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The Potential for Dams to Impact Lowland Meandering River Floodplain Geomorphology

The majority of the world's floodplains are dammed. Although some implications of dams for riverine ecology and for river channel morphology are well understood, there is less research on the impacts of dams on floodplain geomorphology. We review studies from dammed and undammed rivers and incl...

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Autores principales: Marren, Philip M., Grove, James R., Webb, J. Angus, Stewardson, Michael J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3920808/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24587718
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/309673
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author Marren, Philip M.
Grove, James R.
Webb, J. Angus
Stewardson, Michael J.
author_facet Marren, Philip M.
Grove, James R.
Webb, J. Angus
Stewardson, Michael J.
author_sort Marren, Philip M.
collection PubMed
description The majority of the world's floodplains are dammed. Although some implications of dams for riverine ecology and for river channel morphology are well understood, there is less research on the impacts of dams on floodplain geomorphology. We review studies from dammed and undammed rivers and include influences on vertical and lateral accretion, meander migration and cutoff formation, avulsion, and interactions with floodplain vegetation. The results are synthesized into a conceptual model of the effects of dams on the major geomorphic influences on floodplain development. This model is used to assess the likely consequences of eight dam and flow regulation scenarios for floodplain geomorphology. Sediment starvation downstream of dams has perhaps the greatest potential to impact on floodplain development. Such effects will persist further downstream where tributary sediment inputs are relatively low and there is minimal buffering by alluvial sediment stores. We can identify several ways in which floodplains might potentially be affected by dams, with varying degrees of confidence, including a distinction between passive impacts (floodplain disconnection) and active impacts (changes in geomorphological processes and functioning). These active processes are likely to have more serious implications for floodplain function and emphasize both the need for future research and the need for an “environmental sediment regime” to operate alongside environmental flows.
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spelling pubmed-39208082014-03-02 The Potential for Dams to Impact Lowland Meandering River Floodplain Geomorphology Marren, Philip M. Grove, James R. Webb, J. Angus Stewardson, Michael J. ScientificWorldJournal Review Article The majority of the world's floodplains are dammed. Although some implications of dams for riverine ecology and for river channel morphology are well understood, there is less research on the impacts of dams on floodplain geomorphology. We review studies from dammed and undammed rivers and include influences on vertical and lateral accretion, meander migration and cutoff formation, avulsion, and interactions with floodplain vegetation. The results are synthesized into a conceptual model of the effects of dams on the major geomorphic influences on floodplain development. This model is used to assess the likely consequences of eight dam and flow regulation scenarios for floodplain geomorphology. Sediment starvation downstream of dams has perhaps the greatest potential to impact on floodplain development. Such effects will persist further downstream where tributary sediment inputs are relatively low and there is minimal buffering by alluvial sediment stores. We can identify several ways in which floodplains might potentially be affected by dams, with varying degrees of confidence, including a distinction between passive impacts (floodplain disconnection) and active impacts (changes in geomorphological processes and functioning). These active processes are likely to have more serious implications for floodplain function and emphasize both the need for future research and the need for an “environmental sediment regime” to operate alongside environmental flows. Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2014-01-22 /pmc/articles/PMC3920808/ /pubmed/24587718 http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/309673 Text en Copyright © 2014 Philip M. Marren et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Review Article
Marren, Philip M.
Grove, James R.
Webb, J. Angus
Stewardson, Michael J.
The Potential for Dams to Impact Lowland Meandering River Floodplain Geomorphology
title The Potential for Dams to Impact Lowland Meandering River Floodplain Geomorphology
title_full The Potential for Dams to Impact Lowland Meandering River Floodplain Geomorphology
title_fullStr The Potential for Dams to Impact Lowland Meandering River Floodplain Geomorphology
title_full_unstemmed The Potential for Dams to Impact Lowland Meandering River Floodplain Geomorphology
title_short The Potential for Dams to Impact Lowland Meandering River Floodplain Geomorphology
title_sort potential for dams to impact lowland meandering river floodplain geomorphology
topic Review Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3920808/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24587718
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/309673
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