Abstract
Abstract. The role of extreme events in shaping the Earth's surface is one that has held the interests of Earth scientists for centuries. A catastrophic flood in a tectonically quiescent setting in eastern Australia in 2011 provides valuable insight into how semi-alluvial channels respond to such events. Field survey data (3 reaches) and desktop analyses (10 reaches) with catchment areas ranging from 0.5 to 168 km2 show that the predicted discharge for the 2011 event ranged from 415 to 933 m3 s−1, with unit stream power estimates of up to 1077 W m−2. Estimated entrainment relationships predict the mobility of the entire grain-size population, and field data suggest the localised mobility of boulders up to 4.8 m in diameter. Analysis of repeat lidar data demonstrates that all reaches (field and desktop) were areas of net degradation via extensive scouring of coarse-grained alluvium with a strong positive relationship between catchment area and normalised erosion (R2 = 0.72–0.74). The extensive scouring in the 2011 flood decreased thalweg variance significantly removing previous step pools and other coarse-grained in-channel units, forming lengths of plane-bed (cobble) reach morphology. This was also accompanied by the exposure of planar bedrock surfaces, marginal bedrock straths and bedrock steps. Post-flood field data indicate a slight increase in thalweg variance as a result of the smaller 2013 flood rebuilding the alluvial overprint with pool-riffle formation. However, the current form and distribution of channel morphological units does not conform to previous classifications of bedrock or headwater river systems. This variation in post-flood form indicates that in semi-alluvial systems extreme events are significant for re-setting the morphology of in-channel units and for exposing the underlying lithology to ongoing erosion.
Highlights
1.1 Importance of bedrock channel morphology and processesBedrock or semi-alluvial channels received little attention in the literature for much of the 20th century due to the concentration of human interests in lowland alluvial valleys (Halwas and Church, 2002; Toone et al, 2014)
Peak discharge for the 2011 flood, based on flood scarring and estimated Manning’s n values equivalent to those used by Thompson and Croke (2013) in their catchmentwide modelling for the same event, yields discharge values ranging from 415 to 933 m3 s−1, shear stress values up to 388 N m−2 and cross-sectional averaged unit stream power of 1077 W m−2 (Table 2) for an event that was 6–8 m flow depth
We emphasise that the 2011 flood was an extreme event that initiated widespread loss of the alluvial cover and exposed bedrock steps that can be attacked by abrasion and plucking processes
Summary
1.1 Importance of bedrock channel morphology and processesBedrock or semi-alluvial channels (see Meshkova et al, 2012) received little attention in the literature for much of the 20th century due to the concentration of human interests in lowland alluvial valleys (Halwas and Church, 2002; Toone et al, 2014). The relatively recent recognition of steep headwater channels as critical habitats and sediment sources, as well as their role in landscape evolution, has encouraged research in recent decades, with a particular focus on process-based morphology (Montgomery and Buffington, 1997), the nature and rates of bedrock incision (Sklar and Dietrich, 1998; Tinkler and Wohl, 1998), and the numerical modelling of sediment transport and bedrock incision (see Turowski et al, 2007, 2009; Lague, 2010) This reach morphology is a function of variables such as geology, climate and landuse which drive the channel topography and sediment characteristics, river discharge and the character of riparian vegetation (Buffington et al, 2003)
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