Sinuous rivers in peat

X. Y. Guo, D. Chen, Z. Li, M. H. Garcia, G. Parker, G. Tanaka

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Single-thread rivers flowing through peat are as sinuous as classical alluvial meandering rivers, but have notably different planforms. Rivers in peat have straight segments alternating with sharp bends, as opposed to their more gently curving counterparts. Building on work in Indonesia and the Kushiro Peatlands of Japan, we characterize the statistics of bend shape in 5 nearly pristine peatland rivers in Siberia, Brazil and Indonesia, in terms of the probability density function of dimensionless curvature. Results are compared with 5 nearly pristine alluvial meandering rivers. We show that peatland rivers have significantly larger lengths of reaches with very low curvature (nearly straight) than alluvial rivers. We hypothesize that the formation of local “hard points” in peat may be responsible for the angular shape of river bends.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationRiver Flow 2020 - Proceedings of the 10th Conference on Fluvial Hydraulics
EditorsWim Uijttewaal, Mario J. Franca, Daniel Valero, Victor Chavarrias, Claudia Ylla Arbos, Ralph Schielen, Ralph Schielen, Alessandra Crosato
PublisherCRC Press/Balkema
Pages1575-1581
Number of pages7
ISBN (Electronic)9780367627737
StatePublished - 2020
Event10th Conference on Fluvial Hydraulics, River Flow 2020 - Virtual, Online, Netherlands
Duration: Jul 7 2020Jul 10 2020

Publication series

NameRiver Flow 2020 - Proceedings of the 10th Conference on Fluvial Hydraulics

Conference

Conference10th Conference on Fluvial Hydraulics, River Flow 2020
Country/TerritoryNetherlands
CityVirtual, Online
Period7/7/207/10/20

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes
  • Geotechnical Engineering and Engineering Geology

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