Processes and forms of an unstable alluvial system with resistant, cohesive streambeds

Abstract

AbstractAs a response to channelization projects undertaken near the turn of the 20th century and in the late 1960s, upstream reaches and tributaries of the Yalobusha River, Mississippi, USA, have been rejuvenated by upstream‐migrating knickpoints. Sediment and woody vegetation delivered to the channels by mass failure of streambanks has been transported downstream to form a large sediment/debris plug where the downstream end of the channelized reach joins an unmodified sinuous reach. Classification within a model of channel evolution and analysis of thalweg elevations and channel slopes indicates that downstream reaches have equilibrated but that upstream reaches are actively degrading.The beds of degrading reaches are characterized by firm, cohesive clays of two formations of Palaeocene age. The erodibility of these clay beds was determined with a jet‐test device and related to critical shear stresses and erosion rates. Repeated surveys indicated that knickpoint migration rates in these clays varied from 0·7 to 12 m a−1, and that these rates and migration processes are highly dependent upon the bed substrate. Resistant clay beds of the Porters Creek Clay formation have restricted advancement of knickpoints in certain reaches and have caused a shift in channel adjustment processes towards bank failures and channel widening. Channel bank material accounts for at least 85 per cent of the material derived from the channel boundaries of the Yalobusha River system.Strategies to reduce downstream flooding problems while preventing upstream erosion and land loss are being contemplated by action agencies. One such proposal involves removal of the sediment/debris plug. Bank stability analyses that account for pore‐water and confining pressures have been conducted for a range of hydrologic conditions to aid in predicting future channel response. If the sediment/debris plug is removed to improve downstream drainage, care should be taken to provide sufficient time for drainage of groundwater from the channel banks so as not to induce accelerated bank failures. Published in 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.