Anabranching in mixed bedrock-alluvial rivers: the example of the Orange River above Augrabies Falls, Northern Cape Province, South Africa     

S. Tooth  T. S. McCarthy 《Geomorphology》2004,57(3-4):235-262

Anabranching is characteristic of a number of rivers in diverse environmental settings worldwide, but has only infrequently been described from bedrock-influenced rivers. A prime example of a mixed bedrock-alluvial anabranching river is provided by a 150-km long reach of the Orange River above Augrabies Falls, Northern Cape Province, South Africa. Here, the perennial Orange flows through arid terrain consisting mainly of Precambrian granites and gneisses, and the river has preferentially eroded bedrock joints, fractures and foliations to form multiple channels which divide around numerous, large (up to 15 km long and 2 km wide), stable islands formed of alluvium and/or bedrock. Significant local variations in channel-bed gradient occur along the river, which strongly control anabranching style through an influence on local sediment budgets. In relatively long (>10 km), lower gradient reaches (<0.0013) within the anabranching reach, sediment supply exceeds local transport capacity, bedrock usually only crops out in channel beds, and channels divide around alluvial islands which are formed by accretion in the lee of bedrock outcrop or at the junction with ephemeral tributaries. Riparian vegetation probably plays a key role in the survival and growth of these islands by increasing flow roughness, inducing deposition, and stabilising the sediments. Less commonly, channels may form by eroding into once-continuous island or floodplain surfaces. In shorter (<10 km), higher gradient reaches (>0.0013) within the anabranching reach, local transport capacity exceeds sediment supply, bedrock crops out extensively, and channels flow over an irregular bedrock pavement or divide around rocky islands. Channel incision into bedrock probably occurs mainly by abrasion, with the general absence of boulder bedforms suggesting that hydraulic plucking is relatively unimportant in this setting. Mixed bedrock-alluvial anabranching also occurs in a number of other rivers worldwide, and appears to be a stable and often long-lived river pattern adjusted to a number of factors commonly acting in combination: (1) jointed/fractured granitoid rock outcrop; (2) erosion-resistant banks and islands; (3) locally variable channel-bed gradients; (4) variable flow regimes.  相似文献   

Effects of peat on the shapes of alluvial channels: examples from the Cumberland Marshes, Saskatchewan, Canada     

Norman D. Smith  Marta Prez-Arlucea 《Geomorphology》2004,61(3-4):323-335

An avulsion of the lower Saskatchewan River in the 1870s inundated a large segment of peat-covered floodplain that subsequently has become aggraded with a broad (500 km²) belt of alluvium deposited by the redirected flow. Routing of water and sediment discharge through the avulsion-affected area has been accomplished mainly by networks of sandy bedded anastomosed channels that have formed, evolved, and abandoned as the alluvial belt prograded down the floodplain slope. These processes continue today, though at a much-reduced rate. New channels, formed by crevassing and basinward extension of distributaries, are initially small and shallow, with bottom elevations situated within the avulsive alluvium but above the pre-avulsion peat (floodplain) surface. Subsequent enlargement and downcutting of many of these channels eventually uncovers the underlying peat layer whose resistance to erosion exerts significant influence on cross-sectional shape and further channel development. Peat-floored channels tend to have rectangular cross-sections, high ratios of average to maximum depth (D/D_max), and a large range of width-to-depth ratios. If the channel continues to enlarge, the peat layer eventually becomes breached, commonly leading to temporarily irregular cross-sections caused by localized scouring at the breach sites. Eventually, the peat layer is completely eroded from the channel floor by undercutting and slumping, after which channel shape becomes governed mainly by other perimeter characteristics. Channels unaffected by peat, either before the peat layer is encountered during early channel development or after it is entirely removed, tend to have low width/depth ratios and a large range of D/D_max values.  相似文献   

基于GIS技术的莱州湾东岸河流分形研究   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

孙祝友  杜国云  李德一  杨华  刘俊菊 《测绘科学》2007,32(3):120-121

应用地理信息系统(GIS)技术提取了莱州湾东岸河流信息,在此基础上运用计盒方法对莱州湾东岸的黄水河和王河水系进行了分形分析,获得了两水系的主河道河长分维数和河网分维数,并以此探讨了分维数与流域地貌和地质构造之间的相互关系。分形分析为研究区流域地貌学与水文学研究提供了一种新的研究途经。  相似文献   

Characteristics and origins of middle Miocene mounds and channels in the northern South China Sea     

Yufeng Li  Gongcheng Zhang  Renhai Pu  Hongjun Qu  Huailei Shen  Xueqin Zhao 《海洋学报(英文版)》2021,40(2):65-80

Numerous elongated mounds and channels were found at the top of the middle Miocene strata using 2D/3D seismic data in the Liwan Sag of Zhujiang River Mouth Basin(ZRMB) and the Beijiao Sag of Qiongdongnan Basin(QDNB). They occur at intervals and are rarely revealed by drilling wells in the deepwater areas. Origins of the mounds and channels are controversial and poorly understood. Based on an integrated analysis of the seismic attribute, palaeotectonics and palaeogeography, and drilling well encountering a mound, research results show that these mounds are dominantly distributed on the depression centres and/or slopes of the Liwan and Beijiao sags and developed in a bathyal sedimentary environment. In the Liwan and Beijiao sags, the mounds between channels(sub) parallel to one another are 1.0–1.5 km and 1.5–2.0 km wide, 150–300 m and 150–200 m high, and extend straightly from west to east for 5–15 km and 8–20 km, respectively. Mounds and channels in the Liwan Sag are parallel with the regional slope. Mounds and channels in the Beijiao Sag, however, are at a small angle to the regional slope. According to internal geometry, texture and external morphology of mounds, the mounds in Beijiao Sag are divided into weak amplitude parallel reflections(mound type I), blank or chaotic reflections(mound type II), and internal mounded reflections(mound type Ⅲ). The mounds in Liwan Sag, however, have the sole type, i.e., mound type I. Mound type I originates from the incision of bottom currents and/or gravity flows. Mound type II results from gravity-driven sediments such as turbidite. Mound type Ⅲ is a result of deposition and incision of bottom currents simultaneously. The channels with high amplitude between mounds in the Beijiao and Liwan sags are a result of gravity-flow sediments and it is suggested they are filled by sandstone.Whereas channels with low-mediate amplitudes are filled by bottom-current sediments only in the Beijiao Sag,where they are dominantly composed of mudstone. This study provides new insights into the origins of the mounds and channels worldwide.  相似文献   

Buried paleo-channels on the New Jersey continental margin: channel porosity structures from electromagnetic surveying     

Rob L. Evans  L. K. Law  B. St. Louis  S. Cheesman 《Marine Geology》2000,170(3-4):381-394

We report on a marine electromagnetic (EM) survey across two portions of the New Jersey continental margin that have been previously shown to contain buried paleo-channels. The EM method used provides bulk porosity estimates to depths of around 20 m below the seafloor and is thus able to place porosity constraints on the nature of the channel infill and the contrast in physical properties across the channel boundaries. Our data show that a key condition for the channels to have an electrical signature is that they incise an underlying regional unconformity, R, thought to represent a subaerially eroded surface, exposed during the late Wisconsinan glaciation. Channels that cut R are seen through increases in apparent porosity. Another seismically imaged channel sequence, which lies within the outer-shelf sediment wedge sequence above R, does not have an electrical signature, indicating that the sediments above and below the channel boundaries have similar physical properties.  相似文献   

基于SPOT遥感影像的九段沙潮沟信息提取及分维研究   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

郭永飞  韩震 《海洋与湖沼》2013,44(6):1436-1441

以长江口九段沙为研究区, 应用灰度形态学提取了九段沙湿地的潮沟信息, 并对提取出的潮沟信息分区域采用网格法进行了分维研究, 得出了九段沙不同区域潮沟的分维值, 并对分维值进行了比较与分析。比较发现, 九段沙不同区域的分维值, 上沙最大, 下沙次之, 中沙最小。而在不同区域的不同岸段中, 处于上沙北部沿岸的潮沟分维值大于上沙其它地区; 处于中沙、下沙西北-东南沿岸的潮沟分维值分别大于中沙、下沙的其它地区。这主要与它们所处地理位置水动力条件不同有关。另外也计算了九段沙南岸与北岸的分维值, 发现南岸的分维值要大于北岸, 这与其发育时间、水动力条件和长江口深水航道工程等有一定联系。  相似文献   

Dunite channels within a harzburgite layer from the Horoman peridotite complex,Japan: Possible pathway for magmas     

Masako Yoshikawa  Kiyoaki Niida  David H. Green 《Island Arc》2019,28(1)

Two discordant dunite channels in a polished slab were collected from a harzburgite layer in the Horoman orogenic lherzolite massif, Hokkaido, Japan. The dunite channels show extreme grain‐size variations, and include very large olivine megacrysts up to 1.6 m long. Spinel‐rich pyroxenite veins or veinlets occasionally cross‐cut the olivine megacrysts. Mineral compositions differ between channels, and the mineral compositions and textures of the dunite channels and the host harzburgite suggest a replacive origin for the dunites. The Sr and Nd isotopic ratios of clinopyroxene separates from the pyroxenite veins in two dunite channels are different, but these ratios are generally similar to those of mid‐ocean ridge basalts. Assuming the channels formed by the through‐flow of melts, then the trace element compositions of the melts estimated from the clinopyroxenes are broadly similar. The melts have similar features such as enriched in incompatible elements and depleted in heavy rare earth elements, but there are differences in the depletions in Ti and Ba, indicating melts that were different but of similar origins. A Rb–Sr crystallization age (~ 52 Ma) was obtained for clinopyroxene–orthopyroxene pairs in a dunite channel and its host harzburgite. The distinctive dunite channels with megacrysts formed as a result of the through‐flow of mafic magma(s), and those magmas had trace and minor element contents that are indicative of contributions of a melt derived from subducted oceanic lithosphere.  相似文献   

Biomorphological scaling laws from convectively accelerated streams     

Giulio Calvani  Paolo Perona  Coralie Schick  Luca Solari 《地球表面变化过程与地形》2020,45(3):723-735

Worldwide convectively accelerated streams flowing in downstream-narrowing river sections show that riverbed vegetation growing on alluvial sediment bars gradually disappears, forming a front beyond which vegetation is absent. We revise a recently proposed analytical model able to predict the expected longitudinal position of the vegetation front. The model was developed considering the steady state approximation of 1-D ecomorphodynamics equations. While the model was tested against flume experiments, its extension and application to the field is not trivial as it requires the definition of proper scaling laws governing the observed phenomenon. In this work, we present a procedure to calculate vegetation parameters and flow magnitude governing the equilibrium at the reach scale between hydromorphological and biological components in rivers with converging boundaries. We collected from worldwide rivers data of section topography, hydrogeomorphological and riparian vegetation characteristics to perform a statistical analysis aimed to validate the proposed procedure. Results are presented in the form of scaling laws correlating biological parameters of growth and decay from different vegetation species to flood return period and duration, respectively. Such relationships demonstrate the existence of underlying selective processes determining the riparian vegetation both in terms of species and cover. We interpret the selection of vegetation species from ecomorphodynamic processes occurring in convectively accelerated streams as the orchestrated dynamic action of flow, sediment and vegetation characteristics. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

琼东南盆地北礁凹陷梅山组单向迁移水道特征及成因探讨   总被引：2，自引：1，他引：1  

李俞锋 《海洋学报》2019,41(1):72-86

深水区重力流与底流交互作用的过程、响应及动力学机制是海洋沉积学研究的前沿和薄弱环节。本文通过三维地震资料，在深水区北礁凹陷南西部梅山组发现多条相间分布的长条形顺直强振幅水道，垂直于西沙隆起（南部隆起）北斜坡走向，向南西方向单向迁移，水道具有南西陡（凹岸或陡岸）北东缓（凸岸或缓岸）的特征，该类水道分为侵蚀界面和水道砂-堤岸泥过渡复合体系两个单元，侵蚀界面在凹岸的削截反射明显多于凸岸，水道砂-堤岸泥过渡复合体振幅强度由凹岸强振幅逐渐过渡为凸岸弱振幅。分析认为，该类水道发育于中中新世半深海环境，不同于向底流下游方向单向迁移的峡谷，它们向底流上游方向发生单向迁移，并提出其成因模式:前期来自南部的浊流下切形成负向地貌单元（水道），底流对这一地貌单元进行改造，形成迎流面缓（凸岸）背流面陡（凹岸）的地貌，同时驱使浊流上部顺底流方向偏移，形成溢岸浊流沉积，致凹岸沉积速率低，凸岸沉积速率高，这样就迫使水道逆底流方向偏移。沉积物源、中层水相关底流、古气候和海平面的变化、北礁凸起古地形控制是该区单向迁移强振幅水道发育的因素。本研究在南海首次发现这种向底流上游方向单向迁移的水道，是底流与重力流交互作用的新型类型，对古海洋、古气候研究，深水油气勘探有着重要的意义，希望引起地质学家的重视。  相似文献   

Variability of stream extents controlled by flow regime and network hydraulic scaling     

Dana A. Lapides  Christine D. Leclerc  Hana Moidu  David N. Dralle  W. Jesse Hahm 《水文研究》2021,35(3):e14079

Stream networks expand and contract through time, impacting chemical export, aquatic habitat, and water quality. Although recent advances improve prediction of the extent of the wetted channel network (L ) based on discharge at the catchment outlet (Q ), controls on the temporal variability of L remain poorly understood and unquantified. Here we develop a quantitative, conceptual framework to explore how flow regime and stream network hydraulic scaling factors co-determine the relative temporal variability in L (denoted here as the total wetted channel drainage density). Network hydraulic scaling determines how much L changes for a change in Q , while the flow regime describes how Q changes in time. We compiled datasets of co-located dynamic stream extent mapping and discharge to analyze all globally available empirical data using the presented framework. We found that although variability in L is universally damped relative to variability in Q (i.e., streamflow is relatively more variable in time than network extent), the relationship is elastic, meaning that for a given increase in the variability in Q , headwater catchments will experience greater-than-proportional increases in the variability of L . Thus, under anticipated climatic shifts towards more volatile precipitation, relative variability in headwater stream network extents can be expected to increase even more than the relative variability of discharge itself. Comparison between network extents inferred from the L -Q relationship and blue lines on USGS topographic maps shows widespread underestimation of the wetted channel network by the blue line network.  相似文献