Living landscapes: Muddy and vegetated floodplain effects on fluvial pattern in an incised river.

ABSTRACT: Cohesive floodplain sediment and vegetation are both thought to cause meandering river patterns. Our aims are to compare the isolated and combined effects of mud and vegetation on river planform and morphodynamics in the setting of intermediate-sized valley rivers. We use a numerical model for century-scale simulation of flow, sediment transport and morphology coupled with riparian vegetation settlement, growth and mortality as functions of species traits on which flow resistance depends. Mud fluxes were predicted by excess shear stress relations in combination with the active layer formulation. We found that valley-flooding water levels increase with vegetation density, causing a higher braiding intensity rather than meandering tendency. The shear stress during floods carves channels thro

SUBMITTER: Kleinhans MG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6282967 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature