Where will widening occur in an outwash braidplain? A new approach to detecting controls on fluvial lateral erosion in a glacierized catchment (north‐western Spitsbergen, Svalbard)

Abstract

AbstractThe dynamics of fluvial system evolution depend on fluvial processes and their driving forces associated with climatic variations, which affect changes in the morphology of river channels and floodplains. Neither channel slope and morphology, nor the properties of fluvial sediment have previously been considered as determinants of active braidplain widening on outwash plains (formed from valley/alpine glaciers and confined by pre‐existing topography) in the High Arctic region and in the forefields of retreating glaciers. Factors determining widening of braidplain activity of the Waldemar River outwash (north‐western Spitsbergen, Svalbard) were analysed on the basis of geomorphological, sedimentological, glaciological and meteorological research, and indicate significant multiple correlations between meltwater discharge, precipitation, braidplain width, morphology of the braided channel and the textural features of braidplain deposits. The capability of multivariate adaptive regression splines to detect these relationships was described, and threshold values were identified. The results indicate that the rate of active braidplain widening is proportional to the meltwater outflow in proglacial rivers, which can decrease despite a growing rate of glacial ablation. A proposed model enables us to predict zones of braidplain prone to widening activity in the High Arctic (humid) outwash fans and plains as well as fans developed in arid intermountain basins. The necessary conditions to activate braidplain widening processes were (1) spatial changes in the outwash feeding system due to glacier terminus retreat and (2) crossing the thresholds in passive factors (S and d50) controlling lateral erosion intensity. As a result, the braidplain reached a new dynamic equilibrium, in which high‐magnitude–low‐frequency extreme meltwater discharges were of particular importance in terms of braidplain dynamics and are the dominant controls on the pattern of distributary channels.