River morphology

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The terms river morphology and its synonym fluvial geomorphology are used to describe the shapes of river channels and how they change 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); vegetation and the rate of plant growth; the availability of sediment; the size and composition of the sediment moving through the channel; the rate of sediment transport through the channel and the rate of deposition on the floodplain, banks, bars, and bed; and regional aggradation or degradation due to subsidence or uplift.

The study of river morphology is accomplished in the field of fluvial geomorphology.

See also

• Bedload, Suspended load
• Sediment, sedimentation, erosion
• River, Stream, Canal
• Water, Water resource
• Flood

References

• Rosgen, Dave (1996). Applied River Morphology. 2nd ed. (Fort Collins, CO: Wildland Hydrology, publ.) ISBN 978-0-9653289-0-6.

External links

• River Morphology at Delft University of Technology
• River Engineering and Morphology at WL | Delft Hydraulics
• River morphology in Delft Cluster