Lateglacial river sediment budgets in the Mass valley,The Netherlands |
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| Authors: | Margriet Huisink |
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| Abstract: | Three Weichselian Lateglacial (13-10 ka) terraces have been distinguished in the Maas valley which were formed when the Maas repeatedly incised in an increasingly narrow floodplain. The River Maas changed from a braided system (before c. 12·5 ka) via a transitional phase to a high-sinuosity meandering river (c. 12·5-11 ka), to a braided system (c. 11-10 ka) again and finally to a low-sinuosity meandering river (after 10 ka). These fluvial style changes involved phases of erosion and deposition. The amounts of eroded, deposited and reworked sediment during each Lateglacial period are calculated in this paper. The sediment budgets allow comparison of the transport capacity of the different river styles, which will help to explain the observed fluvial changes. Borehole information regarding the thickness of terrace sediments and lateral extensions of the Lateglacial terrace surfaces were combined in a three-dimensional approach, using a geographical information system. Multiple regression analyses were used in calculating altitudes of entire terrace surfaces from individual altitude measurements. It will be shown that the fluvial development of the Maas can be explained not only by climate-related external factors such as sediment-discharge ratios and discharge characteristics, but possibly also by intrinsic factors such as floodplain dimensions and the channel morphology of previous periods. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
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| Keywords: | Weichselian sediment budgets GIS fluvial style changes climate change |
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