Influence of inclination and permeability of solitary woody riparian plants on local hydraulic and sedimentary processes

Abstract

The role of solitary woody riparian plants with respect to local erosion and deposition of sediments is investigated. A focus is laid on the characteristics ‘inclination’ and ‘permeability’ of the plant's projected frontal area. Therefore, two experimental studies using cylindrical obstacles were carried out in a laboratory flume, one aiming at inclination, the other at permeability. The first series revealed that the total amount of mobilized sediment around the cylinder on average decreased by 8–10% per 5° increasing inclination in streamwise direction. Locations of maximum scour depth simultaneously shifted downstream. A horseshoe vortex system, causing the frontal and lateral scouring, ceased to exist below inclinations of 25–30°. The second series revealed that with increasing permeability, frontal scour incision is delayed, and the eroded sediment volume is significantly reduced. With permeable obstacles, two system states were observed: first, frontal scouring with leeside deposition at higher flow velocities and, second, moderate leeside scouring at lower flow velocities. For up-scaling and comparison, a field study focussing on fluvial obstacle marks at poplars and willows in secondary channels of the River Loire was additionally conducted. A modified analytical model enabled us to quantify the amount of deposited sediments leeside of the plants. Leeside sediment ridges are significantly stabilized and have a higher preservation potential when covered by pioneer vegetation. Under such conditions, they may indeed induce the development of stable islands. Eventually, ‘sediment ridge width’ turned out to be a suitable indicator for leeside deposited sediment volume, irrespective of spatial scale. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.