ENVS2266

Lecture 18:
Fluvial sedimentology and
river evolution
How does a river and its floodplain behave and evolve over time?

Meandering
river
Lateral
migration of
active
meander,
cutoffs

Braided river
Thalweg shift,
redistribution
of bars

https://youtu.be/W4jyeZUHwWs
Rivers are forever adjusting to disturbance events and prevailing
flow and sediment fluxes – relationships vary in differing
environmental settings
 Outline
Definitions
Bedforms and depositional
structures
Facies identification and
interpretation
Interpreting sedimentary
sequences
Evolutionary assessments
Evolution of rivers in
Australia
– natural range of
variability prior to
European settlement

Fryirs and Brierley 2013.

 River adjustment
Vertical adjustment – stability of the bed

Lateral adjustment - the ability of the channel

to alter its banks

Wholesale adjustment - the manner and rate

of alterations to channel position on the valley
floor

Define the bevioural regime of a river – dictated

by available erosive flow energy +
nature/distribution of resistance in the channel

Study of river adjustment over time – RIVER

EVOLUTION
All river change as they evolve –if the
geomorphic structure changes – balance of
impelling and resisting forces – bed material –
geomorphic units – channel geometry
 Definitions
Sedimentology - the
study of the sedimentary
sequences that make up
landforms
River evolution - the
study of river character,
behaviour and change over
geomorphic timeframes
Natural range of
variability - the natural
level of geomorphic
diversity experienced by a
river in the absence of
(severe) human induced
change

Cosma et al. 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2019.06.009

 Sedimentology
A form of materials analysis that provides a basis for
interpreting depositional processes that produce a sedimentary
sequence
Allows interpretation of the types of flow events under which
each landform was formed or reworked
Completed by auger, pit and exposure analyses within different
landforms
 What to measure/record?
Shape of sedimentary unit
You should already be familiar
Grain size and rounding with these from this unit
Sediment sorting
Facies assemblage
Sediment grading
Characteristics of boundaries between sedimentary units
Facies identification and interpretation
Facies - sedimentary structures that are characteristic of the
environment of deposition
Means of interpreting the processes that form a bedded layer
Each facies has a distinct form-process association … characteristic
assemblages can be used to describe geomorphic units
We will be using Miall classification scheme in the field
Sand facies: the result of bedform development

Low flow regime High flow regime

Flow Direction

rippled surface boils, large lee eddies boils, small planar large surface waves turbulent,
to n o eddies scale turbulence absent breaking

Ripples Ripples on dunes Dunes Transition Plane Bed Standing Wave Antidune

intermittent intermittent continuous intermittent

to continuous or continuous

low high
concentrations concentrations

Out of phase ridges and crests In phase ridges and crests

High preservation potential - Low preservation potential -
not reworked reworked by low velocity flows
Gardiner and Dackombe (1983)
 Sand facies (after Miall, 1996)
Facies Facies Sedimentary Interpretation Appearance
code structures
St Sand, fine Solitary or Sinuous-
to very grouped crested and
coarse, trough cross linguoid (3-D)
may be beds dunes
pebbly
Sp Sand, fine Solitary or Transverse and
to very grouped linguoid
coarse, trough cross bedforms (2-D
may be beds dunes
pebbly
Sr Sand, Ripple cross- Ripples (low
very fine lamination flow regime)
to coarse
Sh Sand, fine Horizontal Plane-bed flow
to very lamination (critical flow)
coarse, parting or
may be streaming
pebbly lineation
 Sand facies (after Miall, 1996)
Facies Facies Sedimentary Interpretation Appearance
code structures
Sl Sand, fine Low angle Scour-fills,
to very (<150) cross- humpback or
coarse, beds washout dunes,
may be antidunes
pebbly
Se Sand, fine Crude- Erosional
to very crossbedding scours with
coarse, interclasts (e.g.
may be around
pebbly vegetation)
Ss Sand, fine Broad, Scour fill
to very shallow
coarse, scours
may be
pebbly
Sm Sand, fine Massive or Sediment-
to coarse faint gravity flow
lamination deposits (quick
deposition)
 Gravel facies (after Miall, 1996)
Facies Facies Sedimentary Interpretation Appearance
code structures
Gms Massive, Grading Plastic debris
matrix- flow (high
supported strength,
viscous)
Gh Clast- Horizontal Longitudinal
supported, bedding, bedforms, lag
crudely imbrication deposits, sieve
bedded deposits
gravel
Gcm Clast- None (mixed) Pseudoplastic
supported, debris flow
massive (inertial
gravel bedload,
turbulent flow)
Gt Gravel, Trough cross- Minor channel
stratified beds fills

Gp Gravel, Planar-cross- Transverse

stratified beds bedforms,
deltaic growths
from older bar
remnants
 Silt/clay facies (after Miall, 1996)

Facies Facies Sedimentary Interpretation Appearance

code structures
Fl Sand, silt, Fine Overbank,
mud lamination, abandoned
very small channel, or
ripples waning flood
deposits
Fsm Silt, mud Massive Backswamp or
abandoned
channel
deposits
Fm Mud, silt Massive, Overbank,
desiccation abandoned
cracks channel, or
drape deposits
Fr Mud, silt Massive, Root bed,
roots, incipient soil
bioturbation
 Graded bedding (after Lewis, 1984)

Normal
Normal Inverse Normal Symmetrical
grading
grading grading. grading grading.
sorted in
sorting poorly Poorly
horizontal Waning
improves sorted. sorted.
planes. current
upward.
or gravity Dumped Waxing
Waxing then
Dumped flows or biotur- then
waning
bated waning
current
flows.
Fining Fining Coarsening Fining
upwards upwards upwards upwards
 Boundaries or bounding surfaces
between units
Definition / clarity – how well defined is the boundary
– Distinct - <1cm in thickness
– Gradual – 1-2cm in thickness
– Diffuse – barely perceptible
Shape – can represent erosional or depositional surfaces
– Wavy – can be erosional surface (eg scour or stripped before
redeposited)
– Flat – depositional surface
– Dipping – erosional surface
How to interpret sedimentary sequences
Dig a pit or clean off exposures
Trace boundaries of facies - lateral extent
Determine the facies assemblage
Analyse the grain size within the facies unit
Interpret the type of flow conditions under which each facies
unit formed
 How to present sedimentary information
Grain size (phi) Grain size (phi)
4 3 2 1 0 -1 -2 4 3 2 1 0 -1 -2
0 0
25 25
Stratigraphic 50
75
1,950 +/- 40
years BP 50
75
columns 100
125
100
125
150 150 channel bed
175 175
200
225 Inset
250
3,050 +/- 40 years BP
floodplain
Lateral 275
300
Valley fill
325
exposures 350 Fryirs (2002)

From Ferguson & Brierley (1999)

 River evolution
River change to a new state is termed river metamorphosis (Schumm,
1969)
Dynamic entities that adjust in response to:
– water transfer
– sediment transfer
– climate change
– sea level rise and fall (e.g. 6,000 yrs BP)
– vegetation changes etc.
Rivers operating in the absence of human influences evolve within a
‘natural range of variability’
The detection of change depends on the timeframe of reference
 Timeframes of reference
Geological time - the study of
river development over thousands
to millions of years
Geomorphic time - controls on
river form occurring over
timeframes of individual events to
lagged responses which occur
over tens or hundreds of years
Engineering time - the study of
changes that are event driven
(usually dictated by the 1 in 100
yr event)

Evolution of the Mississippi River

by Harold N. Fisk (1944)
How do you interpret river evolution?
The history of river change can be interpreted through a number of
methods:
– floodplain and in-stream sedimentology
– dating methods
– old maps and explorers journals
– portion plans
– sequences of historical air photographs
 Evolution of Australian rivers

Low relief, passive margin, stable

tectonic setting
No recent phases of glaciation
Ancient materials and bedrock dictate
the evolution of our rivers
Features that are of great antiquity
(e.g. 10’s of thousands of years) Bega River
Have different evolutionary histories
and river styles to those o/seas
Limited research done on river
evolution in Aust.

Murray River
 Evolutionary stories for Australian
rivers
Patchy distribution and inconclusive sense of what rivers were like pre-
European settlement
Few good case studies
– Macdonald River
– Murrumbidgee (Riverine Plain, SE Aust.)
– Cut-and-fill rivers (Bega catchment)
 Macdonald River
(Holocene floodplain progradation and aggradation – Rustomji et al., 2006)
Post-LGM sea level rise continued until around 6500 yr BP (termed the Mid-
Holocene sea level highstand). Hence the valleys became ‘drowned’ and
estuarine materials were deposited on the valley floors (marine transgression).
This may have extended 35-40km up the Macdonald Valley. Sea level then fell
about 2 m to stabilise at its current level.
Progradation of fluvial deposits (d/s building of floodplains) into this ‘estuary’
occurred after 6500 yr BP. So, Holocene floodplain sediment now sits over the
top of estuarine sediments along the majority of the valley down to the
Hawkesbury River. Over this timeframe the tidal limit has been progressively
shifted d/s. Vertical accretion of floodplains followed.
Macdonald River floodplains record the Holocene progradation of floodplains at
rate of 5.9 +/- 1.2 m/yr and vertical accretion of floodplains at 2.3-6.7 mm/yr
since 6500 yrs BP.
 Macdonald River
(Holocene floodplain progradation and aggradation – Rustomji et al., 2006)

1 = bedrock; 2 = sea level; 3 = coastal barrier; 4 = prograding fluvial

sediments; 5 = vertically accreting floodplains
Macdonald River
Northern
Macdonald
Macdonald River
St. Albans
Macdonald River
Central
Macdonald
Macdonald River
Lower
Macdonald
Macdonald River: comparison of river condition

1954 1990
 Macdonald River: recovery processes
(Mould and Fryirs, 2018, Applied Geography 94, 130–146)

Distribution of bars and benches: (a) 1941; (b) 1953 (during 1949–55 Changes in vegetation cover on in-channel geomorphic
floods); (c) 1970; (d) 1991 (after 1978 floods); (e) 2016. units (bars and benches) over time.
 Evolution of the Edge of
flood plain Present river
Murrumbidgee River
(after Page and Nanson, 1996)

modern ancestral
river stream prior streams

Ancestral stream
(40-50 Ka)

Katandra Member Prior stream

(80-100 Ka) 0 2 Km
Clay Silt Sand

Parameter Prior streams Ancestral streams Modern rivers

Width (m) 330 175 65
Width:depth ratio > 50 15 10
Meander length (m) 5,000 2,700 650
Sinuosity < 1.2 1.7 2.0
Load Bedload Suspended load Suspended load
 Evolution of cut-and-fill rivers
Wolumla Creek, Bega catchment

From Fryirs and Brierley (1998)

 Conclusion
Examining the sedimentology of
different geomorphic units (inc.
floodplains) provides fundamental
insights into the formation and
reworking processes occurring
along rivers.
The evolution (natural range of
variability) of river systems in
Australia has been unique.
We have a relatively poor
understanding of river evolution in
Australia, but it provides a
fundamental context against which
to interpret how humans have
disturbed fluvial systems (next
lecture).