A classification of channel-reach morphology in mountain drainage basins synthesizes stream morphologies into seven distinct reach types: colluvial, bedrock, and five alluvial channel types (cascade, step pool, plane bed, pool rime, and dune ripple). Coupling reach-level channel processes with the spatial arrangement of reach morphologies, their links to hillslope processes, and external forcin...

Alluvial fans develop at the base of drainages where feeder channels release their solid load (Blair and McPherson, 2009; Leeder et al., 1998; Harvey et al., 2005). A classic fan-shape forms where there is a well-defined topographic apex. Multiple feeder channels, however, often blur the fan-shape resulting in a merged bajada. Alluvial fans can be found in almost all terrestrial settings. These...

The lowermost Mississippi River, defined herein as the river segment downstream of the Old River Control Structure and hydrodynamically influenced by the Gulf of Mexico, extends for approximately 500 km. This segment includes a bedrock (or more precisely, mixed bedrock-alluvial) reach that is bounded by an upstream alluvial-bedrock transition and a downstream bedrock-alluvial transition. Here w...

[1] Independent lithologic and structural controls in fluvial bedrock systems interact with coarse sediment transport processes to play a key role in bedrock incision processes such as abrasion. During a 3 year study on the Ocoee River in the Blue Ridge Province of the southern Appalachians, USA, we used painted tracer clasts to measure coarse sediment transport dynamics and address whether dif...

Relationships between riverbed morphology, concavity, rock type and rock uplift rate are examined to independently unravel the contribution of along-strike variations in lithology and rates of vertical deformation to the topographic relief of the Oregon coastal mountains. Lithologic control on river profile form is reflected by convexities and knickpoints in a number of longitudinal profiles an...

Current knowledge of the mechanics of alluvial channels depends very largely on calculations of turbulent shear stresses; typical examples are the beginning of motion of sediment particles and sediment transport in alluvial channels. If shear stress can be well defined in clear-water flows, comparatively little is known about shear stresses in sediment-laden flows. Einstein and Chien (1955) pro...

The Tamarack State Wildlife Area in eastern Colorado is being investigated as a possible managed recharge project to redirect flows in the South Platte River for water quantity management. Two primary surface water/groundwater interactions exist at Tamarack: (1) between the South Platte River and alluvial aquifer and (2) between backwater sloughs, or secondary river channels, and the alluvial a...