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These channels are classified as a composite form of which the individual channel belts may have braided, meandering or straight channels. Although similar to, and even encompass other channel types, anastomosed rivers are their own entity and have just begun to be studied by geologists , revealing that much is still unknown.
Meandering channels are more sinuous (>1.5 sinuosity) than straight or sinuous channels, and are defined by the meander wavelength morphological unit. [3] The meander wavelength is the distance from the apex of one bend to the next on the same side of the channel. [3] Meandering channels wavelength are described in section 1.2 Geomorphic Units. [3]
The terms river morphology and its synonym stream morphology are used to describe the shapes of river channels and how they change in shape and direction over time. The morphology of a river channel is a function of a number of processes and environmental conditions, including the composition and erodibility of the bed and banks (e.g., sand, clay, bedrock); erosion comes from the power and ...
A wide variety of river and stream channel types exist in limnology, the study of inland waters.All these can be divided into two groups by using the water-flow gradient as either low gradient channels for streams or rivers with less than two percent (2%) flow gradient, or high gradient channels for those with greater than a 2% gradient.
The degree of meandering of the channel of a river, stream, or other watercourse is measured by its sinuosity. The sinuosity of a watercourse is the ratio of the length of the channel to the straight line down-valley distance. Streams or rivers with a single channel and sinuosities of 1.5 or more are defined as meandering streams or rivers. [1] [3]
A thalweg is the center of the principal navigable channel of the waterway (which is presumed to be the deepest part). [8] If there are multiple navigable channels in a river, the one principally used for downstream travel (likely having the strongest current) is used. [8] The definition has been used in specific descriptions as well.
Here, at the deepest and fastest part of the stream is the cut bank, the area of a meandering river channel that continuously undergoes erosion. [4] The faster the water in a river channel, the better it is able to pick up greater amounts of sediment, and larger pieces of sediment, which increases the river's bed load . [ 4 ]
Neck cutoff channels are commonly formed the same way when an overbank flow occurs during a flood and the narrow piece of land between a bend in a meander is eroded away; this is known as rush-cutting. [5] A meander can also be cutoff by a channel due to excess sediment upstream as a result of high erosion