Meandering Research Articles

Morphology, sedimentology and origin of an anomalous cut-off along the Pravara river, deccan trap region, India

River meanders have always been an intriguing subject in fluvial geomorphology because of their ubiquity, dynamism, remarkable forms and practical consequences of their movement. Sometimes a relatively straight channel flowing over bedrock may develop a lone meander bend cut-off which is very out of the place from the surrounding area. The occurrence of a sudden bend along a river may not be a meandering bend but may be manifestation of sudden change in the river dynamism due to many reasons, such as, lithology, change in rainfall regime, tectonics etc. The formation of such features highlights the behavior of river in the past. One such striking feature has been observed along the River Pravara in the Deccan Trap Region, Maharashtra, India. Rivers in Deccan Trap Region do not meander and form cut-offs by rule. It is rocky country where rivers flow in deeply incised bedrock. Hence, the observed feature displays a striking anomaly in this region. Hence, an attempt has been made in the present paper to evaluate the mode of formation of this single cut-off along this channel. Morphological and sedimentological data were generated and analyzed for the channel loop and the link channel to understand the competence of the river in the past and present which were directly or indirectly responsible for the development of this channel anomaly in this reach. Based on the results of the analysis and intensive field observations, it has been inferred that this is a classic example of natural morphological adjustment of a river when a set of events occurred, first retardation of vertical erosion encountering bedrock followed by series of floods to induce the channel to divert from the original path to resume the present course. Presence of a tributary further aided to the process of the loop development. The study can provide additional knowledge to the studies involving anomalous channel cut-offs at any part of the world.

Quantification of deep sound scattering layers using a moored upward-looking broadband split-beam echosounder

Distinct deep sound scattering layers are prevalent throughout the ocean mesopelagic zones (200–1000 m depths). These deep sound scattering layers are often characterized by daily vertical migration, in which many of the inhabitants of the ocean mesopelagic communities migrate to shallow waters during the night to feed, and descend during the day to avoid predators. And yet little is known about the impact of mesoscale physical oceanography, such as warm core rings or Gulf stream meanders, on the patterns of daily vertical migration or on the small-scale spatial distribution, or patchiness, of the deep sound scattering layers. To address these questions, an upward-looking broadband split-beam echosounder (36 kHz–44 kHz) has been moored at 580 m depth in the slope waters south of the New England shelf break in a location in which warm core rings are a prevalent feature. Data from a 3-day test deployment are analyzed in terms of target density, spectral characterization, patchiness and timing of the migrations. The calibrated broadband spectra of individual targets are used to determine the number of swimbladdered fish in the deep sound scattering layers. Meanwhile, two other methods, including echo-counting and echo-statistics, are also applied to give target density estimation.

A dynamic riparian forest structure model for predicting large wood inputs to meandering rivers

AbstractFluvial processes strongly influence riparian forests through rapid and predictable shifts in dominant species, tree density and size that occur in the decades following large floods. Modelling riparian forest characteristics based on the age and evolution of floodplains is useful in predicting ecosystem functions that depend on the size and density of trees, including large wood delivered to river channels, forest biomass and habitat quality. We developed a dynamic model of riparian forest structure that predicts changes in tree size and density using floodplain age derived from air photos and historical maps. Using field data and a riparian forest chronosequence for the 160‐km middle reach of the Sacramento River (California, USA), we fit Weibull diameter distributions with time‐varying parameters to the empirical data. Species were stratified into early and late successional groups, each with time‐varying functions of tree density and diameter distributions. From these, we modelled how the number and size of trees in a stand changed throughout forest succession, and evaluated the goodness‐of‐fit of model predictions.Model outputs for the early successional group, composed primarily of cottonwoods and willows, accounted for most of the stand basal area and large trees >10 cm DBH for the first 50 years. Post‐pioneer species with slower growth had initially low densities that increased slowly from the time of floodplain creation. Within the first 100 years, early successional trees contributed the most large wood that could influence fluvial processes, carbon storage, and instream habitat. We applied the model to evaluate the potential large wood inputs to the middle Sacramento River under a range of historical bank migration rates. Going forward, this modelling approach can be used to predict how riparian forest structure and other ecosystem benefits such as carbon sequestration and habitat quality respond to different river management and restoration actions.

A hydrography upscaling method for scale-invariant parametrization of distributed hydrological models

Abstract. Distributed hydrological models rely on hydrography data such as flow direction, river length, slope and width. For large-scale applications, many of these models still rely on a few flow direction datasets, which are often manually derived. We propose the Iterative Hydrography Upscaling (IHU) method to upscale high-resolution flow direction data to the typically coarser resolutions of distributed hydrological models. The IHU aims to preserve the upstream–downstream relationship of river structure, including basin boundaries, river meanders and confluences, in the D8 format, which is commonly used to describe river networks in models. Additionally, it derives representative sub-grid river length and slope parameters, which are required for resolution-independent model results. We derived the multi-resolution MERIT Hydro IHU dataset at resolutions of 30 arcsec (∼ 1 km), 5 arcmin (∼ 10 km) and 15 arcmin (∼ 30 km) by applying IHU to the recently published 3 arcsec MERIT Hydro data. Results indicate improved accuracy of IHU at all resolutions studied compared to other often-applied upscaling methods. Furthermore, we show that MERIT Hydro IHU minimizes the errors made in the timing and magnitude of simulated peak discharge throughout the Rhine basin compared to simulations at the native data resolutions. As the method is open source and fully automated, it can be applied to other high-resolution hydrography datasets to increase the accuracy and enhance the uptake of new datasets in distributed hydrological models in the future.

Soil-environmental relationships on the Brahmaputra and Ganges floodplains in Bangladesh

ABSTRACT The reconnaissance soil survey of Pakistan 1961–71 produced important new information on the environmental relationships of soils on the Brahmaputra and Ganges floodplains in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) which provided a sound basis for agricultural land use planning in the country. The greater part of the territory was found to have been formed in sediments deposited by tributary and distributary rivers, not by the two major rivers themselves. Piedmont, river meander, estuarine and tidal floodplain landscapes of different ages were recognised, with intricate relief and soil patterns with associated local differences in land use and crop suitability. In all except current active floodplain and piedmont fan areas, seasonal flooding was found to be mainly by rainwater ponded on the floodplains by high seasonal flood levels in the major rivers flowing into the country. Therefore, the country’s floodplains are not occupied, as is popularly believed, by sediments receiving annual increments of fertile alluvium; they are mainly occupied by soils developed to different degrees according to differences in sediment origin and landscape age, with profiles reflecting local differences in relief and drainage, and further changed by degradation through ferrolysis and by puddling of topsoils for rice cultivation.

Form and process based geomorphic classification and mapping of a meandering river using satellite remote sensing data

Form and process based geomorphic classification and mapping of a meandering river using satellite remote sensing data

Processes of neck cutoff and channel adjustment affected by seeding herbaceous vegetation and variable discharges

The goal of this study is to quantify morphodynamic roles of riparian vegetation and variable discharges in the process of neck cutoff, which is difficult to determine in natural meandering rivers due to the prolonged process and unpredictable occurrence of neck cutoffs. We achieved the goal in a highly sinuous flume channel (25 m × 6 m × 0.4 m) that has a mobile bed and includes seven bends with the narrowest neck of 0.22 m. Its banks and floodplain were covered by dense herbaceous vegetation (i.e., Festuca elata) seeded 10 days before each of three experiments that had different vegetation density and discharge arrangements. They are the first set of experiments of achieving neck cutoffs in a laboratory flume channel with vegetation. We examined temporal changes of the narrowest neck width and planform of the bend that had neck cutoff, measured temporal changes of the mean channel width and its final width/depth ratio, and tracked the temporal changes of their mean slopes and width/depth ratio. Our results revealed that (1) herbaceous vegetation can significantly extend the period of neck narrowing process such that neck cutoff may still take a long time even after neck width is about 0.4 of the mean channel width; (2) higher variable discharges only have limited impact on shortening this period; (3) neck cutoff is triggered by seepage flow that is incapable of generating sediment pulses and thus the morphological adjustment of the upstream and downstream reaches are mainly caused by changes of channel hydraulics rather than sediment deposition as in the case of chute cutoff. Our experiments show a new way of replicating neck cutoff in flume experiments and our findings provide new insight into understanding processes of neck cutoff in natural highly sinuous meandering rivers.

Impacts of meander migration on the Amazon riverine communities using Landsat time series and cloud computing

River meander migration is a process that maintains biodiverse riparian ecosystems by producing highly sinuous rivers, and oxbow lakes. However, although the floodplains support communities with fish and other practices in the region, meandering rivers can directly affect the life of local communities. For example, erosion of river banks promotes the loss of land on community shores, while sedimentation increases the distance from house to the river. Therefore, communities living along the Juruá River, one of the most sinuous rivers on Earth, are vulnerable to long-term meander migration. In this study, the river meander migration was detected by using Landsat 5-8 data from 1984 to 2020. A per-pixel Water Surface Change Detection Algorithm (WSCDA) was developed to classify regions subject to erosion and sedimentation processes by applying temporal regressions on the water index, called Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (mNDWI). The WSCDA classified the meander migration with omission and commission errors lower than 13.44% and 7.08%, respectively. Then, the number of riparian communities was mapped using high spatial resolution SPOT images. A total of 369 communities with no road access were identified, the majority of which living in stable regions (58.8%), followed by sedimentation (26.02%) and erosion (15.18%) areas. Furthermore, we identified that larger communities (>20 houses) tend to live in more stable locations (70%) compared to smaller communities (1–10 houses) with 55.6%. A theoretical model was proposed to illustrate the main impacts of meander migration on the communities, related to Inundation, Mobility Change, and Food Security. This is the first study exploring the relationship between meander migration and riverine communities at watershed-level, and the results support the identification of vulnerable communities to improve local planning and floodplain conservation.

Sedimentary facies analysis of the fluvial environment in the Siwalik Group of eastern Nepal: deciphering its relation to contemporary Himalayan tectonics, climate and sea-level change

The Siwalik Group, ranging from the Early Miocene to Pleistocene, is believed to be deposited in the fluvial environment and controlled by contemporary Himalayan tectonics and climate. In this study, we established the fluvial environment and its controlling factors responsible for the deposition of the Siwalik succession along the Muksar Khola section in the eastern Nepal Himalaya. Five sedimentary facies associations are identified; these are interpreted as the deposits of flood plain-dominated fine-grained meandering river (FA1), flood-dominated overbank environment (FA2), sandy meandering river (FA3), anastomosing river (FA4), and debris flow-dominated gravelly braided river (FA5). These changes in the fluvial system occurred around 10.5 Ma, 10.0 Ma, 5.9 Ma and 3.5 Ma, defined by existing magnetostratigraphy constraints, due to the effects of hinterland tectonics, climate and sea-level change and continuous drifting of the foreland basin towards the hinterland concerning depositional age. The thick succession of an intraformational conglomerate reveals intensification of the monsoon started around 10.5 Ma in the eastern Nepal Himalaya. The present study also shows asynchronous exhumation of the Himalaya from east to west brought a significant difference in the fluvial environment of the Neogene foreland basin.

Multiscale Modeling of Meandering Fluvial Reservoir Architecture Based on Multiple-Point Geostatistics: A Case Study of the Minghuazhen Formation, Yangerzhuang Oilfield, Bohai Bay Basin, China

Meandering river reservoirs are essential targets for hydrocarbon exploration, although their characterization can be complex due to their multiscale heterogeneity. Multipoint geostatistics (MPS) has advantages in establishing reservoir architectural models. Training image (TI) stationarity is the main factor limiting the uptake of MPS modeling algorithms in subsurface modeling. A modeling workflow was designed to reproduce the distribution of heterogeneities at different scales in the Miocene Minghuazhen Formation of the Yangerzhuang Oilfield in the Bohai Bay Basin. Two TIs are established for different scales of architecture. An initial unconditional model generated with a process-based simulation method is used as the megascale TI. The mesoscale TI of the lateral accretion layers is characterized by an uneven spatial distribution of mudstone in length, thickness, frequency, and spacing. Models of different scales are combined by the probability cube obtained by lateral accretion azimuthal data as an auxiliary variable. Moreover, the permeability function sets are more suitable than the porosity model for collaboratively simulating the permeability model. Model verification suggests this workflow can accurately realize the multiscale stochastic simulation of channels, point bars, and lateral accretion layers of meandering fluvial reservoirs. The produced model conforms geologically realistically and enables the prediction of interwell permeability variation to enhance oil recovery.

Spatial and Temporal Variability of the Gulf Stream Near Cape Hatteras

AbstractIn situ observations from a 19‐month deployment of current‐ and pressure‐sensor equipped inverted echo sounders (CPIESs) along and across the Gulf Stream near Cape Hatteras capture spatial and temporal variability where this western boundary current separates from the continental margin. Regional hydrographic casts and two temperature cross‐sections spanning the Gulf Stream southeast of Cape Hatteras are used with the CPIESs' records of acoustic travel time to infer changes in thermocline depthDTand Gulf Stream position. Wave‐like Gulf Stream meanders are observed where the Stream approaches the separation location with periods less than 15 days, wavelengths less than 500‐km, and phase speeds between 40 and 70 km d−1. Though meander amplitudes typically decrease by ∼30% on the final approach to Cape Hatteras, some signals are still coherent across the Gulf Stream separation location. Temporal variability in meander intensity may be related to the Loop Current ∼1,400 km upstream. Mesoscale variability is strongest downstream of the separation location where Gulf Stream position is no longer constrained by the steep continental slope. Low frequency transport changes in the Florida Straits are correlated with sea‐surface height gradients along the entire South Atlantic Bight (SAB) and withDTinferred at the CPIES sites. The correlations withDTare likely due to coherent transport anomalies in the Gulf Stream approaching the separation location, which then drive Gulf Stream position changes downstream of the separation location. The patterns of coherent transport anomalies may reflect large‐scale atmospheric forcing patterns or rapid equatorward propagation of barotropic signals along the SAB.

Population connectivity of the euphausiid, Stylocheiron elongatum, in the Gulf Stream (NW Atlantic Ocean) in relation to COI barcode diversity of Stylocheiron species

Abstract The euphausiid genus Stylocheiron includes species with biogeographical distributions spanning multiple ocean basins. Despite their circumglobal distributions, the species show low levels of genetic diversity and little or no evidence of population structure based on the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) barcode region, with the exception of a possible cryptic species within Stylocheiron affine. Stylocheiron elongatum showed < 1% variation of the COI barcode region among populations in different ocean basins, but analysis of samples collected from the Florida Current (February, 1993) and Gulf Stream Meander Region (April, 1993) in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean revealed small-but-significant genetic differentiation between samples based on a different section of COI and mitochondrial cytochrome b (CYB). Both COI and CYB showed large haplotype and small nucleotide diversities, departures from neutral expectations, and haplotype networks consistent with persistent genetic structuring of the species population. These patterns of diversity indicate the presence of selection driving population divergence. We hypothesize that position-keeping by this deep-living, non-migrating euphausiid species may prevent genetic homogenization (panmixia) in the dynamic Gulf Stream System. This study demonstrates the importance of analyzing patterns of genetic diversity and structure at regional and global scales to understand the ecological and evolutionary processes impacting marine zooplankton.

Depositional styles of deltaic systems from the inner shelf to shelf edge and their controlling processes: A case study from the Upper Oligocene to Lower Miocene in the Pearl River Mouth Basin

Late Oligocene to Early Miocene deltaic systems (the Zhuhai Formation) comprise the most important oil and gas reservoirs in the Pearl River Mouth Basin in the northern South China Sea and their changes in depositional architecture reflect the interplay of basin kinetic energy, sea level change and sediment supply. Based on the analysis of well log, seismic and core data, depositional styles of deltaic systems, sequence stratigraphy and their controlling factors are systematically documented. Three kinds of deltaic systems (braided river, meandering river and incised river deltas) are distinguished from the inner shelf, middle–outer shelf to shelf edge within a dynamic sequence framework. The braided river and braided river deltaic deposits along the inner shelf are mainly composed of vertically-stacked, thick-bedded channel sandstones and broad-lobate shaped delta front sandy deposits. The meandering river deltaic systems distributed in the middle–outer shelf are characterized by relatively thick delta front sandstones, interdistributary bay fills and prodelta mudstones with turbidite sheets in places. Incised river deltaic systems were generally developed at the shelf margin, with clinoform thickness ranging from 200 to 1200 m, and were commonly associated with large-scale slump and slope fan deposits. The temporal–spatial distribution of deltaic systems within the sequence framework shows a distinct pattern: the braided river delta system mainly developed in the early stage of highstand systems tracts; meandering river delta systems occurred in the middle–late stage of highstand systems tracts; and incised river delta systems generally formed in the falling stage systems tract. Depositional architectures of deltaic systems reveal that the basin kinetic condition varied from the inner shelf to shelf edge. Inner shelf braided river deltaic systems were dominated by fluvial processes, whereas middle–outer shelf meandering river delta and shelf edge incised river delta systems were reworked by waves and alongshore currents. The migration of deltaic systems across the entire wide shelf within the transgression–regression cycle is regarded as the result of high-amplitude sea level fluctuations under coolhouse or icehouse climatic condition. High progradation rates of shelf edge deltaic systems reflect enormous sediment supply resulting from the continuous uplift of the drainage area during the early post-rift period and the intense erosion triggered by glacial climate.

What Controls the Probability Distribution of Local Wave Activity in the Midlatitudes?

AbstractThis paper examines probability distributions of local wave activity (LWA), a measure of the jet stream's meander, and factors that control them. The observed column‐mean LWA distributions exhibit significant seasonal, interhemispheric, and regional variations but are always positively skewed in the extratropics, and their tail often involves disruptions of the jet stream. A previously derived one‐dimensional (1D) traffic flow model driven by observed spectra of transient eddy forcing qualitatively reproduces the shape of the observed LWA distribution. It is shown that the skewed distribution emerges from nonlinearity in the zonal advection of LWA even though the eddy forcing is symmetrically distributed. A slower jet and stronger transient and stationary eddy forcings, when introduced independently, all broaden the LWA distribution and increase the probability of spontaneous jet disruption. A quasigeostrophic two‐layer model also simulates skewed LWA distributions in the upper layer. However, in the two‐layer model both transient eddy forcing and the jet speed increase with an increasing shear (meridional temperature gradient), and their opposing influence leaves the frequency of jet disruptions insensitive to the vertical shear. When the model's nonlinearity in the zonal flux of potential vorticity is artificially suppressed, it hinders wave‐flow interaction and virtually eliminates reversal of the upper‐layer zonal wind. The study underscores the importance of nonlinearity in the zonal transmission of Rossby waves to the frequency of jet disruptions and associated weather anomalies.

Labrador Slope Water connects the subarctic with the Gulf Stream

Labrador Slope Water (LSLW) is a relatively fresh and cool water mass that originates from the Labrador Current in the subarctic and is known to occur in the Eastern Slope Sea on the US-Canadian shelf-slope north of the Gulf Stream. It has potential densities of 27.4–27.65 kg m−3. Using ocean observations, we show here that the LSLW penetrates as a boundary current deeply into the Western Slope Sea (west of 66°W) as a salinity minimum between 400 and 600 m, bringing it into close proximity with the Gulf Stream. The LSLW at Line W (near 69°W) also spreads across, and brings fresher and thicker waters to, the Slope Sea north of the Gulf Stream. A high-resolution ocean model simulation shows that the spreading of the LSLW occurs throughout the entire Slope Sea through the extrusion of fine-scale filaments from the boundary current following interaction with Gulf Stream meanders and eddies. At Line W, the LSLW is also found to be fresher and thicker between 2003 and 2008, when the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) at 26°N is higher (by 3 Sv), and the Shelf Slope Front is further south (by 0.7°), compared to AMOC low conditions in 2009–2014. The thicker LSLW causes lighter isopycnals to rise over the shelf slope, and through increasing the lateral density gradient contributes an additional 1.3 Sv to the Gulf Stream transport. These changes to the LSLW and the Shelf Slope Front are likely to result from an enhanced flow of the Labrador Current into the Slope Sea, caused by changes in the wind stress in the subpolar gyre. The transport of the LSLW (as opposed to the deeper Labrador Sea Water) thereby offers a potential new mechanism for decadal variability in the Atlantic climate system, through connecting changes in the subarctic with subsequent variability in the Gulf Stream and AMOC.

A genetic algorithm-based support vector machine to estimate the transverse mixing coefficient in streams

Abstract Transverse mixing coefficient (TMC) is known as one of the most effective parameters in the two-dimensional simulation of water pollution, and increasing the accuracy of estimating this coefficient will improve the modeling process. In the present study, genetic algorithm (GA)-based support vector machine (SVM) was used to estimate TMC in streams. There are three principal parameters in SVM which need to be adjusted during the estimating procedure. GA helps SVM and optimizes these three parameters automatically in the best way. The accuracy of the SVM and GA-SVM algorithms along with previous models were discussed in TMC estimation by using a wide range of hydraulic and geometrical data from field and laboratory experiments. According to statistical analysis, the performance of the mentioned models in both straight and meandering streams was more accurate than the regression-based models. Sensitivity analysis showed that the accuracy of the GA-SVM algorithm in TMC estimation significantly correlated with the number of input parameters. Eliminating the uncorrelated parameters and reducing the number of input parameters will reduce the complexity of the problem and improve the TMC estimation by GA-SVM.

Comparison of Quantitative Morphology of Layered and Arbitrary Patterns: Contrary to Visual Perception, Binary Arbitrary Patterns Are Layered from a Structural Point of View

Patterns found among both living systems, such as fish scales, bones, and tree rings, and non-living systems, such as terrestrial and extraterrestrial dunes, microstructures of alloys, and geological seismic profiles, are comprised of anisotropic layers of different thicknesses and lengths. These layered patterns form a record of internal and external factors that regulate pattern formation in their various systems, making it potentially possible to recognize events in the formation history of these systems. In our previous work, we developed an empirical model (EM) of anisotropic layered patterns using an N-partite graph, denoted as G(N), and a Boolean function to formalize the layer structure. The concept of isotropic and anisotropic layers was presented and described in terms of the G(N) and Boolean function. The central element of the present work is the justification that arbitrary binary patterns are made up of such layers. It has been shown that within the frame of the proposed model, it is the isotropic and anisotropic layers themselves that are the building blocks of binary layered and arbitrary patterns; pixels play no role. This is why the EM can be used to describe the morphological characteristics of such patterns. We present the parameters disorder of layer structure, disorder of layer size, and pattern complexity to describe the degree of deviation of the structure and size of an arbitrary anisotropic pattern being studied from the structure and size of a layered isotropic analog. Experiments with arbitrary patterns, such as regular geometric figures, convex and concave polygons, contour maps, the shape of island coastlines, river meanders, historic texts, and artistic drawings are presented to illustrate the spectrum of problems that it may be possible to solve by applying the EM. The differences and similarities between the proposed and existing morphological characteristics of patterns has been discussed, as well as the pros and cons of the suggested method.

Change in Transverse Slope of Water Surface at River Bend: A Numerical Study

Generation of secondary current in a meandering river flow due to the centrifugal force acting on the bend is three dimensional (3D) in nature. But in case of practical problems like alluvial geomorphic processes, 3D models are not proved to be efficient. Hence, two dimensional (2D) models are generally adopted for such problems. This study offers a presentation of numerical simulation results for turbulent flows around bends of a meandering channel for different meander angles. 2D models were built by the use of iRIC Nays2DH solver for flow simulation of 45˚, 90˚, 135˚, 180˚ meandering bends with varying widths of 0.15m, 0.25m, 0.75m, 1.00m, 1.25m and 1.50m considering constant Froude number with constant meandering length (ML/W) and constant radius of curvature (R/W). Zero equation model was used as turbulence closure with finite differential advections as upwind scheme. The flow behavior has been studied at the apex and cross over portions of bends. From the simulation, the velocity at outer bank was found to be lower than that of the inner bank while the water surface elevation was found to be higher than that of the inner bank. Increase in transverse slope of water surface at bend was observed for increasing meander angles, Froude numbers and decreasing channel widths.
 Journal of Engineering Science 12(2), 2021, 93-101

Implications of palaeosols in low net-to-gross fluvial architecture reconstruction: Reservoir analogues from Patagonia and Spain

The changes in the geometry, density and distribution of the fluvial reservoir sand-bodies have been modelled both in the laboratory and from outcrop analogues. On the other hand, fine-grained floodplain deposits, often called “background” sedimentation, have not been in the spotlight. However, they provide a very important database for fluvial architecture reconstruction and therefore constitute a key tool in characterizing, correlating and modelling heterogeneous fluvial reservoirs. The methodology used in this work combines classical sedimentological and palaeopedological data. Palaeosols were identified in outcrops of the Cretaceous of Patagonia and Triassic red beds of Spain based on the main pedofeatures such as colour, soil structures, mottles, nodules, clay illuviation cutans, slickensides and rhizoliths. Palaeosol horizons, thickness and types of contact were described. The palaeosols classification was made through the comparison with the Soil Taxonomy. For the characterization of lateral palaeosols variability, several palaeopedological logs were constructed following the same stratigraphic level at both margins of the main channels. Small-scale or high-frequency palaeosol variations, identified in both fluvial succession are represented by the lateral and vertical superimposition of Inceptisols/Entisols, Vertisols and hydromorphic Vertisols/swamp deposits. We recognized a decrease in the drainage conditions within the palaeosols catena moving away from the main channel bodies. The most waterlogged palaeosol is located at 200 to 300 m from the main channels. Lateral changes of palaeosols are interpreted as the result of intrinsic factors to the depositional systems, such as the relative position within the floodplain and the distance from the main channels, that condition the particle size of parent material, the sedimentation rate and the palaeotopographic position which state the drainage conditions of palaeosols. Vertical stacking of different palaeosols is linked to avulsion processes and the relatively abrupt change in the distance to main channels as the system aggraded. The study of these two environmentally similar examples (low-gradient meandering fluvial systems subjected to a high rate of aggradation), although located in different tectonic and chronostratigraphic contexts, shows that the type of fluvial system acted as the main control of sedimentary and pedogenic processes; as well as the scale at which they occur. Thus, when choosing an outcrop fluvial reservoir analogue, the type of fluvial system and climate should be more important than the age or the tectonic framework of the succession to be studied.

Sedimentary characteristics and evolution model of the late Permian in the periphery of the Bogda Mountain

The Upper Permian around Bogda Mountain develops favorable reservoir sand bodies which show good oil and gas display. Further study of the sedimentary characteristics and evolution models has guiding significance towards petroleum exploration. Through detailed obervation and measurement of the Permian in the typical profile of the periphery of Bogda Mountain, combined with the well drilling and logging data and the core data of the Chaiwobao depression, the strata characteristics, the sedimentary facies types and the distribution features of the studying area were carefully analysized, furtherly, the sedimentary evolution model of the Upper Permian was discussed. It was revealed that the Quanzijie Formation, the Wutonggou formation and the Guodikeng Formation were formed from the bottom up in the late Permian in the periphery of Bogda Mountain, which was a transgression sedimentary process. During the sedimentary period of Quanzijie Formation, the uplift amplitude of Bogda Mountain was relatively large. Alluvial fan and fan delta facies are mainly developed on the north and south sides of Bogda Mountain. During the sedimentary period of Wutonggou Formation, with the uplift amplitude of bogda mountain gradually decreased, the northern margin of bogda mountain was mainly deposited by braided river and meandering river, while the southern margin was still mainly deposited by alluvial fan. During the sedimentary period of Guodingkeng Formation, with the gradual shrinkage of Bogda Mountain, the northern margin of Bogda Mountain mainly developed the flood plain deposits of the meandering river, which reflected that the material supply capacity was weakened.