The trends in the main thalweg path of selected reaches of the Middle Vistula River, and their relationships to the geological structure of river channel zone

Abstract

Abstract Research carried out by the authors’ team in the valleys of many rivers in the Polish Lowlands has shown that the contemporary morphodynamics of channel zones is highly influenced by protrusions of erosion-resistant sub-alluvial bedrock. The article presents the results of analysis of two reaches of the Middle Vistula: near Solec nad Wisłą (km 330-340) and Gołąb (km 382-388), where such protrusions have been found. At each of them, two series of bathymetric measurements were carried out during medium and low water levels in the river channel. The measurements were made using hydrographic sets integrated with a GNSS receiver. The first series of measurements was carried out in July 2004, and the second one in September 2016. In parallel with the bathymetric surveys, low-altitude aerial photographs were taken in 2016 to document the morphology of the channel zone and the condition of the river engineering structures. A comparison of the obtained bathymetric maps shows a high correspondence between the thalweg line from 2004 and that observed twelve years later. This phenomenon proves the significance of the bedrock relief beneath the modern alluvial deposits for the water flow process in the channel. The relief causes the flow to concentrate in specific zones so strongly that it contributes to the damage of river engineering structures that put limits on the channel processes. This trend of concentrating the main thalweg is also accompanied by the diversity of depositional environments of river channel facies, identified along the studied reaches.