Hydrogeomorphological approach for flood analyses at high- detailed scale: Narrow rivers with broad complex alluvial plains

Abstract

Fluvial flood risk management requires precise knowledge of flooding processes; thus, there is a need to carry out a detailed hydrological, hydraulic, and geomorphologic analysis to understand floods and the factors that influence them. Although the integration of geomorphological methods and hydrological-hydraulic modelling is known to be crucial for flood risk analysis, it remains a challenge to apply these approaches to the understanding of floods in small and medium-sized catchments, focusing on complex fluvial systems that have been highly modified. In this work, a hydrogeomorphological methodology was developed to analyse fluvial floods in narrow rivers with broad complex alluvial plains. The procedure comprises different phases that combine hydrologic-hydraulic modelling and a geomorphological break-down. Critically, this allows for a detailed analysis of existing relationships among erosional and depositional fluvial landforms and hydraulic parameters, comprising geometric sections, discharges, depths, flood extents and, therefore, flood hazards. The approach involves the analysis of specific flood events beforehand and the study of fluvial floods associated with different probabilities of occurrence afterwards. The information employed in the present study incorporates high- detailed inputs comprising hourly time series of hydrometeorological data, LiDAR data to extract high-precision terrain information, fluvial geomorphic maps and flood event extents based on Sentinel-2 imagery. We demonstrate this methodology in the Carrión River, located in the province of Palencia, Spain, whose characteristics include a wide complex alluvial plain, reaches highly modified by anthropic interventions and recurrent flood episodes. This hydrogeomorphological approach allowed the integration of geomorphological knowledge and hydrologic-hydraulic modelling in flood analysis. As a result, it led to a deeper comprehension of the processes of inundation, which would be challenging to thoroughly understand without incorporating a holistic method, an essential factor for defining effective flood management strategies.