Filling a niche in the geomorphology teaching market, this introductory book is built around a 12 week course in fluvial geomorphology. 'Reading the landscape' entails making sense of what a riverscape looks like, how it works, how it has evolved over time, and how alterations to one part of a catchment may have secondary consequences elsewhere, over different timeframes. These place-based field analyses are framed within their topographic, climatic and environmental context. Issues and principles presented in the first part of this book provide foundational understandings that underpin the approach to reading the landscape that is presented in the second half of the book. In reading the landscape, detective-style investigations and interpretations are tied to theoretical and conceptual principles to generate catchment-specific analyses of river character, behaviour and evolution, including responses to human disturbance. This book has been constructed as an introductory text on river landscapes, providing a bridge and/or companion to quantitatively-framed or modelled approaches to landscape analysis that are addressed elsewhere. Key principles outlined in the book emphasise the importance of complexity, contingency and emergence in interpreting the character, behaviour and evolution of any given system. The target audience is second and third year undergraduate students in geomorphology, hydrology, earth science and environmental science, as well as river practitioners who use geomorphic understandings to guide scientific and/or management applications. The primary focus of Kirstie and Gary's research and teaching entails the use of geomorphic principles as a tool with which to develop coherent scientific understandings of river systems, and the application of these understandings in management practice. Kirstie and Gary are co-developers of the River Styles® Framework and Short Course that is widely used in river management, decision-making and training. Additional resources for this book can be found at: href="http://www.wiley.com/go/fryirs/riversystems">www.wiley.com/go/fryirs/riversystems.
Autorentext
Kirstie Fryirs is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Environment and Geography at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. She has worked extensively on river systems in Australia. Her research focuses on geomorphic river evolution, post-European disturbance responses, sediment budgets and connectivity, and geoecology. Her research is used extensively in river management practice.
Gary Brierley is Chair of Physical Geography in the School of Environment at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Building upon his geomorphic research on river systems in western Canada, Australia and New Zealand, his recent work has been undertaken in western China and parts of South America. His research interests also include concerns for environmental justice, transitional practices in river science and management, and emerging approaches to environmental governance.
Klappentext
'Reading the landscape' entails making sense of what a riverscape looks like, how it works, how it has evolved over time, and how alterations to one part of a catchment may have secondary consequences elsewhere, over different timeframes. These place-based field analyses are framed within their topographic, climatic and environmental context. Issues and principles presented in the first part of this book provide foundational understandings that underpin the approach to reading the landscape that is presented in the second half of the book. In reading the landscape, detective-style investigations and interpretations are tied to theoretical and conceptual principles to generate catchment-specific analyses of river character, behaviour and evolution, including responses to human disturbance.
This book has been constructed as an introductory text on river landscapes, providing a bridge and/or companion to quantitatively-framed or modelled approaches to landscape analysis that are addressed elsewhere. Key principles outlined in the book emphasise the importance of complexity, contingency and emergence in interpreting the character, behaviour and evolution of any given system.
The target audience is second and third year undergraduate students in geomorphology, hydrology, earth science and environmental science, as well as river practitioners who use geomorphic understandings to guide scientific and/or management applications.
The primary focus of Kirstie and Gary's research and teaching entails the use of geomorphic principles as a tool with which to develop coherent scientific understandings of river systems, and the application of these understandings in management practice. Kirstie and Gary are co-developers of the River Styles® Framework and Short Course that is widely used in river management, decision-making and training.
Inhalt
Preface xi
Acknowledgements xiv
1 Geomorphic analysis of river systems: an approach to reading the landscape 1
Introduction 1
How is geomorphology useful? 2
Geomorphic analysis of river systems: our approach to reading the landscape 3
Key messages from this chapter 7
2 Key concepts in river geomorphology 9
Introduction 9
Spatial considerations in reading the landscape 9
Catchment linkages and (dis)connectivity 14
Conceptualisation of time 17
Differentiating behaviour from change 21
Disturbance events 22
Magnitude-frequency relationships in river systems 23
River sensitivity and resilience 25
Catchment-specific analysis of river systems: combining spatial and temporal concepts 26
Conclusion 27
Key messages from this chapter 27
3 Catchment-scale controls on river geomorphology 29
Introduction: what is a catchment? 29
Process zones in catchments: sediment source, transfer and accumulation zones 29
Longitudinal profiles of rivers 31
Geomorphic transitions along river longitudinal profiles 32
Catchment morphometrics as controls on river character and behaviour 34
Geologic controls on drainage network form, and river character and behaviour 37
The influence of catchment configuration upon flow and sediment flux 41
Conclusion 42
Key messages from this chapter 42
4 Catchment hydrology 44
Introduction: what is hydrology? 44
The hydrological cycle 44
Operation of the hydrological cycle 45
Runoff generation 47
Groundwater flows 49
Catchment-scale runoff and discharge generation models 50
Channel initiation 51
Gully and channel formation 51
Flow regimes of perennial, intermittent and ephemeral rivers 53
Discharge and the magnitude/frequency of flow in river systems 54
Flood stages and hydrographs 56
Analysis of hydrograph shape 58
Discharge measurement 59
Flow frequency 60
Flow variability 61
Conclusion 62
Key messages from this chapter 62
5 Impelling and resisting forces in river systems 65
Introduction 65
Impelling and resisting forces and Lane's balance of erosion and deposition in channels 65
Mechanics of fluid flow 67
Impelling forces in river channels 68
Resisting forces in channels 70
Vegetation and wood as resistance elements in river systems 72
Manning's n as a unifying roughness parameter 75
The balance of impelling and resisting forces along longitudinal profiles 77
Conclusion 79
Key messages from this chapter 79
6 Sediment movement and deposition in river systems 81
Introduction 81
Grain size (sediment calibre) and definitions of bedload, mixed load and suspended l…