Interrelation Between Lateral Deformations of River Channel and Changes in Channel Relief

The article focuses on examples of the revealed interrelations between lateral (planar) deformations of weakly stable or unstable channels of plain or semi-mountain rivers and forms in the river relief, their morphology and dynamics. Lateral deformations at the river sites under study are estimated from the satellite images taken at different times since 1968. Deformation dynamics of the relief forms within the river channel is estimated using the pilot maps from 1940–1960 to the present and the channel plans in isobates. The factors controlling lateral deformations and sediment input to a channel are considered. The quantitative estimation is presented for the load of sediments of different sizes entering a channel as a result of bank erosion at both plain (the case of the middle Ob River) and semi-mountain (the case of the Kuban River) rivers. At semi-mountain rivers, channel forming sediments account for 40–60% of the total volume of bank erosion. The correlation is established between the erosion rates at the head edges of islands (mostly within the solitary branchings) and the erosion rates on the banks of island from the branch sides. The access angle of the flow to a bank is in direct correlation with the rate of bank erosion within the weakly stable channel under the control influence of riffles (the case of the Ganges). The correlations have the same trend but vary with the years. Examples are demonstrated for the influence of channel forms on bank erosion, as well as for the influence of bank erosion on morphology and dynamics of channel forms. It is concluded that under conditions of the unambiguous relationship either one process dominates or the alternation of bank erosion and dynamics of channel forms with time. The equilibrium of influence is very rare (the site of the Ob River upstream the confluence with the Tom River). The example shows for the predictable estimations of channel deformations based on the detailed analysis of the interrelated processes of bank erosion, changes in morphology, and dynamics of riffles as the forms of channel relief.

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