Connecting the backwater hydraulics of coastal rivers to fluvio-deltaic sedimentology and stratigraphy

Fluvial channels encounter a backwater reach when they approach a standing body of water, and recent studies have shown that the transition from normal flow to backwater-influenced flow is associated with sediment mass extraction through deposition. Here we test the hypothesis that systematic change...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geology (Boulder) 2016-12, Vol.44 (12), p.979-982, Article 979
Main Authors: Fernandes, Anjali M, Tornqvist, Torbjorn E, Straub, Kyle M, Mohrig, David
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
case studies
Cenozoic
channels
Coasts
deltaic sedimentation
deposition
Europe
flows
fluvial sedimentation
Geology
geomorphology
Holocene
Hydraulics
hydrodynamics
Hydrogeology
landform evolution
lithostratigraphy
Mississippi River
Mississippi Valley
Netherlands
Quaternary
Rhine River
Rivers
sedimentation
Sediments
Stratigraphy
United States
upper Holocene
Western Europe
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Summary:Fluvial channels encounter a backwater reach when they approach a standing body of water, and recent studies have shown that the transition from normal flow to backwater-influenced flow is associated with sediment mass extraction through deposition. Here we test the hypothesis that systematic changes in the geometry of channel-belt deposits and sedimentary architecture occur across this transition, using data from the late Holocene Mississippi (southern USA) and Rhine (The Netherlands) fluvio-deltaic systems. We use the estimated backwater length and average channel width as characteristic length scales to non-dimensionalize the downstream trends in channel-belt width for these systems. The collapsed data follow similar trends, suggesting that the observed variations in channel-belt geometry and fluvio-deltaic stratigraphy are tied to the location of the backwater transition zone. These findings suggest a unifying hydraulic control on fluvio-deltaic channel belts and provide a new framework for predicting and understanding the properties of ancient rivers in the coastal zone.
ISSN:0091-7613
1943-2682
DOI:10.1130/G37965.1