FLUVIAL ENVIRONMENTS

Fluvial processes include the motion of sediment and erosion or deposition on the river bed.
Erosion by moving water can happen in two ways. Firstly, the movement of water across the bed exerts
a shear stress directly onto the bed. If the cohesive strength of the substrate is lower than the shear
exerted, or the bed is composed of loose sediment which can be mobilized by such stresses, then the
bed will be lowered purely by clearwater flow. However, if the river carries significant quantities of
sediment, this material can act as tools to enhance wear of the bed (abrasion). At the same time the
fragments themselves are ground down, becoming smaller and more rounded (attrition).
Sediment in rivers is transported as either bedload (the coarser fragments which move close to
the bed) or suspended load (finer fragments carried in the water). There is also a component carried as
dissolved material.
For each grain size there is a specific velocity at which the grains start to move, called
entrainment velocity. However the grains will continue to be transported even if the velocity falls below
the entrainment velocity due to the reduced (or removed) friction between the grains and the river bed.
Eventually the velocity will fall low enough for the grains to be deposited. This is shown by the Hjulstrom
curve.
A river is continually picking up and dropping solid particles of rock and soil from its bed
throughout its length. Where the river flow is fast, more particles are picked up than dropped. Where
the river flow is slow, more particles are dropped than picked up. Areas where more particles are
dropped are called alluvial or flood plains, and the dropped particles are called alluvium.
Even small streams make alluvial deposits, but it is in the flood plains and deltas of large rivers
that large, geologically-significant alluvial deposits are found.
Fluvial environments are those environments that are dominated by runnin water and are
characterized as either a meandering stream system or a braided stream system. Braided stream
systems are typically found in areas with high slopes or in areas where the water contains a high
sediment load. In either case, braided stream systems are characterized by fast moving water in multiple
shallow channels that appear to be braided. These channels form when fast moving water dramatically
slows and the larger particles (such as gravels) are deposited within the channel and block the flow of
water. Because braided stream systems are high energy smaller clast sizes, such as silts and clays, are
not deposited instead they are washed further down stream. As a result braided stream systems can be
identified by their shallow channels of crossbedded-sands, gravel deposits, and the lack of mud or clays.
 Unlike braided stream systems, meandering stream systems have a single stream channel and
are found on gently sloped or flat areas. As a result of the gentle slopes water moves relatively slowly
and is therefore only capable of carrying sediments no larger than sand. As the meandering stream
moves across the land point bars develop on the inside curve of each turn. Point bars are depositional
features that consist of crossbedded-sands and caused by the change in velocity of water as it moves
through a curved channel. Meandering streams also develop large flood plains on either side of the
stream channel. During flood stages excess water carrying suspended particles of silts and clays flows
away from the fast-moving channel water. As a result this water is slowed and the finer particles
deposited on the flood plain.