms in singular flows or combined flows consisting of river, tidal and/or wind-wave oscillatory, current components operating in unique fluvial–tidal transition regimes. Results indicate that ca 75% of the Lower Columbia River fluvial–tidal transition produces braid-bars with basal to bar-top sedimentological architectures that are indistinguishable from fluvial-only braid-bars recorded in the literature. Barform stratal characteristics within the fluvial–tidal transitions of mesotidal large-rivers are therefore more likely to be dominated by downstream-oriented currents. Furthermore, a new style of low-angle (<5°) inclined heterolithic stratification found in bar-top accretion-sets within upper-mixed tidal–fluvial regime braid-bars is observed. This common stratification is created by combined-flows characterized by intrabasinal wind-wave oscillatory-currents and bidirectional tidal-currents. This inclined heterolithic stratification marks the initial downstream fluvial–tidal crossover point from Lower Columbia River up-dip fully-fluvial braid-bar architectures, to those possessing bar-top facies produced by the hydraulic-sedimentation response of combined intrabasinal wind-wave and tidal influence. When preserved, this form of mid-channel bar inclined heterolithic stratification provides a unique sedimentological signature of multi-channelled fluvial–tidal transitions that possess an open-water lower basin with intrabasinal wind-waves.  相似文献   

16.
The moraine dam of the Tam Pokhari glacial lake breached on 3 September 1998 and caused a catastrophic flood in the downstream areas. To learn from the event, a field survey was conducted. The survey team found that a landslide, which is considered to be responsible for the outburst flood, occurred in the northeast-facing slope of the moraine dam. The dam internal structure played a crucial role in forming a landslide that triggered the excess overflow and finally the breach of the dam. The internal structure of the dam was made of alternating layers of finer and coarser sediments inclining at 30° downstream and layers are truncated in the upslope direction by a huge pile of unconsolidated and structureless moraine materials. Since the upstream slope angle of the dam i.e., 40° is larger than the angle of repose i.e. 35° of sediments, the increased pore water pressure in the dam triggered a landslide. The rainfall and seismological activities of that particular day, which hit the record high, were crucial in triggering the failure. It is estimated that the dam’s north and northeast-facing slopes completely slid involving about 30,000 m3 of sediment mass of unconsolidated moraine materials above the shear plane. A slope stability analysis was also performed. The calculated safety factor was 0.85, and the calculated slip circle agreed with the shear plane marked in the dam. About 18 million cubic metres of water was swiftly released due to the sudden breach of the moraine dam.  相似文献   

17.
Form, function and feedbacks in a tidally dominated ooid shoal, Bahamas   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  
Although the general aspects of oolitic depositional systems are well documented, seascape‐scale (≈103–106 m2) patterns of oolitic shoals and the details of processes acting on them are not well understood or quantified. To begin to fill this basic gap in understanding, this paper describes the morphology and hydrodynamics of Lily Bank, a Modern tidally dominated Bahamian ooid shoal. In this study, integrating remote sensing imagery with quantitative, geo‐located bathymetrical, hydrological and granulometric data in a Geographic Information System documents geomorphic and sedimentological patterns and facilitates interpreting these patterns in the context of the processes operating in this system. The results of these analyses reveal that parabolic bars up to several kilometres in wavelength and several metres in height form a common morphologic motif, although there is considerable variation on that general theme. The seascape‐scale configuration of bars and superimposed sedimentary structures is closely linked to spatial patterns of tidal movements, and includes the presence of mutually evasive flood and ebb channels. Sedimentologically, bars are neither homogenous nor random bodies; instead, granulometric parameters such as sorting and percentage mud vary systematically, as shaped by hydro‐geomorphic controls. The best sorted, coarsest ooids are on bar crests, whereas the finest grains are found in the lower energy, deeper interior and flanking regions. In short, results clearly document hydrodynamic‐bathymetrical influences on these ooid shoals and their granulometry, linkages akin to siliciclastic analogues. Sedimentological, hydrodynamic and geomorphic observations are consistent with a conceptual model for the formation of parabolic bars in which initial irregularities in non‐parabolic bars are enhanced through their effect of focusing flow. Constricted flow leads to higher flow velocities, tidal flow velocity asymmetries, differential net sediment transport and growth of bathymetrical highs. This bathymetrical divergence creates separate paths for flood‐ and ebb‐tides, facilitating emergence of better‐developed parabolic forms. The resultant parabolic geometries and component bedforms appear to be either in dynamic equilibrium with both ebb‐ and flood‐tide flows, or evolving toward that state. In exploring patterns and processes within carbonate shoals, this study illustrates some of the first documented insights on quantitative details of morphology and dynamics and in the links between geomorphic framework and grain‐size and sorting in an oolitic carbonate system. Assuming a continuity of processes between ancient and modern, the insights from this shoal provide information on possible facies geometries and on the characteristics of grains and depositional porosity of analogous facies within ancient ooid shoals.  相似文献   

18.
The period in the Upper Mississippi Valley (UMV) from about 25 000 years B.P. until the time of strong human influence on the landscape beginning about 150–200 years ago can be characterized by three distinctly different alluvial episodes. The first episode is dominated by the direct and indirect effects of Late Wisconsin glacial ice in the basin headwaters. This period, which lasted until about 14 000 years B.P., was generally a time of progressive valley aggradation by a braided river system transporting large quantities of bedload sediment. An island braided system evolved during the second episode, which extended from about 14 000 to 9000 years B.P. The second episode is associated with major environmental changes of deglaciation when occurrences of major floods and sustained flows of low sediment concentration from drainage of proglacial lakes produced major downcutting. By the time of the beginning of the third episode about 9000 years B.P., most vegetation communities had established their approximate average Holocene locations. The change of climate and establishment of good vegetation cover caused upland landscapes of the UMV to become relatively stable during the Holocene in comparison to their relative instability during the Late Wisconsin. However, Holocene remobilization of Late Wisconsin age sediment stored in tributary valleys resulted in a return to long-term upper Mississippi River aggradation. The dominance of Holocene deposition over transportation reflects the abundance of sandy bedload sediment introduced from tributaries and the situation that energy conditions for floods and the hydraulic gradient of the upper Mississippi River are much less for the Holocene than they were for the Late Wisconsin and deglaciation periods.Outburst floods from glacial lakes appear to have been common in the UMV during the Late Wisconsin and especially during deglaciation. Magnitudes for the Late Wisconsin floods are generally poorly understood, but an estimate of 10 000–15 000 m3 s−1 was determined for one of the largest events in the northern UMV based on heights of paleo-foreset beds in a flood unit deposited in the Savanna Terrace. For comparison, the great flood of 1993 on the upper Mississippi River was about 12 000 m3 s−1 at Keokuk, Iowa, near the Des Moines River confluence where it represented the 500-year event in relation to modem flood series. Exceptionally large outburst floods derived from the rapid drainage of pro-glacial Lake Michigan and adjacent smaller proglacial lakes between about 16 000 and 15 500 years B.P. are a likely cause of the final diversion of the Mississippi River through the Bell City-Oran Gap at the upstream end of the Lower Mississippi Valley (LMV). The largest outburst flood from northern extremities of the UMV appears to have occurred between about 11700 and 10 800 years B.P. when the southern outlet of Lake Agassiz was incised. Based on the probable maximum capacity of the Agassiz flood channel 600 km downstream near the junction of the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers, the Agassiz flood discharge apparently did not exceed 30 000 m3 s−1. However, if the Agassiz flood channel here is expanded to include an incised component, then the flood discharge maximum could have been as large as 100,000 to 125 000 m3 s−1. The larger flood is presently viewed as unlikely, however, because field evidence suggests that the incised component of the cross-section probably developed after the main Agassiz flood event. Nevertheless, the large Agassiz flood between about 11 700 and 10 800 years B.P. produced major erosional downcutting and removal of Late Wisconsin sediment in the UMV. This flood also appears to be mainly responsible for the final diversion of the Mississippi River through Thebes Gap in extreme southwestern Illinois and the formation of the Charleston alluvial fan at the head of the LMV.After about 9000 years B.P. prairie-forest ecotones with associated steep seasonal climatic boundaries were established across the northern and southern regions of the UMV. The general presence of these steep climatically sensitive boundaries throughout the Holocene, in concert with the natural tendency for grasslands to be especially sensitive to climatic change, may partially explain why widespread synchroneity of Holocene alluvial episodes is recognized across the upper Mississippi River and Missouri River drainage systems. Comparison of estimated beginning ages of Holocene flood episodes and alluvial chronologies for upper Mississippi River and Missouri River systems with beginning ages for LMV meander belts and delta lobes shows a relatively strong correlation. At present, dating controls are not sufficiently adequate and confidence intervals associated with the identified ages representing system changes are too large to establish firm causal connections. Although the limitations of the existing data are numerous, the implicit causal connections suggested from existing information suggest that further exploration would be beneficial to improving the understanding of how upper valley hydrological and geomorphic events are influencing hydrological and geomorphic activity in the LMV. Since nearly 80% of the Mississippi River drainage system lies upstream of the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, there is a strong basis for supporting the idea that UMV fluvial activity should be having a strong influence on LMV fluvial activity. If this assertion is correct, then the traditional assignment of strong to dominant control by eustatic sea level variations for explaining channel avulsions, delta lobes, and meander belts in the LMV needs re-examination. A stronger role for upper valley fluvial activity as a factor influencing lower valley fluvial activity does not disregard the role of eustatic sea level, tectonic processes or other factors. Rather, upper valley fluvial episodes or specific events such as extreme floods may commonly serve as a “triggering mechanism” that causes a threshold of instability to be exceeded in a system that was poised for change due to sea level rise, tectonic uplift, or other environmental factors. In other situations, the upper valley fluvial activity may exert a more dominant control over many LMV fluvial processes and landforms as frequently was the case during times of glacial climatic conditions.  相似文献   

19.
Flow processes and sediment transport in a channel bend and associated point bar have been studied in modern rivers, theoretical models and physical experiments: however, the relationship between flow process and point‐bar morphology has rarely been explained due to the complex nature of open channel flow. Plan‐view exposures of an ancient point‐bar complex, exposed at the top of the Cretaceous Ferron Sandstone Member of the Mancos Shale Formation, south‐central Utah, allowed reconstruction of bar morphology, sediment transport and bed shear stress, which were used to extrapolate flow processes. Studies of these outcrops show that compound point bars and scroll bars were probably formed during falling and rising flood stages, respectively. A simulation model of plan‐view channel form shows that channel dimensions, such as radius of curvature and sinuosity of the point‐bar complex, range between 205 m and 351 m and 1·04 and 1·22, respectively, throughout the evolution of the channel bend. Variations in strength of the helical flow were interpreted as the main control on facies architecture and bar morphology. Strong helical flow was related to the deposition of the scroll bars, while strength of helical flow is decreased for compound bars. The use of cross‐beds as a common palaeocurrent indicator was found to be inconsistent with mean flow directions and channel margin orientation.  相似文献   

20.
The textural variability of river bed gravels at bar scales is poorly understood, as are the relations between variability at this scale and at reach and river scales. Surface and subsurface grain‐size distributions were therefore examined at reach, bar and bedform scales along lower Fraser River, British Columbia, Canada. Grain‐size variations within compound bars are conditioned by longitudinal position, elevation and morphological setting. Surface and subsurface sediments tend to decrease in median size from bar head to bar tail by 33% and 17%, respectively. Sediment size is constrained at some upper limit that is inversely related to bar surface elevation and which is consistent with competence considerations. The surface sediments on unit bars are finer and better sorted than the bed materials in bar‐top channels and along the main bar edges. Secondary unit bars tend to have a lower sand content than other features, a consequence of sediment resorting. Individual unit bars and gravel sheets exhibit streamwise grain‐size fining and lee‐side sand deposition. Over time, significant amounts of cut and fill do not ipso facto cause changes in surface grain sizes; yet, sediment characteristics can change without any significant morphological adjustment taking place. At the reach scale there is a clear downstream fining trend, but local variability is consistently high due to within‐bar variations. The surface median grain‐size range on individual bars is, on average, 25% of that along the entire 50 km reach but is 68% on one bar. While the overall fining trend yields a downstream change in surface median size of 0·76 mm km?1, the average value for ‘head‐to‐tail’ size reduction on individual bars is 6·3 mm km?1, an order of magnitude difference that highlights the effectiveness of bar‐scale sorting processes in gravel‐bed rivers. Possibilities for modelling bar‐scale variability and the interaction of the different controls that are identified are discussed.  相似文献   

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