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Contribution to understanding the historical evolution of meandering rivers using dendrochronological methods: example of the Mała Panew River in southern Poland
Author(s) -
Malik Ireneusz
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
earth surface processes and landforms
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.294
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1096-9837
pISSN - 0197-9337
DOI - 10.1002/esp.1331
Subject(s) - floodplain , geology , hydrology (agriculture) , riparian zone , coarse woody debris , debris , snag , bank erosion , mass wasting , erosion , fluvial , flooding (psychology) , large woody debris , channel (broadcasting) , riparian forest , sediment , channelized , overbank , geomorphology , geography , ecology , geotechnical engineering , structural basin , oceanography , psychotherapist , computer science , engineering , biology , psychology , telecommunications , habitat , cartography , electrical engineering
The Mała Panew is a meandering river that flows 20 km through a closed forest. During times of high discharge the riverbed and floodplain are transformed under the influence of riparian trees. The changes provide the opportunity to measure the intensity of erosion and sediment accumulation based on tree ages, the dating of coarse woody debris (CWD) in the riverbed, and the dating of eccentric growth of tilting trees and exposed roots. The bed and floodplain in reaches of the Mała Panew River with low banks were greatly altered as a result of long periods of flooding between 1960 and 1975. Banks were undercut during these floods and black alders tilted. Those parts of alder crowns or stems which tilt and sink generate small sand shadows. When erosion is intensive alder clumps are undercut from concave banks and become mid‐channel islands, while on the other side of the channel meandering bar levels are created. The reaches with higher banks were altered by large floods, especially in 1985 and 1997. The concave banks are undercut and sediment with CWD is deposited within the riverbed, forming sand shadows behind the CWD. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.