4

FLUVIAL LANDFORMS
Victor R. Baker
Rivers flowing to the oceans drain about 68 percent of the Earth's land surface. The
remainder of the land either is covered by ice or drains to closed basins. Areas draining to the
sea are common in humid regions, whereas those draining to interior closed basins occur in
arid regions or in areas of active tectonic subsidence. Some areas of the planet lack surface
streams because of extremely low rainfall or because lithologic conditions promote
infiltration.
Data on the large rivers of the world are subject to numerous problems of measurement and
reliability. The most recent summary (Milliman and Meade, 1983) discusses these problems,
but it also reveals some startling facts Table 4-1. Only a score of the world's great rivers are
responsible for delivering over half the fresh water and total sediment load to the world's
oceans. The Amazon River alone carries about 15 percent of all the water annually discharged
by the world's rivers. The annual delivery of suspended sediment to the ocean is about 13.5 x
10.9 metric tons. Over one-tenth of this is delivered by one system, the Ganges-Brahmaputra.
Even more remarkable is the second most prolific source of sediment, the Huang He (Yellow
River) of China, which yields 1.08 x 10.9 tons per year. The Huang He has one-half the
drainage area and one-twentieth the water discharge of the Ganges-Brahmaputra.
Although there are several excellent textbooks in fluvial geomorphology (Gregory and
Walling, 1973; Leopold et al., 1964; Richards, 1982), all place an emphasis on small-scale
processes. This chapter will introduce the mega-geomorphology of rivers in the hope that it
will stimulate a new perspective on the science.
Table 4-1
Characteristics of the World's Ten Largest Rivers
Drainage
Area

Length
(km)

(103 km2)

(km)

(m3/s)

(km3/yr)

(103t/yr)

Amazon

6150

6275

200000

6300

900000

Zaire (Congo)

3820

4670

40000

1250

43000

Orinoco

990

2570

34880

1100

210000

GangesBrahmaputra

1480

2700

30790

971

1670000

Yangtze

1940

4990

28540

900

478000

MississippiMissouri

3270

6260

18390

580

210000

Yenisei

2580

5710

17760

560

13000

River

WATER
DISCHARGE

Sediment
Discharge

Lena

2500

4600

16300

514

12000

Mekong

790

4180

14900

470

160000

Parana-La Plata

2830

3940

14900

470

92000

Milliman and Meade, 1983

SCENE CLASSIFICATION
The various regional study areas in this chapter are classified in terms of either their drainage
pattern or their channel pattern Table 4-2. The classification is used merely to facilitate
discussion, since numerous aspects of the various study areas will be described in the plate
descriptions. Especially important are the process parameters (climate, streamflow, and
sediment loads) and the evidence of relict features that indicate major past changes in the
process parameters.
Table 4-2
Classification of Study Areas Illustrating Fluvial Landorms
Drainage Patterns

Plates

Dendritic

Edwards Plateau, Texas (Plate F-)

Loes Plateau, China (Plate F-2)
Huang He, China (Plate F-3)

Centripetal

Elat and AL Jafr (plate F-4)

Structurally Controlled

Central Yemen (Plate F-5)

Colorado Plateau, Utah (Plate F-6)
Grand Canyon, Arizona (Plate F-7)
Rio Caron, Venezuela (Plate F-8)

Pediments

Tucson, Arizona (Plate F-9)

Channel Patterns

Plates

Meandering

Mississippi River (Plate F-10)

Braided

Colville River, Alaska (Plate F-11)

Yukon River, Alaska (Plate F-12)
Brahmaputra River (Plate F-13)

Anastomosed

Burke and Hamilton Rivers (Plate F-14)

Cooper Creek (Plate F-15)
Yangtze River (Plate F-16)

Distributary

Fans of Southeast Iran (Plate F-17)

Tian Shan, China Plate F-18)
Kosi Fan (Plate F-19)
Niger River, Mali (Plate F-20)
Pantanal, Brazil (Plate F-21)

Transitional

Amazon River System

1. Manaus (Plate F-22)
2. Solimes River (Plate F-23)

3. Japur River (Plate F-24)

4. Ucayali River (Plate F-25)
Teays River (Plate F-26)
Channeled Scabland (Plate F-27)

Paleochannels

DRAINAGE BASINS
The fluvial dissection of the landscape consists of valleys and their included channelways
organized into a system of connection known as a drainage network. Drainage networks
display many types of quantitative regularity that are useful in analyzing both the fluvial
systems and the terrains that they dissect (Abrahams, 1984). One very useful property is the
pattern of dissection (Figure 4-l). Howard (1967) has summarized the geological significance
of various drainage patterns (Table 4-3). Dendritic patterns evident in a SIR-A (Shuttle
Imaging Radar) image (Figure 4.2) are named for their similarity to branching organic forms.
Indeed, the conveyance qualities of such networks make them morphologically similar to
blood circulation systems, tree branching, and landscape drainage. Excellent examples of
dendritic patterns occur in the absence of structural control, as on the Edwards Plateau of
Texas (Plate F-1) and the Loess Plateau of China (Plate F-2). Areas of trellis and rectangular
drainage include central Yemen (Plate F-5) and the Colorado Plateau (Plate F-6), respectively.
The Al Jafr area of Jordan (Plate F-4) illustrates a centripetal pattern. An example of a
drainage pattern not shown in Figure 4-1 but readily recognized at a regional scale in Landsat
imagery (Figure 4.3) is the pinnate pattern seen in tributaries to the Dnestr River in the
Moldavian S.S.R.
Table 4-3
Classification of Drainage Patterns*
Pattern

Significance

Dendritic

Horizontal sediments or uniformly resistent crystalline rocks; gentle regional

slope at present or at time of drainage inception

Parallel

Moderate to steep slopes; also in aeas of parallel elongate landforms

Trellis

Dipping or folded sedimentary, volcanic, or low-grade metasedimentary rocks;

areas of parellel fractures

Rectangula
Joints and/or faults at right angles; streams and divides lack regional continuity
r
Radial
Annular

Volcanoes, domes, and residual erosion features

Structural domes and basins, diatremes, and possibly stocks
*Modified from Howard (1967).

Drainage networks exist in spatially limited systems known as drainage basins. The drainage
network in a basin conveys water and sediment according to the controls of climate, soils,
geology, relief, and vegetation. One measure of the network's efficiency is the drainage
density, defined as the summation of channel lengths per unit area. The study areas reveal a
broad variety of drainage densities.

STRUCTURE AND TECTONICS

Drainage may adjust passively to varying resistance of geologic materials, or it may be
actively induced to follow a particular course by tectonism. Examples of the latter include
faulting, as in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta region (Plate F-13). Growing folds and domes
have affected drainage in the Colorado Plateau (Plate F-6) and central Australia (Plate F-15).
Subsidence has been important in the Mississippi (Plate F-10) and Pantanal regions (Plate F21).
Streams that emerge from mountain fronts onto surrounding plains display a fascinating array
of structural and tectonic controls. Where mountain fronts are erosional because of a complex
interplay of geomorphic variables, they may develop flanking surfaces of planation called
pediments (Plate F-9). Deposition at the mountain front produces alluvial fans because of the
tremendous increase in width as a stream emerges from a mountain canyon. Examples
include the Tian Shan (Plate F-18), Kosi (Plate F-19), and Pantanal (Plate F-21) areas.
Passive adjustment to structure is a quality of nearly all the study areas. Perhaps the most
interesting situations, however, are drainage anomalies, where streams cut across structural
zones. Some streams appear to take the most difficult routes possible through fold belts. In
his studies of the Appalachians and the Zagros Mountains, Oberlander (1985) has applied the
term "obstinate streams" to this phenomenon. The Finke River, described in Chapter 1
(Plate I-4), is an excellent example. The Colorado River (Plates F-6 and F-7) provides other
examples.

CHANNEL PATTERNS
Rivers display a remarkable variety of channel patterns (Figure 4-4) that are especially
amenable to study using spaceborne remote sensing systems. The patterns relate to largescale conditions of climate and tectonism that can only be appreciated on a global
perspective. It is remarkable that, despite the geologic dominance of "big rivers" (Potter,
1978), it is precisely those rivers that have received the least study.
Experimental work by Schumm (1977) has done much to increase our understanding of
channel patterns. Pattern adjustments, measured as sinuosity variation, are closely related to
the type, size, and amount of sediment load. They are also related to bank resistance and to
the discharge characteristics of the stream. Many of the morphological dependencies of river
patterns can be summarized in the following expressions:

These relationships are expressed by a large number of empirical equations treating the
important independent variables, Qw, a measure of mean annual water discharge, and Qs, a
measure of the type of sediment load (ratio of bedload to total load). The dependent variables
are the channel width, W, depth, d, the slope of the river channel, S, the sinuosity, P (ratio of

channel length to valley length), and the meander wavelength, (spacing of two successive
bends in a meandering river).

Figure 4.1. Major types of drainage patterns (Howard,

1967).

The relationship of channel slope to sinuosity in an experimental river was elaborated by

Schumm and Kahn (1972). The data display a clear threshold phenomenon (Figure 4-5), in
which steep low-sinuosity streams may change, somewhat abruptly, to somewhat less steep
high-sinuosity streams. The former comprise the bedload-type streams that yield braided
patterns, whereas the latter yield the familiar meandering patterns associated with streams
that transport a high suspended load. The shift between these two stable pattern
configurations is illustrated by several study areas, including the Yukon (Plate F-12), Kosi
(Plate F-19), Pantanal (Plate F-21), Japur (Plate F-24), and Ucayali (Plate F-25).
Figure 42.SIR-A
radar image
of dendritic
drainage in
east-central
Columbia.
Most of the
image shows
an area of
dissected
plains with a
grassland
cover that
yields low
radar return
(dark tones).

The
drainage
pattern is
strongly
enhanced in
radar return
(bright
tones)
because the
forested
stream
channels
reflect the
radar energy
back to the
receiver.
On the basis of the foregoing experimental work, a variety of pattern classifications can be
proposed (Schumm, 1981). However, the immense complexity of natural fluvial systems
appears to defy our present understanding (Baker, 1978a; Hickin, 1983). For this reason, the
classification employed in Table 4-2 must be considered tentative.
Meandering Pattern
Meandering is the most common river pattern, and meandering rivers develop alternating
bends with an irregular spacing along the valley trend. Such rivers tend to have relatively
narrow, deep channels and stable banks. The system adjusts to varying discharge by vertical
accretion on its floodplain and/or by lateral migration of its channel. A vast complex of
floodplain depositional features is associated with such rivers, as illustrated by the
Mississippi River study area (Plate F-10).
Braided Pattern
Braided rivers have channels divided into multiple thalwegs by alluvial islands. Braided
rivers tend to have steeper gradients, more variable discharge, coarser sediment loads, and
lower sinuosity than meandering streams. Their channels tend to be relatively wide and
shallow. Braided patterns are ". . . developed depositionally within a channel in which the
flow obstructions are sand and gravel deposited by the water moving around them" (Garner,
1974, p. 435). Midchannel bars are emplaced because of local flow incompetence. The
resulting braid channels formed by splitting the flow are more competent than the original
channel for conveying the load downstream (Leopold et al., 1964). Another way of
describing braiding is that it is caused by channel widening that increases the boundary
resistance of rivers with noncohesive banks (Church, 1972, p. 74). To maintain enough
velocity for sediment transport in a wide, shallow cross section, the channel must divide and
form relatively narrow and deep secondary channels through incision. Excellent examples of
braiding occur in gravel-transporting rivers, such as Yukon, Colville, and upper Kosi (Plates
F-12, F-11, and F-19, respectively). Braiding can also occur in sand-transporting rivers, like
the Brahmaputra (Plate F-13). The latter experience more frequent and more complex
modification of original bar forms.

Figure 4-3. Pinnate drainage developed on tributaries to

the Dnestr River in parts of Moldavian S.S.R. and
Ukrainian S.S.R. Landsat E-2436-08080-7, April 2, 1976.

Anastomosed Pattern
Many multichannel rivers have relatively low gradients, deep and narrow channels, and stable
banks. Such river systems have been termed "anastomosed" (Smith and Smith, 1980). The
terminology is a bit confused because "anastomosis" is a general designation for
interconnected channelways whether in alluvial or in bedrock rivers. Thus, Garner (1974, p.
435), following Bretz (1923), defined an anastomosing channel system as ". . . an erosionally
developed network of channels in which the insular flow obstructions represent relict
topographic highs and often consist of bedrock." Anastomosis is extensively developed in the
Channeled Scabland (Baker, 1978b). Therefore, anastomosing patterns can be considered to
be composed of multiple interconnecting channels separated by relatively stable areas of
floodplain (in the case of alluvial streams) or bedrock (in the case of bedrock streams). In
contrast, braided patterns are single-channel, multiple-thalweg systems with bars of sediment
or vegetated islands around which flow is diverted in the channel.
Excellent examples of anastomosed streams occur in the plainslands of east-central Australia
(Rust, 1981). The Burke and Hamilton Rivers (Plate F-14) and the Cooper Creek (Plate F-15)
study areas illustrate these arid-region varieties. Anastomosis also characterizes very large
tropical rivers, such as those in the Amazon Basin (Baker, 1978a). The Solimes and Japur
study areas (Plates F-23 and F-24) illustrate such rivers.
Distributary Pattern
Distributary patterns occur where fluvial systems are spreading water and sediment across
depositional basins. Two varieties are fans and deltas. Fans (Bull, 1977) develop in piedmont
areas under the influence of both tectonic and climatic controls. Arid-region alluvial fans are
constructed by infrequent depositional events that include both debris flows and water flows.
Typical arid-region fans occur in the Tucson and Tian Shan study areas (Plates F-9 and F-18).
Cold-climate alluvial fans occur in areas of glacial outwash and in periglacial regions. An
excellent example is the Sheenjek Fan in the Yukon River study area (Plate F-12).

Figure 4-4.Geomorphic map of the fluvial landscape in

northwestern Brazil near Fonte Boa on the Solimes
(Amazonas) River. Major tributaries are the Japur and
Juru Rivers. The map was prepared from an oblique
color orbital photograph (AST 21-1682) taken in July
1975, during the Apollo-Soyuz space mission (Holtz et
al., 1979).

Humid-region alluvial fans are constructed by seasonal or perennial fluvial flows. The Kosi
Fan of Nepal and India (Plate F-19) is an example from an area of active mountain building.
The Pantanal study area (Plate F-21) illustrates some large fans in the savanna tropics of
Brazil.
Deltas are the subject of another chapter in this volume since most deltas involve the
interaction of ponded water systems (lakes and oceans) with sediment delivered to a river
mouth. However, some basins of deposition in arid regions lack ponded water. Rivers
entering these basins may produce typical deltaic morphologies, as in the case of the Niger
River study area in Mali, West Africa (Plate F-20).
Transitional Patterns
Five study areas from the Amazon Basin illustrate the complexity of tropical river systems.
Many of these complexities arise because the fluvial system is not merely an entity that is
totally adjusted to the vagaries of modern conditions. Rivers possess a heritage in which they
inherit elements of ancient conditions. Thus, old buried structures, relict alluvium, and
progressive development contribute detail to the modern fluvial landscape. The understanding
of modern rivers requires an understanding of their past history.

FLOODPLAINS AND TERRACES

Floodplains are the relatively broad and smooth valley floors constructed by active rivers and
periodically covered with floodwater during periods of overbank flow. The floodplain is thus
a part of the active erosional and depositional activity of river channels. Floodplains consist
of a great variety of depositional materials, including colluvium (debris from valley sides),
channel deposits (sand and gravel), and vertical accretion deposits (clay and silt deposited by
overbank flows). In addition to fascinating channel patterns, the following study areas
illustrate many floodplain features: Mississippi River (Plate F-10), Yukon River (Plate F-12),
Brahmaputra River (Plate F-13), Cooper Creek (Plate F-15), Yangtze River (Plate F-16),
Manaus (Plate F-22), Solimes (Plate F-23), Japur (Plate F-24), and Ucayali River (Plate F25).

Figure 4-5. Experimental

relation between slope
and sinousity for an
alluvial channel, showing
threshold changes
between channel pattern
types (Schumm and
Kahn, 1972).

River terraces are abandoned floodplains that formed when their associated rivers flowed at
high levels in the past. Many alluvial valleys contain complex flights of river terraces, as in
the Huang He region of China (Plate F-3). Such terraces reflect numerous possible controls
on river gradients, sedimentation, and erosion, including climatic changes, tectonism (uplift
or subsidence), sea level changes, and other controls on base level. Distinguishing among
these various causative elements can be a very difficult problem in geomorphology.

PALEOCHANNELS
A remarkable diversity of ancient river courses can be identified on large-format imagery.
Many of the rivers responsible for these paleochannels have experienced immense
adjustments of discharge and sediment load, major drainage diversions, and/or episodes of
cataclysmic flooding. River adjustments were especially pronounced in the transitions from
glacial to interglacial climates (Baker, 1983). The ancient Teays River system (Plate F-26)
and the Channeled Scabland (Plate F-27) are two study areas that illustrate these phenomena.
The ability of orbital sensors to detect the regional associations of paleochannels on a global
basis should open fascinating opportunities for paleohydrology. Pattern changes between
paleochannels and modern channels should be especially interesting. Schumm (1977) has
termed such changes "river metamorphosis." The directions and, in some cases, the
magnitudes of change can be deduced from various empirical relations and classifications
summarized by Schumm.

CONCLUSION
The study area descriptions that follow will elaborate the details of several river systems.
Although this chapter is but a brief introduction to fluvial mega-geomorphology, it is hoped
that it will convey the worthwhile perspective on rivers afforded by considering them on
large spatial and temporal scales.