A SIMULATION-MODEL FOR MEANDERING RIVERS AND THEIR ASSOCIATED SEDIMENTARY ENVIRONMENTS

The interplay between a meandering river and the changing sedimentary environment created by the river itself, at earlier times during its d evelopment, was studied using a computer simulation model. Our treatme nt of the river migration is based directly on the bend-erosion theory of Ikeda et al. In the present work, this well-known theory is augmen ted by a sedimentation model intended to describe geological heterogen eities and the evolution of these heterogeneities under the influence of the river itself. The different forms of individual meanders observ ed in various natural sedimentary environments have been reproduced by the model. The long-term effects of meandering river evolution, inclu ding the formation of a meander belt that restricts the lateral migrat ion of the river, have also been explored using the model.