Registration of abrupt climate changes within fluvial systems: insights from numerical modelling experiments

Potential effects of both gradual and abrupt (within 1 ka) climate changes on fluvial longitudinal profile dynamics were explored by means of numerica l modelling experiments. A calibrated model version was used to simulate dy namics in the Meuse fluvial system for the last 250 ka. Simulations indicat e that climatic control of fluvial dynamics appears most profound in the up lifting upper reaches (above the hinge line). This straightforward relation ship between climate change and fluvial response magnitudes diminishes owin g to complex-response dynamics and increasing sea-level control as further one migrates downstream. The results for the hinge zone indicate that clima tic change events of small magnitude and short duration are progressively ' filtered out'. Despite this threshold effect, long-lasting and intensive st adials and interstadials still have a clear traceable impact on fluvial dyn amics in both upper and lower-reaches. The best reach to study direct climate impacts on fluvial dynamics is in th e terraces found between the apex and hinge line. Here, terrace stratigraph y can be directly related to climate dynamics including abrupt changes (wit hin 1 ka), Downstream of the hinge line in the subsiding basin, the sedimen ts have a higher preservation potential. However, because of the increasing importance of sea-level control, these sediments can only be indirectly an d qualitatively matched to climate change. This wiggle matching can still b e a useful correlation tool, but our simulation exercises indicate that the lower-reach record is unsuitable to track and/or reconstruct abrupt (< 1 k a) climate changes on a one-to-one basis. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. Al l rights reserved.