Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-qsmjn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T11:25:45.182Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Fluviatile fining-upwards cycles and the magnitude of palaeochannels

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

M. R. Leeder
M. R. Leeder
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The bankfull width (w) of modern meandering rivers (sinuosity >1.7) is related to bankfull depth (h) by the equation w = 6.8h1.54. The equation may be used to calculate limits for the bankfull widths of palaeochannels that deposited alluvial fining-upwards cycles. Calculated bankfull widths and measured bankfull widths from epsilon cross stratification are further used to state ranges of values for meander wavelength and mean annual discharge using existing empirical equations. The empirical equations directly relating width/depth ratios to sediment load and sinuosity are shown to be generally valid only for small rivers because of the increase of width/depth ratios as meandering rivers increase in size.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 110 , Issue 3 , May 1973 , pp. 265 - 276
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1973

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexander, C. S. & Prior, J. C. 1971. Holocene sedimentation rates in overbank deposits in the Black Bottom of the Lower Ohio River, Southern Illinois. Am. J. Sci. 270, 361–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J. R. L. 1965. The sedimentation and palaeogeography of the Old Red Sandstone of Anglesey, North Wales. Proc. Yorks. geol. Soc. 35, 139–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J. R. L. 1970. Studies in fluviatile sedimentation: a comparison of fining-upwards cyclothems, with special reference to coarse member composition and interpretation. J. Sedim. Petrol. 40, 298–323.Google Scholar
Bluck, B. J. 1971. Sedimentation in the meandering River Endrick. Scott. J. Geol. 7, 93–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlston, C. W., 1965. The relation of free meander geometry to stream discharge and its geomorphic implications. Am. J. Sci. 263, 864–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chitale, S. V. 1970. River channel patterns. J. Hydraul. Div. Am. Soc. civ. Engrs 96, 201–21.Google Scholar
Cotter, E. 1971. Palaeoflow characteristics of a late Cretaceous river in Utah from analysis of sedimentary structures in the Perron Sandstone. J. Sedim. Petrol. 41, 129–38.Google Scholar
Dury, G. H. 1964. Principles of underfit streams. Prof. Pap. U.S. geol. Surv. 452 A, 67 pp.Google Scholar
Fisk, H. N. 1944. Geological investigation of the alluvial valley of the Lower Mississippi River. Rep. Mississippi River Commission, Vicksburg, Miss. 78 pp.Google Scholar
Fisk, H. N. 1947. Fine grained alluvial deposits and their effects on Mississippi River activity. Rep. Mississippi River Commission 82 pp.Google Scholar
Hack, J. T. 1957. Studies of longitudinal stream profiles in Virginia and Maryland. Prof. Pap. U.S. geol. Surv. 294 B, 45–97.Google Scholar
Hack, J. T. 1965. Postglacial drainage evolution and stream geometry in the Ontonagon area, Michigan. Prof. Pap. U.S. geol. Surv. 504 B, 40 pp.Google Scholar
Kermack, K. A. & Haldane, J. B. S. 1950. Organic correlation and allometry. Biometrika, 37 30–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leeder, M. R. 1973. Sedimentology and palaeogeography of the Upper Old Red Sandstone in the Scottish Border basin. Scott. J. Geol. 9 (in press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leopold, L. B. & Wolman, M. G. 1960. River meanders. Bull. geol. Soc. Am. 71, 769–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leopold, L. B., Wolman, M. G. & Miller, J. P. 1964. Fluvial processes ingeomorphology. Freeman, San Francisco, 522 pp.Google Scholar
Moody-Stuart, M. 1966. High and low sinuosity stream deposits, with examples from the Devonian of Spitsbergen. J. Sedim. Petrol. 36, 1102–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rozovski, I. L. 1963. Flow in bends of open channels. Israel program for Scientific Translations, Jerusalem, 233 pp.Google Scholar
Schumm, S. A. 1963. Sinuosity of alluvial rivers on the Great Plains. Bull. geol. Soc. Am. 74, 1089–1100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schumm, S. A. 1968. River adjustment to altered hydrologic regimen—Murrumbidgee River and palaeochannels, Australia. Prof. Pap. U.S. geol. Surv. 598, 65 pp.Google Scholar
Schumm, S. A. 1972. Fluvial palaeochannels. In Rigby, J. K. & Hamblin, W. K. (Eds): Recognition of ancient sedimentary environments. 98–107. Soc. Econ. Palaeontologists Mineralogists, Spec. Publ. 13.Google Scholar
Sundborg, A. 1956. The River Klaralven: a study of fluvial processes. Geogr. Annlr. 38, 127–316.Google Scholar