Anastomosing channels and arroyo development on the Nogoa River, Central Queensland, Australia

doi:10.1016/0037-0738(93)90082-G

Sedimentary Geology

Volume 85, Issues 1–4, May 1993, Pages 179-190

https://doi.org/10.1016/0037-0738(93)90082-G Get rights and content

Abstract

It is widely accepted that European settlement in Australia has had a major impact on river channels. For many parts of Australia records are available which permit the history of channel changes to be reconstructed over most of the post-settlement period. In this paper the history of changes on part of the Nogoa River in Central Queensland is described from the first European contact until the present. The river channel at this site has changed from an anastomosing pattern to a single large channel (arroyo). There is evidence to suggest that such changes have occurred also in the past but an unusual feature of the present incision phase is that incision is synchronous throughout the region. This may have been triggered by the introduction of cattle which naturally congregate in the moister valley bottoms in this otherwise dry environment. The changes observed here reflect those reported for the semiarid regions of the USA. A linking factor appears to be hydrological behaviour characterised by high levels of variability in the annual flood series, which appears to render such streams more sensitive to disturbance than those with less variable flood behaviour.

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The idea that dryland fluvial environments are somehow distinctive or even unique compared to fluvial environments in wetter and/or cooler climatic settings has arisen in much of the literature, despite the fact that drylands are themselves inherently diverse, covering a wide range of local climatic, tectonic, structural, lithological, and phytogeographical settings. Focusing on rivers in warm drylands, this chapter outlines the main characteristics of dryland rivers, including flow and sediment transport conditions, channel forms and dynamics, channel and floodplain sedimentology, and equilibrium and nonequilibrium behavior. Although dryland rivers are commonly ascribed a set of restricted characteristics that have been derived mainly from studies in short, steep, tectonically active catchments, investigations in larger, lower-gradient, tectonically stable catchments have revealed much greater diversity in river character both within and between drylands, and have demonstrated overlap with river characteristics in other climatic settings. With this global perspective, I argue that many previous statements regarding the distinctiveness of dryland river characteristics either can no longer be sustained as generalizations, or, at the very least, the geographical and geomorphological contexts for those generalizations need to be clarified. One of the key priorities for future research will be to identify and explain the spatial extent and frequency of occurrence of river styles across different drylands. In particular, research into the controls of meandering, straight, and anabranching rivers characteristic of some moderate-to low-energy Southern Hemisphere drylands has not only contributed to greater appreciation of the global diversity of dryland rivers but is also leading to a better understanding of rivers in general. Technological and methodological developments (especially in geochronology) are enhancing understanding of dryland river process, form, and change, and this will continue to facilitate interdisciplinary work in diverse scientific and applied contexts.
Incised Channels: Disturbance, Evolution and the Roles of Excess Transport Capacity and Boundary Materials in Controlling Channel Response
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Channel incision is part of denudation, drainage-network development, and landscape evolution. Rejuvenation of fluvial networks by channel incision generally leads to further network development and an increase in drainage density as gullies migrate into previously nonincized surfaces. Large anthropogenic disturbances, similar to large or catastrophic natural events, greatly compress timescales for incision and related processes by creating enormous imbalances between upstream sediment delivery and available transporting power. Field examples of channel responses to anthropogenic and natural disturbances are presented for fluvial systems in the mid-continent, Pacific Northwest, USA, and central Italy. Responses to different types of disturbances are shown to result in similar spatial and temporal trends of incision for vastly different fluvial systems. Similar disturbances are shown to result in varying relative magnitudes of vertical and lateral (widening) processes, and different channel morphologies as a function of the type of boundary sediments comprising the bed and banks. This apparent contradiction is explained through an analysis of temporal adjustments to flow energy, shear stress, and stream power with time. Numerical simulations of sand-bed channels of varying bank resistance disturbed by reducing the upstream sediment supply by half, show identical adjustments in flow energy and the rate of energy dissipation. The processes that dominate adjustment and the ultimate stable geometries, however, are vastly different, depending on the cohesion of the channel banks and the supply of hydraulically controlled sediment (sand) provided by bank erosion.
The nonlinear asymptotic nature of fluvial adjustment to incision caused by channelization or other causes is borne out in similar temporal trends of sediment loads from disturbed systems. The sediments emanating from incised channels can represent a large proportion of the total sediment yield from a landscape, with erosion from the channel banks generally the dominant source. Disturbances that either affect the hydraulic forces available to perform geomorphic work or change erosional resistance creating conditions of excess of flow energy can result in incision. Channel incision, therefore, can be considered a quintessential feature of disequilibrated fluvial systems.
Incised Channels: Disturbance, Evolution and the Roles of Excess Transport Capacity and Boundary Materials in Controlling Channel Response
2013, Treatise on Geomorphology
Channel incision is part of denudation, drainage-network development, and landscape evolution. Rejuvenation of fluvial networks by channel incision generally leads to further network development and an increase in drainage density as gullies migrate into previously nonincised surfaces. Large anthropogenic disturbances, similar to large or catastrophic natural events, greatly compress timescales for incision and related processes by creating enormous imbalances between upstream sediment delivery and available transporting power. Field examples of channel responses to anthropogenic and natural disturbances are presented for fluvial systems in the mid-continent, Pacific Northwest, USA, and central Italy. Responses to different types of disturbances are shown to result in similar spatial and temporal trends of incision for vastly different fluvial systems. Similar disturbances are shown to result in varying relative magnitudes of vertical and lateral (widening) processes, and different channel morphologies as a function of the type of boundary sediments comprising the bed and banks. This apparent contradiction is explained through an analysis of temporal adjustments to flow energy, shear stress, and stream power with time. Numerical simulations of sand-bed channels of varying bank resistance disturbed by reducing the upstream sediment supply by half, show identical adjustments in flow energy and the rate of energy dissipation. The processes that dominate adjustment and the ultimate stable geometries, however, are vastly different, depending on the cohesion of the channel banks and the supply of hydraulically controlled sediment (sand) provided by bank erosion.
The nonlinear asymptotic nature of fluvial adjustment to incision caused by channelization or other causes is borne out in similar temporal trends of sediment loads from disturbed systems. The sediments emanating from incised channels can represent a large proportion of the total sediment yield from a landscape, with erosion from the channel banks generally the dominant source. Disturbances that either affect the hydraulic forces available to perform geomorphic work or change erosional resistance creating conditions of excess of flow energy can result in incision. Channel incision, therefore, can be considered a quintessential feature of disequilibrated fluvial systems.
Dryland Fluvial Environments: Assessing Distinctiveness and Diversity from a Global Perspective
2013, Treatise on Geomorphology
The idea that dryland fluvial environments are somehow distinctive or even unique compared to fluvial environments in wetter and/or cooler climatic settings has arisen in much of the literature, despite the fact that drylands are themselves inherently diverse, covering a wide range of local climatic, tectonic, structural, lithological, and phytogeographical settings. Focusing on rivers in warm drylands, this chapter outlines the main characteristics of dryland rivers, including flow and sediment transport conditions, channel forms and dynamics, channel and floodplain sedimentology, and equilibrium and nonequilibrium behavior. Although dryland rivers are commonly ascribed a set of restricted characteristics that have been derived mainly from studies in short, steep, tectonically active catchments, investigations in larger, lower-gradient, tectonically stable catchments have revealed much greater diversity in river character both within and between drylands, and have demonstrated overlap with river characteristics in other climatic settings. With this global perspective, I argue that many previous statements regarding the distinctiveness of dryland river characteristics either can no longer be sustained as generalizations, or, at the very least, the geographical and geomorphological contexts for those generalizations need to be clarified. One of the key priorities for future research will be to identify and explain the spatial extent and frequency of occurrence of river styles across different drylands. In particular, research into the controls of meandering, straight, and anabranching rivers characteristic of some moderate- to low-energy Southern Hemisphere drylands has not only contributed to greater appreciation of the global diversity of dryland rivers but is also leading to a better understanding of rivers in general. Technological and methodological developments (especially in geochronology) are enhancing understanding of dryland river process, form, and change, and this will continue to facilitate interdisciplinary work in diverse scientific and applied contexts.
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Citation Excerpt :
It is now widely recognised that episodes of gully incision, followed by valley-wide aggradation, are common features of the palaeo-environmental history of many valleys (e.g. Brierley and Fryirs, 1999; Finlayson and Brizga, 1993; Fryirs and Brierley, 1998; Patton and Schumm, 1981; Prosser, 1991; Prosser et al., 1994).
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In contrast to previous studies, floodouts on the Karoo gullies formed progressively downstream, as avulsion occurred on the floodout more quickly than upstream backfilling. ²¹⁰Pb geochronology suggests that the most recent avulsion occurred following one of the wettest seasons on record, where double the mean annual rainfall fell in just a few months. A series of palaeo-floodouts along the length of the gullies suggests that the process of gullying and depositional floodout formation is not restricted to the recent past, and is a long-term landscape process. Thus, despite the lack of characteristic cut-and-fill features, such as terraces, the long-term evolution of the Karoo landscape may be related to episodic gullying.
In the short term, palaeo- and current floodouts alter the overland flow hydrology of the landscape, and prevent the local formation of badlands by diverting overland flow away from gully thalwegs. This results in the formation of amphitheatre-type gullies, with laterally eroded areas draining into narrow outlet channels incised into palaeo-floodouts.
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Anastomosing channels and arroyo development on the Nogoa River, Central Queensland, Australia

Abstract

Quat. Res.

Appl. Geogr.

Sediment. Geol.

Sediment Geol.

Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol.

Stream-channel response to floods, with examples from central Texas

Geol. Soc. Am. Bull.

Pollen analysis and dynamics of a peat deposit in Carnarvon National Park, central Queensland

Aust. J. Ecol.

River Channel Changes in Gippsland, Victoria

Variations in post-European settlement river channel behaviour, eastern Australia

Channel avulsion and river metamorphosis: the case of the Thomson River, Victoria, Australia

Earth Surf. Process. Landforms