An investigation of controlling variables of riverbank erosion in sub-tropical Australia

A large proportion of the uncertainty surrounding catchment sediment budget modelling has been attributed to sediment supplied from riverbank erosion. Some of the variables influencing riverbank erosion are bend curvature, specific streampower, riparian vegetation, and in some instances sand and gra...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental modelling & software : with environment data news 2017-11, Vol.97, p.1-15
Main Authors: McMahon, Joseph M., Olley, Jon M., Brooks, Andrew P., Smart, James C.R., Rose, Calvin W., Curwen, Graeme, Spencer, John, Stewart-Koster, Ben
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Coupled human and natural systems
Curvature
Erosion
Erosion control
Fluvial sediments
Gravel
Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)
Mathematical models
Riparian ecology
Riparian environments
Riparian vegetation
River banks
Riverbank erosion
Rivers
Sand
Sand & gravel
Sediment budget
Sediment mining
Sediments
Substrates
Subtropics
Uncertainty
Vegetation
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A large proportion of the uncertainty surrounding catchment sediment budget modelling has been attributed to sediment supplied from riverbank erosion. Some of the variables influencing riverbank erosion are bend curvature, specific streampower, riparian vegetation, and in some instances sand and gravel extraction. The empirical relationship between these variables and observed riverbank erosion across 78 km of the Upper Brisbane River, Australia was investigated. No significant relationship was found between curvature, specific streampower and riverbank erosion. The role of riparian vegetation relative to sediment supply from riverbank erosion varied with spatial location, susceptibility of a reach to erosion, and human disturbance such as sand and gravel extraction. Despite not having data on substrate type the model described approximately 37% of the variation in observed riverbank erosion. It appears that inclusion of a management practice factor in riverbank erosion models is justified, where appropriate, and may improve model performance. •Empirical relationship between variables used to model riverbank erosion at a catchment scale and observed data across 78 km investigated.•No significant relationship found between river curvature, specific streampower and riverbank erosion.•Role of riparian vegetation varied with spatial location, susceptibility of a reach to erosion, and human disturbance such as sand and gravel extraction.•Despite not having data on substrate type the model described approximately 37% of the variation in observed riverbank erosion.•Inclusion of a management practice factor in riverbank erosion models is justified, where appropriate, and may improve model performance.
ISSN:1364-8152
1873-6726
DOI:10.1016/j.envsoft.2017.07.014