Pj. Ashworth, MID-CHANNEL BAR GROWTH AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO LOCAL FLOW STRENGTH AND DIRECTION, Earth surface processes and landforms, 21(2), 1996, pp. 103-123
Anabranches of braided rivers typically migrate and avulse across the
floodplain to produce new channel junctions, scour and subsequent mid-
channel bar growth immediately downstream. Few quantitative studies ha
ve been made of this bar development process and the link to change in
channel geometry and local flow strength and direction. This paper pr
ovides data on the spatial and temporal pattern of surface velocity as
mid-channel bar growth is initiated downstream of a fixed junction sc
our in a generic scale flume model. The sequence of channel changes is
: (i) development of a confluence scour with flow convergence and maxi
mum velocity in the channel centre; (ii) exceedance of the local trans
port capacity and initial stalling of coarse sediment in the channel t
halweg downstream of the scour; (iii) bar growth through entrapment of
all sizes of bedload; (iv) change from velocity maximum to minimum an
d flow convergence to divergence when the bar height is approximately
55 per cent of the thalweg depth; (v) broadening of the bartop platfor
m, a drop in local competence and bankward migration of the two distri
butaries whose cross-section and velocity remains approximately consta
nt. These flume data and interpretations are compared to descriptions
in the literature of the braiding process with particular reference to
the flume work of Leopold and Wolman (1957) and Ashmore (1991, 1993).
A new model for mid-channel bar growth is presented which helps expla
in the long-term development of the confluence-diffluence unit.