Progress in Understanding Fluvial Processes

Abstract

Our understanding of fluvial processes has been improved by recent research on controls in non-alluvial channels and on detailed field studies of fluvial mechanics. Non-alluvial controls on stream-channel morphology include such features as woody debris, bedrock outcrops, and immobile sediments. These features of stream channels, along with discharge and sediment characteristics, are independent variables in stream systems. Non-alluvial features influence channel morphology by fixing the position of pools and affecting slope, resistance, and sediment transport. In the past decade, geomorphologists, engineers, and sedimentologists have been conducting detailed field studies of fluvial processes, particularly sediment transport and deposition. These studies demonstrate the complexity of fluvial processes and provide new ideas on the mechanics of gravel-pavement formation, point-bar formation, the maintenance of riffle-pool sequences, and other processes. This exciting research trend should prove to be even ...