Bed material transport and the morphology of alluvial river channels

The morphology of an alluvial river channel is the consequence of sediment transport and sedimentation in the river. Morphological style is determined chiefly by the caliber and quantity of sediment delivered to the channel, although modulated by channel scale. Yet the relations between sediment transport and river morphology have received only limited, qualitative attention. In this review, the problem is studied by defining sediment transport regimes on the basis of the Shields number, a nondimensional measure of the capacity of the channel to move sediment of a given caliber. The problem is also approached from an inverse perspective by which the quantity and character of sediment deposits are used to infer details about the variation of sediment transport and sedimentation along a channel. Coupling the two approaches establishes a basis to gain new insights into the origins of alluvial channel morphology.