Geomorphology: L. Allan James

Geomorphology 317 (2018) 199–217
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Geomorphology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/geomorph
Invited review
Ten conceptual models of large-scale legacy sedimentation – A review

L. Allan James
University South Carolina, United States
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: Considerable interest has been directed toward the recognition and documentation of legacy sediment
Received 17 March 2018 (i.e., anthropogenic sediment) in fluvial systems. Little has been written, however, to identify implicit or explicit the-
Received in revised form 24 May 2018 ories about how these deposits form and evolve over decennial to centennial time scales. This review attempts to
Accepted 24 May 2018
redress this void by examining conceptual models of the physical behavior and characteristics of catchment-scale
Available online 26 May 2018
anthropic fluvial sedimentation events. These concepts, which are not unique to anthropogenic sediment, include
Keywords:
cascades, sediment delivery ratios, waves, aggradation-degradation episodes, residence times, budgets, connectivity,
Legacy sediment stream power, nonlinear dynamical systems, and geohistorical, geoarchaeological, and chronostratigraphic princi-
Human impacts ples. A broad definition of legacy sediment as episodically produced anthropogenic sediment is adopted that in-
Fluvial geomorphology cludes early episodes of large-scale, human-induced sedimentation throughout the world. The models apply to a
Sedimentation variety of environments, so the examples from North America following the introduction of European settlement
can be related to other post-settlement sedimentation episodes elsewhere. During aggradation episodes, rates of
erosion and sedimentation often increased an order of magnitude in response to land clearance for agriculture, tim-
bering, or mining. These sediments may remain as a lasting geomorphic legacy that provides evidence of anthropo-
genic change and governs modern rates of sediment production and nonpoint source pollution.
© 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Contents
1. Introduction and scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

2. Colluvial cascades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
3. Sediment delivery ratios (SDR) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
4. Sediment waves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
5. Aggradation-degradation episodes (ADE) and channel evolution models (CEM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
5.1. Aggradation-degradation episodes (ADE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
5.2. Channel evolution models (CEM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
5.3. Spatial aspects and implications of the ADE concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
6. Storage reservoirs, residence times, and storage potential ratios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
7. Sediment budgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
8. Sediment connectivity and continuity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
9. Stream power and energy expenditure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
10. Complex nonlinear dynamic processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
11. Geohistorical, geoarchaeological, and chronostratigraphic perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
12. Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
13. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
1. Introduction and scope
Anticipating the effects of global climate and land use changes on

fluvial sediment in humanized landscapes calls for accurate conceptual
E-mail address: ajames@sc.edu. models of the long-term, catchment-scale behavior of legacy sediment;
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2018.05.021
0169-555X/© 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
200 L.A. James / Geomorphology 317 (2018) 199–217
i.e., anthropogenic sediment. In the late Holocene, humans surpassed behavior of anthropogenic terrestrial sediment. Although the term, leg-
climate as the dominant factor driving landscape sensitivity and con- acy sediment, is often used in the context of New World post-anglo-
trolling sediment dynamics (Meybeck and Vörösmarty, 2005; American sedimentation and many of the examples are from North
Wilkinson, 2005; Verstraeten et al., 2009). Prior to human activities, America, this review is focused on concepts and processes that apply
73% of global-scale sediment was produced at elevations above to global applications of anthropogenic sediment throughout the
3200 m by slope-dominated glaciofluvial erosion, whereas sediment Anthropocene Epoch. In fact, anthropogenic sediment—although often
production from area-dominated sources below 3200 m that cover complex and diachronous—is an enduring example of Anthropocene
97% of the ice-free land area produced relatively minor amounts of sed- stratigraphy (Brown et al., 2013, 2017).
iment (Wilkinson and McElroy, 2007). After agriculture was The objectives of this study are to outline 10 concepts that can be ap-
established, however, global mean soil loss and sediment fluxes at plied to legacy sediment. These concepts span multiple scales of time and
lower elevations increased to ~30 times the geologic rates estimated space, overlap in their applications, and vary greatly in their methods.
from rock volumes and ~7 times the rates computed from modern They are not intended to represent the entire domain of concepts that
river sediment loads (Wilkinson and McElroy, 2007). The initial apply to anthropogenic sediment, nor are they exclusive to anthropogenic
alluviation of floodplains by anthropogenic sediment in the Neolithic sediment, but often apply to nonanthropogenic sediment. Several physi-
of Europe and other temperate Old World areas tended to occur gradu- cally based concepts address long-term sediment behavior following ep-
ally at lower rates than at New World sites (Brierley et al., 2005). Rela- isodic sedimentation events. Some of these concepts pertain to responses
tively late in the human period—largely in the nineteenth and early at a particular site, whereas others pertain to entire catchments. This dis-
twentieth centuries—great episodes of anthropogenic sedimentation cussion addresses both scales within a catchment-scale spatial context.
were suddenly initiated in the New World following the introduction Reworking and redistribution of stored terrestrial sediment is critical to
of European agriculture and resource extraction (Gilbert, 1917; Knox, modern river processes, so rates, processes, and patterns of sediment re-
1987; Hupp et al., 2013). Increases in erosion and sedimentation have mobilization are important. In general, the following concepts describe
had extreme environmental and economic costs (Pimentel et al., events that began with a relatively short period of exacerbated sediment
1995; Lal, 2001; Pimentel, 2006). The production and storage of anthro- production or delivery followed by much longer periods of storage, remo-
pogenic sediment in some regions of North America, Australia, and New bilization, and channel and floodplain readjustments; i.e., ‘fast in, slow
Zealand are well-documented by historical records and floodplain stra- out’ (Verstraeten et al., 2017). Following large episodic sedimentation
tigraphy (Knox, 2006; Walter and Merritts, 2008) and are known in events that involve overbank storage, sediment flux rates rarely return
some areas to be problematic for the release of toxic metals (Knox, quickly to predisturbance levels. Fluvial systems often store sediment
1987; Marron, 1992; Leigh, 1994; Lecce and Pavlowsky, 2001; Singer for centuries or millennia, so in a sense, the past reveals the future;
et al., 2013; Pavlowsky et al., 2017). In other regions, relatively little is i.e., recognition of large repositories of legacy sediment may indicate fu-
known of pre- or post-colonial sedimentation rates. To understand the ture amplified sediment production and augmented loadings. Conceptual
dynamics of legacy sediment deposits, studies are needed of upland models are needed, therefore, to understand how storage and remobiliza-
sediment production, downstream sedimentary deposits, and the link- tion varies in space and time and to facilitate accurate estimates of how
ages between them (Harvey, 1992; Phillips, 1995; Fryirs and Brierley, actively and for how long this sediment may be reworked and
1999). transported downstream.
Large volumes of human-generated sediment stored on floodplains
now increase modern sediment loads and contribute to ongoing non- 2. Colluvial cascades
point source pollution. Streambank erosion is often a dominant source
of suspended sediment (Gran et al., 2009; Kessler et al., 2013) and aug- Based on early anthropogenic sedimentation in Europe since the
mentation of banks with legacy sediment can increase these loadings. Neolithic, a model of progressive filling of colluvial hollows on hillslopes
Recognition of anthropogenic sediment and associated long-term, as a precursor to valley-bottom sedimentation has been advanced (Lang
large-scale processes is critical to accurate interpretations of past and and Hönscheidt, 1999; Zolitschka et al., 2003; Houben, 2008). Described
present fluvial processes, fluvial landforms, floodplain stratigraphy, sed- as the cascade model (Lang and Hönscheidt, 1999; Lang et al., 2003;
iment yields, and sources of nutrients and toxic elements. Sedimento- Verstraeten et al., 2017), this concept is defined here as the colluvial cas-
logically, distinguishing legacy sediment from previous sediment may cade model to distinguish it from the earlier and broader cascade con-
be difficult where the same materials have been eroded and deposited; cept of systems theory in geomorphology, which applies to fluxes of
but soils, grain sizes, biological features such as tree stumps, metals from mass and energy through open systems (Chorley and Kennedy, 1971).
mines, or other phenomena often provide distinctive stratigraphic Colluvial cascades are a specific example of long-term cascade systems
markers. Legacy sediment has been broadly defined to allow for dilution that may operate without human disturbance when colluvial processes,
of anthropogenic sediment by other materials that may be generated by such as debris flows, store and slowly release sediment (Lancaster and
climate change, sea-level change, or natural processes such as volca- Casebeer, 2007). Lang et al. (2003) noted that early sediment mobiliza-
nism or tectonics (James, 2013). The emphasis of this review is on the tion by climatic events was governed largely by landscape sensitivity,
understanding of geomorphic processes and implications that are es- which was increased by human activities on hillslopes. Researchers in
sential to viable floodplain, stream, and watershed management and central Europe recognized that Neolithic erosion began in many loca-
restoration strategies. tions with sedimentation confined to local colluvial deposits that were
Geomorphic change is often induced by human activities, but spatially and temporally variable (Fig. 1) (Lang and Hönscheidt, 1999;
erosion and sedimentation are spatially heterogeneous and do not nec- Kalis et al., 2003; Lang et al., 2003; Dotterweich, 2008; Gerlach et al.,
essarily follow human occupation. The nature and intensity of 2012). Only after topographically low hillslope depositional areas
anthropogeomorphic change is a function of many factors including cli- were filled, did floodplain sedimentation occur in broader valleys
mate (Nearing et al., 2004, 2005; Burt et al., 2016), intensity and dura- downstream (sink 3 in Fig. 1). This model implies that colluvial anthro-
tion of land use (Knox, 2001), land cover, and landscape sensitivity pogenic deposits may predate anthropic floodplain alluvial archives by a
(Brunsden and Thornes, 1979). Landscape sensitivity, in turn, reflects long period; i.e., anthropogenic sediment production began earlier than
a large variety of factors such as geology, soil, vegetation cover, anteced- floodplain sedimentary archives indicate. In general, hillslope deposits
ent conditions, and topography. Legacy sediment is both a response to record the effects of local land use after a relatively short period of
and a driver of landscape sensitivity and change. time, whereas floodplains downstream record an integration of regional
This paper reviews several conceptual geomorphic models that have trends over a much longer time period (Dotterweich, 2008). Some dif-
arisen over the past century of the long-term, basin-scale, physical ferences exist between the central European studies regarding the
L.A. James / Geomorphology 317 (2018) 199–217 201
Fig. 1. Colluvial cascade model showing sequential downslope movement of anthropogenic sediment from upland sources to colluvial and alluvial sinks from Neolithic to modern time.
Adapted from Lang and Hönscheidt (1999).
importance of the early colluvial deposits as sources of sedimentation these locations, but the stratigraphy should show evidence for early
downstream. According to the Lang and Hönscheidt (1999) hypothesis, sedimentation in the form of soils buried by precolonial alluvium.
the colluvial material in upper sinks was later eroded and moved farther Field surveys in the southeastern USA noted floodplain soils buried by
downslope. A variant of the colluvial cascade hypothesis is that much of postcolonial alluvium along stream channels but did not detect buried
the colluvium was deposited in stable colluvial locations that were sub- young soils or pre-colonial alluvia between old pedogenic red clay
jected to pedogenesis and are still present in the landscape (Gerlach soils at gully mouths on hillslopes (Fig. 2). Some regions with high pre-
et al., 2012). The detailed sequences of deposition in sinks and colonial population densities or intensive agriculture may have had high
reworking from them undoubtedly varies between regions depending anthropic sedimentation rates and should be carefully studied for this
on land use history, climate, topography, landscape sensitivity, soil evidence. For example, the loess hills along the east side of the Missis-
erodabibility, sediment texture, and transport capacity. The general sippi River and the Mid-Atlantic seaboard may have an early history of
concept of an early preconditioning of the landscape by relatively subtle colluvial cascades. Prehistoric anthropogenic upland storage should
anthropogenic erosion and sedimentation processes, however, should not be discounted as a precursor to historic floodplain alluviation unless
be considered as a potential process in many landscapes. the absence of anthropogenic deposits can be demonstrated. More test-
Does the cascade model apply outside of central Europe; i.e., to tem- ing of the colluvial cascade hypothesis is needed in a variety of environ-
perate New World locations through accelerated pre- or early postcolo- ments to determine the importance of precolonial or early postcolonial
nial alluviation? This question should be explored for individual anthropogenic sedimentation in upland settings.
catchments in various regions to determine the extent to which (if
any) anthropic sediment deliveries to floodplains were preconditioned 3. Sediment delivery ratios (SDR)
by filling of hollows and other depressions below upland sediment
sources. Early anthropogenic colluvial sedimentation has not been Sediment delivery ratios (SDR), a concept derived from sedimenta-
well-documented in the USA, although Dotterweich et al. (2014) tion engineering, are calculated as the ratio of the sediment yield leav-
found evidence of substantial precolonial sedimentation in loess- ing a catchment to sediment production:
covered hills of southwestern Tennessee. Application of the cascade
model to pre-colonial anthropogenic sediment in temperate North SDR ¼ Y=P ð1Þ
America could be appropriate where evidence shows that an early gen-
eration of anthropic erosion and sedimentation filled colluvial storage where Y is sediment yield and P is sediment production. Typically, pro-
sites prior to European colonization. Detailed colluvial stratigraphic duction is defined as sheet, rill, and gully erosion; i.e., upland erosion
studies are needed to test this hypothesis. In many New World cases, that can be estimated from soil erosion models. Some initial definitions
post-colonial alluviation was so extreme that it overwhelmed upland also included channel erosion (Glymph, 1954; Roehl, 1962), but compu-
storage sites and quickly reached floodplains (Gilbert, 1917; Happ, tations of channel erosion are often omitted so that production is from
1945; Knox, 1987). Legacy sediment from a single generation of nine- upland sources. Yield is measured from suspended sediment loads at a
teenth or twentieth century episodic sedimentation may extend down stream gauge or from reservoir surveys (Vanoni, 1975; de Vente et al.,
from sources in continuous graded deposits to tributary floodplains. 2007). Thus, the SDR primarily measures the proportion of eroded up-
This does not preclude the burial of earlier anthropic sediment at land sediment that reaches the watershed outlet. The SDR value differs
Fig. 2. Cox gully. Map at lower left shows gully as it was surveyed by Ireland et al. (1939) and positions of their cross sections. Cross sections (upper left) include subsurface stratigraphy
from soil coring. (Views upstream.) Photograph (upper right) shows post-colonial sediment in 1939.
Source: Ireland et al. (1939).
from one to the extent that sediment is added to (SDR b 1) or recruited downstream areas and that sediment is stored in small watersheds
from (SDR N 1) colluvial, terrace, and floodplain storage. The strong ten- (Wolman, 1977; Walling, 1983). This decrease in yields downstream
dency for observed SDRs to be b1 (b100%) and to decrease downstream corresponds with decreases in slope, which leads to the upland theory
has been addressed by many studies and may represent an inherent dis- of Boyce (1975) (Ferro and Minacapilli, 1995). Broader analyses of inter-
equilibrium in fluvial systems (Holeman, 1968; Ahnert, 1970; Trimble, national data indicate considerable variations in SDRs with drainage area
1977; Walling, 1983; Fryirs, 2013). This interpretation has been that may reflect different climates, tectonics, topography, or erosion his-
questioned on the basis of the dimensions conventionally used to com- tories in areas with earlier anthropogenic settlement (Fig. 3).
pute SDRs and particle travel lengths (Wainwright et al., 2001; Parsons The sediment delivery concept is strongly time-scale dependent.
et al., 2006). On the other hand, SDRs N1 have been noted in some loca- Most SDR-based studies have been relatively short-term, but applica-
tions, such as in British Columbia, where sediment recruitment from tion of the concept to longer time frames and assuming a relationship
glacial outwash terraces is substantial (Church and Slaymaker, 1989) between SDRs and sediment storage allows comparisons relevant to
or in arid basins where accelerated erosion of arroyos increased yields
(Graf, 1985).
The SDR has been used to predict sediment yields by rearranging
Eq. (1) to solve for yield (Roehl, 1962; NRCS, 1983; Onstad, 1984), as-
suming that accurate erosion rates and an SDR are available for the sys-
tem. Variations in SDRs have been the subject of much study, and
models of SDR use a variety of physiographic factors including drainage
area, slope, channel length, microclimate, vegetation, soil properties, or
transport capacity (de Vente et al., 2007; Diodato and Grauso, 2009). In
addition, spatially distributed SDRs have been developed (Ferro and
Minacapilli, 1995; Heckmann and Vericat, 2018) that may improve esti-
mates of SDRs and yields and quantify factors that govern sediment stor-
age. To standardize SDRs for scale, relationships between SDRs and
drainage area have been demonstrated and used to predict SDR and
yield (Roehl, 1962; Vanoni, 1975; Dendy and Bolton, 1976) (Fig. 3). For
the USA data, the SDR has been expressed as a decreasing power function
of drainage area:
SDR ¼ aAb ð2Þ

Fig. 3. Sediment delivery ratios as a function of drainage area. Data from USA dam surveys
(Roehl, 1962; Novotny and Chester, 1989), from 25 basins throughout Italy (Diodato and
where A is drainage area and a and b are empirical parameters with b b 0, Grauso, 2009) and from 11 international basins (Diodato and Grauso, 2009). Trend line
which indicates that a decreasing proportion of sediment reaches based on North American data (Novotny and Chester, 1989).
the evolution of anthropogenic sediment deposits (Rommens et al., represent basin-scale episodes of sediment supply resulting from
2005). Over geologic time, the tendency for alluvial storage in large ba- high-magnitude climate, tectonic, or anthropogenic events (Nicholas
sins and for buffering of high fluvial sediment yields (Phillips, 2003a) re- et al., 1995). Human-induced waves can be produced by agriculture
sults in a high capacity for storage of episodically produced sediment. (Happ et al., 1940), mining (Gilbert, 1917), deforestation (Madej and
For historical sediment, two time scales are relevant to SDRs: the period Ozaki, 1996), landslides (Sutherland et al., 2002), or dam removal
of erosion and the period of sediment reworking. Erosion periods may (Pizzuto, 2002). They are associated with non-steady state conditions
be on the order of a few decades, but sediment reworking may take and may have secondary effects on channels, such as causing widening,
much longer (Lu et al., 2005). From this perspective, a possible explana- avulsions, and interactions with tributaries (Sims and Rutherfurd,
tion for the geomorphic disequilibrium indicated by SDRs b1 is the in- 2017). Like storm hydrographs, sediment waves are conventionally
troduction of human-accelerated erosion. During erosional episodes depicted as changes in sediment flux through time from a Eulerian or
caused by human disturbance, most of the sediment typically does not at-a-station frame of reference; i.e., with the observer fixed in space.
travel far, so SDRs tend to be low indicating a dominance of sediment The sediment waves of concern here, are long-term, secular waves
storage on slopes, in colluvial aprons, and in upper tributaries over the that include overbank deposits on floodplains and last for decades or
past century (Meade, 1982; Phillips, 1991; Beach, 1994). The extensive longer. This conception of sediment movement should not be confused
research in North America that generated SDR data from 1940 to 1970 with the rise and fall of the channel bed over a period of years that is
followed a period of extreme anthropogenic erosion when sediment better described as a bed wave (James, 2010). Channel incision and re-
production was high (Nearing et al., 2017). Subsequently, sediment pro- moval of material from the channel bed tends to be much more rapid
duction in many regions declined and remobilization of the stored sed- than the removal of sediment from storage on floodplains (Meade and
iment is ongoing. Soil conservation measures (Fig. 4), agricultural Parker, 1985). With long-term sediment storage on floodplains and in
decline, reforestation, and farm ponds in many New World regions re- terraces or other repositories, sediment waves are often right-skewed
duced sediment production and delivery substantially (Knox, 1987; with respect to time (James, 1989, 1999).
Wasson et al., 1998; Renwick and Andereck, 2006). Furthermore, The study of large-scale anthropogenic sedimentation at the basin
reworking of voluminous historical deposits have raised SDRs scale often evokes questions regarding the extent to which sediment
(Ruhlman and Nutter, 1999; Trimble, 1999). By the 1970s, reductions waves propagate by translation or dispersion (Lisle et al., 1997, 2001;
in SDR from soil conservation practices in the USA were largely compen- Sklar et al., 2009; see review by Gran and Czuba, 2017). Either behavior
sated for by increased areas of farmland and streambank instability so can be difficult to measure with extremely large, protracted sedimenta-
that SDRs remained approximately constant (Robinson, 1977). The tion events such as the post-colonial sediment produced over a few de-
time lag between storage and remobilization, referred to as a temporal cades. In catchments with multiple sediment sources, long-term
discontinuity or temporal lumping (Walling, 1983), is an important el- storage and release of sediment and channel network structures compli-
ement of the redistribution of legacy sediment. Hypothetically, SDRs cate sediment deliveries (Gran and Czuba, 2017), so the identification of
recomputed today for basins without dams would be larger and include a coherent sediment wave may be problematic. From a Lagrangian frame
more catchments with SDRs N100%, and spatial patterns in SDRs would of reference, large sediment slugs can be longitudinally discontinuous
reflect a shift of legacy sediment farther downvalley. and large gaps with negligible deposition may separate zones of deep
alluviation (James, 2006). In the Sierra Nevada, the type locale for sedi-
4. Sediment waves ment wave theory (Gilbert, 1917), sediment waves were highly discon-
tinuous in space (James, 2010). Although downstream discontinuities
When produced in large volumes relatively suddenly, sediment may make waves more spatially complex processes, they do not preclude
form a large sediment wave, also known as a super slug or pulse of sed- the passage of waves. In general, recognition that the downstream move-
iment (Nicholas et al., 1995). The sediment wave concept was intro- ment of sediment waves is highly complex is in keeping with realizations
duced by G.K. Gilbert in 1917 in the context of a large-scale slug of of the downstream complexity of many river properties. Assumptions of
anthropogenic sediment introduced in the Sierra Nevada of California simple progressive longitudinal changes in fluvial systems, such as pos-
over a period of 31 years. Secular sediment waves or superslugs tulated by downstream hydraulic geometry (Leopold and Maddock,
Fig. 4. Soil erosion and conservation measures in Newberry County, South Carolina. (A) Check dams in the headwall of a gully threatening a road; 1941–1942. (B) Gully stabilization; 1941–
1942. Source: U.S. National Archives Series: photographic prints documenting programs and activities of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics and Predecessor Agencies, compiled ca.
1922–ca. 1947.
1953) or the river continuum concept (Vannote et al., 1980), have been during aggradation. For example, many channels in northern California
challenged as more detailed, high-resolution data became available that had been single-thread channels prior to disturbance became
(Carbonneau et al., 2012). The presence of discontinuities introduced braided when they filled with hydraulic mining sediment (Gilbert,
by diverse steady states with multidirectional changes in response to 1917). Braiding reduces flow depths and dissipates surplus energy, so
complex environmental conditions may be better described by non- it is a common—but not necessary—adjustment to increased loads of
linear dynamics than by gradualist assumptions of dynamic equilibrium non-cohesive, coarse-grained sediment and steepened gradients that
or continuity (Grant et al., 2017). may accompany the onset of an ADE.
During the degradation phase of an ADE (St3), deposition of relatively
5. Aggradation-degradation episodes (ADE) and channel evolution fine-grained alluvium may continue as overbank sedimentation even as
models (CEM) the channel is incising. As channel incision progresses and terraces be-
come laterally disconnected from flows, however, overbank sedimenta-
An aggradation-degradation episode (ADE) occurs when channels tion occurs less frequently and the deposits become finer and thinner
fill with sediment in response to high sediment loads, followed by chan- (Knox, 2006). Multithread channels in the aggradation phase can evolve
nel incision and widening and floodplain morphogenesis when sedi- into single-thread channels during incision. Channel incision may leave
ment loads decrease (James, 2010; James and Lecce, 2013). An ADE terraces of historical alluvium that constrain the lateral extent of floods,
occurs in response to accelerated sediment production that may be gen- so the narrowed floodway acts like a flume that increases transport ca-
erated by climate change, fire, pestilence, geological events, such as vol- pacity (Happ et al., 1940; Knox, 1987, 2006; Woltemade, 1994;
canic eruptions or tectonic uplift, or by human activities. Channel Faulkner and McIntyre, 1996). Stepped terraces may develop if the chan-
evolution models (CEM) or another series of responses describe specific nel migrates laterally or narrows while downcutting and may be dated
sequences of morphological changes that degrading channels pass by dendrochronologic methods to reconstruct the timing of incision.
through; e.g., Schumm et al.'s (1984) five-stage model or Simon and Channel incision may isolate some legacy deposits leaving pockets of rel-
Hupp's (1986) six-stage model. A CEM may be embedded within the atively stable alluvium in storage. In some cases, degradation may super-
degradation and post-degradation phases of an ADE. Large legacy sedi- pose channels onto resistant clay layers, such as old floodplain soils, that
ment events often initiate an ADE and, following degradation, the flood- act as knickpoints or onto bedrock that forms steep, narrow gorges and
plain that forms at maximum aggradation may become an alluvial long-term valley constrictions that can store sediment for millennia
terrace that is disconnected from channel-forming processes. Variability (James, 2004; right side of Fig. 5).
in causes and responses to sedimentation between catchments is great, In most cases of major aggradation events that lack coarse-grained
however, from multiple drivers and the integrative nature of fluvial material, the vertical incision of channels is relatively rapid and leaves
morphodynamics (Downs et al., 2013), so a highly generalized concep- a narrow channel with a lower gradient. A long period of braidbelt or
tual model is desired that can be adapted to a wide variety of environ- meanderbelt widening and floodplain formation usually follows (St4).
ments and geomorphic responses. Generally, the channel is not in steady state during all stages of an
ADE beyond stage 1, including the transition from stage 3 to stage 4,
5.1. Aggradation-degradation episodes (ADE) when it is in an underfit condition with deep narrow cross sections
that are hydraulically efficient for transporting sediment. As the channel
Large, catchment-scale anthropogenic sedimentation events may de- enlarges, the frequency of terrace inundation and sedimentation de-
fine an ADE in which channels pass through phases of aggradation, deg- creases and colonization of the new floodplain by vegetation increases
radation, and widening with new floodplain creation. This concept does flow roughness and traps sediment there (Knox, 1987). This secondary
not apply to depositional basins where sediment storage may persist for aggradation, aided by pulses of sediment from upstream, interacts with
an epoch or longer. Aggradation of most terrestrial systems will ulti- the post-disturbance hydrologic regime to generate a new floodplain
mately be followed by a degradation phase, although some proportion and channel that may not resemble those of the predisturbance condi-
of the sediment may be sequestered in protected areas for extensive pe- tions. A variety of single- or multithread channel and floodplain mor-
riods. The ADE does not usually end with the termination of channel ver- phologies may evolve. The upstream migration of knickpoints may
tical incision but is often followed by an extensive period of meander- govern rates of propagation of upstream incision and sediment produc-
belt or braid-belt widening and secondary aggradation that may last tion. Periods of secondary aggradation may occur in response to bank
much longer than the initial bed-elevation changes. In addition, the deg- erosion (Simon and Rinaldi, 2006) or the propagation of incision up
radation phase may be extended in locations where bedrock or armor into the tributary network; i.e., complex response (Schumm, 1973,
form knickpoints or local base level controls. Increased sediment loads 1977). Channel armor may develop in the bed if coarse sediment is
and related morphological adjustments of an ADE typically last for de- present, which may retard vertical incision and encourage lateral migra-
cades to centuries, whereas reworking of terrace deposits may involve tion and widening. Channel widening and floodplain evolution during
millennia. This highly generalized conceptual framework can embrace stage 4 may compromise channel banks and riparian buffers and gener-
many styles of aggradation, degradation, and floodplain morphogenesis. ate large amounts of sediment over a protracted period. The widening
The examples of aggradation, degradation, and floodplain evolution de- phase of an ADE is often associated with extensive channel engineering
scribed here are not the only process-response examples possible for works that attempt to stabilize banks. Until widening occurs, deposition
an ADE. The general concept can be applied widely to secular sedimenta- of alluvium and floodplain development may be inhibited.
tion events that overwhelm the sediment transport capacity of a channel An ADE can incorporate a variety of environmental trajectories.
and subsequent adjustments of the channel and floodplain system when Where the general sequence is occurring or has occurred, it should be
sediment loads decrease. recognized by river managers, engineers, and restoration planners be-
At stage 1, before the onset of an ADE, the channel is unaltered cause it represents a long-term dynamic with changing conditions and
(Fig. 5). The planform of the undisturbed channel may be braided, non-equilibrium states. The environmental trajectory may return flood-
meandering, wandering, straight, or anabranching. With the episodic de- plain widths to a previous condition or to a new morphology if runoff,
position of sediment the channel bed rises and overbank sedimentation sediment loads, or vegetation have changed, bed armor has increased,
occurs (St2). The channel may be completely filled resulting in avulsions or terraces laterally constrain flood flows. An ADE may occur in re-
and sediment storage in channel-fill deposits. Depending on the rates of sponse to natural or anthropogenic causes, but the concept is widely ap-
sediment delivery, sedimentary textures, vegetation, channel and flood- plicable because channel aggradation has been a common feature of
plain gradients, hydrologic regime, and human interference (levees, global anthropogenic change. Many rivers in temperate mid-latitude re-
etc.), a variety of fundamental changes in channel planform is possible gions are in the degradation or channel-widening phase of an ADE
Fig. 5. Four stages of aggradation-degradation edpisodes (ADE) at two hypothetical sites following floodplain alluviation (St2), incision after sediment deliveries decline (St3), and a period
of widening and floodplain genesis (St4). (Left) Channel reoccupies approximate original position and widens and forms a new floodplain during stage 4. Although shown here as a single
channel, alternative forms may evolve. (Right). Channel avulsion and superpositioning over bedrock forms a steep, narrow canyon.
initiated by massive sedimentation induced by agriculture, deforesta- meandering channel. Cluer and Thorne (2014) proposed a more general
tion, mining, urbanization, or other land use disturbances associated stream evolution model (SEM) that allows for multithread channels,
with colonization, industrialization, or resource extraction. The combi- planform (sinuosity) adjustments, and a wider variety of habitats. The
nation of soil conservation, reforestation, and dam construction has re- widespread and highly variable nature of channel incision in post-
duced sediment deliveries resulting in degradation. In developing settlement regions ensures a highly variable set of potential responses.
nations that lack environmental protections, many rivers are in the ini- A primary advantage of the CEM is that it has been widely studied and
tial stages of anthropogenically induced aggradation and the degrada- is well-known so it can serve as a basis for comparisons to a variety of po-
tion phase may be anticipated when sediment deliveries decline. tential responses.
In early CEMs, stage I represented the undisturbed channel, and stage
5.2. Channel evolution models (CEM) II was a perturbation caused by channel design or dredging (Simon,
1989, 1994). For applications of legacy sediment, however, the perturba-
The incision and widening phases of an ADE may include variations of tion in stage II is channel aggradation (Fig. 6). Stage III of the CEM is the
the well-known channel evolution model (CEM) (Schumm et al., 1984; initial degradation phase before banks exceed a critical height of failure
Simon and Hupp, 1986; Simon and Rinaldi, 2006). Channel evolution (h b hc). Channels during stage III tend to be narrow, and large floods
models represent a transition of state based on a single-path sequence tend to be deep. Overbank sedimentation may continue during stage
of somewhat predictable processes that occur during and after channel III, although lower frequencies of floodplain inundation and finer sedi-
incision (Phillips and Van Dyke, 2017). The prediction of a linear se- ment are likely. Stage IV is characterized by channel widening, bank ero-
quence of responses following a disturbance may belie an influence of sion, and increases in sediment deliveries to the channel, although
ecological succession models on early CEMs (Van Dyke, 2013). Several degradation continues. Bank erosion may occur by mass wasting domi-
versions of CEMs have been proposed (Simon and Darby, 2002; Simon nated by gravitational processes, such as slumping or toppling, or by flu-
and Rinaldi, 2006; Bollati et al., 2014) as reviewed by Van Dyke (2013). vial scour or entrainment from shear stresses of the flow (Thorne, 1982;
Some CEMs are intended for specific environments; e.g., semiarid Lawler, 1993; ASCE, 1998; Millar and Quick, 1998; Rinaldi and Darby,
urban streams (Hawley et al., 2012), and the CEM can be broadly applied 2008). Bank stability varies with a large array of factors including bank
to any incised system even if it did not experience aggradation (no ADE); angle, buttressing by debris at the base of the bank, pore water pressure
e.g., dredged channels or rejuvenation of a landscape. In the context of and chemistry, hydrologic regime (e.g., frequency of bankfull discharge),
legacy sediment, however, systems incise in response to a large-scale ag- vegetation (e.g., root thickness and tensile strength), and sediment prop-
gradation event and the CEM applies to degradation during recovery erties, such as grain size, stratification, etc. (Lawler et al., 1997; Konsoer
from that sedimentation. The general progression of CEM stages has et al., 2016). Bank failures are likely to occur as heights exceed critical
been documented in several cases, but only in a limited number of envi- bank heights (h N hc). Legacy sediment increases bank heights (from h1
ronments, so it should not be considered a universal model for all to h2), which may hasten the transition from stage III to IV by promoting
degrading channel systems. In fact, several studies have noted excep- bank failures and increasing the amount of sediment produced during
tions to the CEM (Makaske et al., 2002; Hawley et al., 2012; Toone degradation. High terrace scarps also raise the level of trees and may
et al., 2012), and variations in the CEM were noted in with bed material allow lateral erosion below the root wads (Fig. 7). Critical bank heights
grain sizes (Doyle and Shields, 2000). Others have critiqued the implied were computed by Simon (1994) for loess soils as a function of debris
assumption of the results being a dynamically stable, single-thread, at the base of the slope, slope angle, soil moisture, and soil conditions.
Fig. 6. The channel evolution model (CEM) with aggradation incorporated into stage II as the disturbance phase. With the exception of stage II and the addition of legacy sediment, this CEM
is similar to other CEMs.
Adapted from Simon and Rinaldi (2006).
Bank erosion processes include lateral channel scour, popouts from high 5.3. Spatial aspects and implications of the ADE concept
pore pressures and overburden, piping, tunnel gullies, slumping,
cantilevering of undercuts, etc. (ASCE, 1998). The ADE concept can be regarded from a Eulerian (at-a-station)
During stage V, sediment pulses from bank erosion and other frame of reference, although catchment-scale implications follow from
sources may cause secondary aggradation and lateral planation. Vegeta- the downvalley progression of aggradation, headward propagation of
tion on floodplains traps sediment and increases hydraulic roughness, incision, or the time-transgressive nature of the episode. A strong spatial
which promotes further widening. In the classic CEM, aggradation dur- distribution of channel responses commonly develops with an ADE as
ing stage V was largely attributed to bank failures (Simon and Hupp, the occurrence of various stages may be time-transgressive. Multiple
1986; Simon, 1994; Simon and Rinaldi, 2006), although Schumm et al. stages may be present at a certain time in different locations within a
(1984) described complex responses; i.e., propsagation of knickpoints watershed (Fig. 8). In most cases, anthropogenic sediment is produced
up into the branching channel network. Alternative processes have in headwaters by agriculture, mining, deforestation, or other distributed
been evoked by subsequent applications of the CEM including dam land uses. Although this is not always the case (e.g., dam removal) and
removal (Doyle and Shields, 2000). With legacy sediment in an production in a tributary may deliver sediment lower down in a major
ADE, aggradation may be increased by sediment deliveries from drainage, a general model of sedimentation can be visualized as begin-
complex response (Schumm, 1977) or bank failures that produce ning in small tributaries and propagating downstream. This increases
pulses of sediment after the initial incision. In stage VI sediment pro- channel gradients and may be accompanied by changes in grain size be-
duction from channel widening and complex response has dropped tween predisturbance and post-disturbance. Sediment in upper reaches
to the point that sediment deliveries are approximately in balance will generally be coarser with lag materials ranging from sand to boul-
with transport capacities. The CEM describes stage VI as having ders, whereas finer material will be selectively transported down-
established quasi-equilibrium and assumes that the channel ulti- stream. Ultimately when sediment production decreases, channels in
mately ends up in equilibrium (Simon and Rinaldi, 2006). A premise the over-steepened upper tributaries will incise and transition to stage
of the CEM concept is that morphological adjustments reduce flow 3 of the ADE model, leaving the aggraded floodplain as a historical ter-
velocities after a disturbance so that the energy expended on race. Although degradation may be initiated in headwater areas, inci-
performing work is minimized and energy dissipation is maximized sion may also progress upstream from a knickpoint or from sites that
(Simon, 1994). received high sediment loads such as a tributary confluence.
Fig. 7. Post-incision channel widening of deeply aggraded channels of Chicken Creek in Fairfield County, South Carolina. Where tree roots are high up on thick legacy sediment, banks may
be unprotected. (A) Approximately 3 m post-settlement alluvium over buried Ab soil horizon (arrow). (B) When undercut, trees may topple, which introduces large woody debris, diverts
flows, and accelerates widening.
If impediments such as dams are not present, sediment eroded from rivers promoted narrow, deep channels in the Driftless Area of south-
the upper basins may continue to be deposited downstream where west Wisconsin. In contrast, coarse-grained hydraulic mining sediment
stage 2 aggradation may continue simultaneously with stage 3 degrada- in the lower Yuba River, California encouraged channel widening that
tion in the headwaters. This condition can be associated with decreased was suppressed by bank protection and levees.
channel gradients, especially if channel meandering accompanies flood-
plain widening in the transition from stage 3 to stage 4. Stage 4 widen- 6. Storage reservoirs, residence times, and storage potential ratios
ing may be slow to develop in downstream areas of major channels
depending on sediment deliveries and sedimentary textures. In contrast Fluvial sediment can be stored in reservoirs such as floodplains,
with wide, gravel-bed channels in small watersheds, Knox (1987, 2006) channels, deltas, and dams (Phillips et al., 2007; Walter and Merritts,
showed that cohesive, fine-grained legacy bank materials in larger 2008; Middelkoop et al., 2010), The amount of time that sediment
Fig. 8. Long profiles of an ADE in a large watershed showing initial sedimentation in upper reaches and extending downstream, progressively burying the former floodplain (stage 2).
Degradation (stage 3) tends to begin in the upper reaches, often as aggradation (stage 2) continues downstream. Widening, floodplain genesis, and secondary aggradation (Stage
4) also tend to begin upstream as downstream areas continue to degrade (stage 3).
remains in storage in reservoirs is highly variable and important for es- through erosion, armoring, and isolation of erodible sediment from mod-
timating not only long-term sediment transport rates, but also response erate floods.
times of geomorphic systems, water quality loadings, and preservation The storage-potential ratio concept is largely pedagogical, but it
potential of alluvial archives (Phillips et al., 2007; Hoffman, 2015). The helps to visualize the multivariate nature of sediment storage and to
residence or transit time is the time between deposition and evacuation identify environmental conditions that drive it. Delivery-dominated do-
of sediment, which may be expressed as an average time for an entire mains that tend to collect sediment and aggrade may be characterized
deposit, as a range of times for various components of the deposit, or by availability of erodible materials such as deep regolith, loess, or
as a frequency distribution from which probabilities of movement can stored alluvia, along with relatively low-energy local hydraulics with
be derived. low gradients and discharge regimes. They can be distinguished from
Residence times are highly variable and poorly constrained, so several transport-dominated domains with low sediment availability and
methods of computation have been developed. Conventional one- high-energy local hydraulics that may be characterized by a scarcity of
dimensional sediment-transport functions based on conservation of erodible materials such as glacially scoured bedrock and narrow rocky
mass and changes in channel cross sections through time do not account valley bottoms with high flow energies governed by steep gradients
for long-term storage outside of channels, so other means of estimating and high discharge regimes.
sediment residence times are needed (Malmon et al., 2003). Average res- Storage potential ratios do not provide a quantitative metric for the
idence times for floodplains can be computed by dividing sediment stor- amount of sediment stored or removed from a site but simply express
age volume by the sediment discharge rate (Dietrich and Dunne, 1978), the tipping point and the direction in which the system will move with
although isolated deposits in the floodplain may have residence times regard to net erosion or sedimentation. The simple binary question
far in excess of average values. A stochastic approach, demonstrated for whether or not sediment will be stored or recruited at a particular time
debris flow residence times in the Oregon Coast Range, USA, is based on and place is answered by the balance between delivery and transport.
the percentage of sediment in a deposit that will be evacuated over a Over long periods, however, conditions may change. For example, the
set time interval (Benda and Dunne, 1997). Another approach, based on numerator integrates all the dynamic factors in the watershed governing
the age distribution of deposits, can be used to analyze residence times sediment deliveries, whereas the denominator includes the evolution of
of sediment particles in steady state floodplain deposits (Dietrich et al., flow capacity, flow competency, and connectivity to erodible sediment. If
1982; Malmon et al., 2003; Phillips et al., 2007). Such studies demonstrate data are available, the storage potential ratio can be replaced with a sed-
that residence times vary with the age and position of sediment in the de- iment budget, which provides a more specific accounting of the sedi-
posit and are much shorter for sediment within channels than on flood- ment that moves.
plains or fans. For example, Nakamura and Kikuchi (1996) analyzed
historical aerial photography of the Saro River in Japan to develop the 7. Sediment budgets
age distribution of changes in alluvial deposits and to show that the prob-
ability of erosion is lower for older sediments at the valley margins. The most explicit expressions of sediment volumes or mass account
Phillips et al. (2007) found that the area-weighted mean age of alluvial for how much sediment is present in a budget that can be used to mea-
deposits in the lower Waipaoa River, New Zealand—including terrace sure changes in sediment over time or space. In their most basic form,
remnants isolated by channel incision—was ~4400 years and that the sediment budgets simply provide an accounting of how much sediment
half-life of potentially reworkable sediment was N2000 years. Residence is present, but they can quantitatively specify sediment dynamics by
times with respect to areas in that analysis were best described by a comparing inputs and outputs at a site or in a catchment:
semi-log decay curve. Based on chronostratigraphic relations and mor-
phologic changes documented by repeated channel cross sections over I ¼ O dS ð4Þ
a period of 18 years following a large sedimentation event in Colorado,
USA, Moody (2017) concluded that transit-time distributions were best where I is sediment inputs, O is sediment outputs, and dS is change in
characterized by a two-parameter Weibull distribution. At two mountain- storage. The inputs and outputs in Eq. (4) can be partitioned into various
ous sites in the debris flow-fluvial process-transition zone in the Coast sources and sinks, spatially distributed throughout catchments, and ap-
Range of Oregon, USA, mean transit times of sediment ranged between plied at specific times or time steps. Computing the difference between
4.43 × 102 and 1.22 × 103 14C years (Lancaster and Casebeer, 2007). sediment influx and sediment outflow from a catchment (transport)
On a broadly conceptual basis, the likelihood that sediment will be with a sediment budget provides the volume or mass of storage or re-
stored or removed from a site represents the balance between sediment moval. Sediment budgets can be visualized by maps with widths propor-
delivered to the site and the ability of flows to transport sediment from tional to sediment loads or deposits (e.g., Meade and Trimble, 1974;
the site. This likelihood can be expressed by a storage potential ratio: Fryirs, 2013). Philosophically, sediment budgets should be a definitive
SP ¼ f ðD=T Þ ð3Þ
where D is sediment delivery to the site, and T is sediment transport from

the site (James, 2013). The terms D and T can be conceptualized as a
broad set of factors that govern rates of sediment influx and outflow to
the reach, respectively. The storage potential ratio can be visualized by
adapting the Lane-Borland triple-beam balance metaphor (Fig. 9) (Lane,
1955; Borland, 1960). The balance between sediment deliveries and
transport over time drives storage potential. The numerator is controlled
by all catchment-scale processes driving sediment delivery, including soil
erosion and sediment recruitment from channels, floodplains, and collu-
vium upstream. The denominator represents local factors controlling sed-
iment entrainment and transport from the site, including flow hydraulics,
sediment characteristics, and sediment availability. The entrainment and
Fig. 9. Sediment storage potential ratio visualized as a balance between sediment
transport factors can be determined with sediment transport functions deliveries to the reach and sediment entrainment and transport out of the reach.
(e.g., Wilcock et al., 2009), but over time sediment availability changes (Diagram adapted from Borland, 1960. Stream channel stability. United States Bureau of
as the connectivity between flows and erodible sediment evolves Reclamation, Denver.)
tool in geomorphology. In 1993, at the Binghamton Geomorphology connectivity is relevant to the long-term behavior of stored anthropo-
Symposium and International Association of Geomorphology conference genic sediment and is highlighted here as a conceptual model. Sediment
in Hamilton, Ontario, the late John B. Thornes suggested that, if there connectivity varies with sediment availability, grain sizes, and flow com-
ever is to be a grand unified theory of geomorphology, it would have to petence and tends to bring out the spatial aspects of sediment transport
involve sediment budgets, because—at the most fundamental level— (Hooke, 2003). A system may be well-connected for suspended sediment
landforms are created by the addition or removal of sediment. Where that is carried great distances by each flood but poorly connected or dis-
data allow, therefore, the ultimate conceptual geomorphic models of connected for coarse-grained material that resides for long periods in
long-term anthropogenic sediment storage and flux are best quantified one place. Connectivity is conventionally classified as longitudinal, lateral,
and understood with sediment budgets. or vertical relative to the longitudinal profile of the channel thalweg. Lat-
Sediment budgets have been applied to legacy sediment deposits by eral connectivity refers to channel-hillslope or channel-floodplain link-
many studies, including one of the earliest examples of a sediment bud- ages in the cross-valley dimension, whereas longitudinal connectivity
get by Gilbert (1917). Based on a spatially distributed soil-erosion refers to fluxes of water, energy, material, or biota up or downstream
model and lake cores, Royall and Kennedy (2016) constructed a sedi- (Fryirs et al., 2007). Evacuation of an extensive deposit of legacy sediment
ment budget for two small watersheds in the Blue Ridge Mountains of stored in terraces requires lateral and longitudinal connectivity;
North Carolina and documented a sediment delivery ratio of 0.28 with i.e., competent flows must reach the lateral extent of the sediment and
69% of the eroded sediment stored as colluvium. They attributed higher carry it downstream out of the reach.
SDR values than nearby SDRs in the southeastern Piedmont to steeper Lateral sediment connectivity (LatSC) governs sediment storage po-
slopes that resulted in high sediment connectivity. A sediment budget tential and may define a variety of environments, each with different
was developed for a 539 km2 Georgia watershed in the southeastern residence times. For example, Madej (1989) classified deposits from a
Piedmont based on floodplain coring and reservoir sedimentation to large flood into four categories: active, semiactive, inactive, and stable.
compute storage and a soil erosion model and suspended sediment rat- Each category has a different level of LatSC with the channel and differ-
ing curves to compute modern rates of erosion and sedimentation ent residence times (Fig. 10). Such classifications should consider not
(Jackson et al., 2005). They found that the thickness of legacy floodplain only sediment location, but also vegetation cover, hydrologic flow re-
sediment averaged 1.6 m and concluded that it would take six to ten gime, rates of lateral channel migration, texture, and channel armor.
millennia for this sediment to be removed at current transport rates. Large deposits of historical alluvium may be separated from competent
Advances in erosion and sedimentation modeling with spatial map- flood flows (Fig. 11). For example, high terraces may be stable if isolated
ping and remote sensing technologies facilitate the development of sed- from fluvial erosion by armor or lower terraces at their base, whereas
iment budgets and make their use more practical (Mitasova et al., sediment in channels, chutes, and low floodplains may remain active
2013). Spatial analysis of high resolution topographic data can identify or semiactive in response to high LatSC.
and simulate processes and map sediment movement within water- Longitudinal sediment connectivity (LongSC) expressed the ease
sheds. Sediment budgets can be computed from changes in channel with which sediment is conveyed downstream. Poor LongSC in headwa-
morphology by methods referred to as the morphological or inverse ap- ters between slopes and channels implies a low sediment delivery ratio.
proach (Ashmore and Church, 1998; Vericat et al., 2017). Many studies The highly variable, sporadic, and intermittent nature of sediment re-
have described methods for computing sediment transport from chan- mobilization from storage makes prediction of long-term transport
nel and floodplain morphology by using repeat field surveys to develop and storage difficult at the catchment scale (Fryirs, 2013). Over long
large-scale maps and digital elevation models (DEMs) (Martin and time frames, the colluvial cascade model describes a progressive in-
Church, 1995; Brasington et al., 2000; Lane, 2000; Gaeuman et al., crease in LongSC between hillslopes and channels as more sediment is
2003; Lane et al., 2003; Church, 2006). The DEMs can be differenced added to the system. At these scales, the channel network structure is
to compute DEMs of difference (DoD) that represent changes in sedi- essential (Gran and Czuba, 2017) as is valley bottom slope and width,
ment volume (Wheaton et al., 2010; James et al., 2012; Leonard et al., so LongSC can be highly variable. In the southeastern Piedmont of the
2017). Topographic changes mapped using conventional RTK-GPS, USA, LongSC can be very low. In Georgia and the Carolinas b10% of the
total stations, or terrestrial lidar can be coupled with lidar and structure anthropogenic sediment reached channels with drainage areas
from motion (SfM) topographic data to improve map accuracies. Sedi- N100 km2 (Roehl, 1962; Meade, 1982) and b 5% reached the sea
ment budgets developed in this way can be used to map sediment (Meade, 1982). In North Carolina, only ~10% of post-colonial sediment
flow paths and connectivity and to identify sediment processes and dy- produced in the uplands was delivered to estuaries, which indicates a
namics. For example, flow-accumulation pathways on DoDs can be ap- decoupling of sediment dynamics between upper and lower basins dur-
plied to these models to quantify erosion, sedimentation, and sediment ing the historic period (Phillips, 1991, 1995). In contrast, a large propor-
yield patterns at the hillslope scale (Pelletier and Orem, 2014; Wester tion of the sediment produced by hydraulic mining in California was
et al., 2014). Flow paths can be applied to DoDs to calculate not only sed- delivered to the Sacramento Valley, which was well-connected to the
iment yields and sediment connectivity, but also total net erosion and mines through steep, narrow canyons. Gilbert's (1917) sediment bud-
spatially distributed SDRs (Heckmann and Vericat, 2018). get indicates that, of the 871 × 106 m3 of sediment produced in the
Feather River basin (including the Yuba and Bear basins), only 12%
8. Sediment connectivity and continuity remained in the mountains, 45% was stored in the flat lower basin of
the Sacramento Valley ~35 km downstream, and 44% was transported
The concept of connectivity has received growing attention in geo- beyond the Feather River to the lower Sacramento Valley and the San
morphic studies and is important to studies of legacy sediment (Fryirs Francisco bays below. The high variability in LongSC between regions
and Brierley, 1999). The sensitivity of environmental systems to human limits generalizations about sediment storage potential and residence
change is governed by connectiviy (Poeppl et al., 2017) because energy times between diverse geomorphic environments.
and material fluxes depend on couplings with adjacent systems. Mobili- The LongSC may evolve as channels aggrade or incise. For example,
zation or storage of anthropogenic sediment is largely governed by the post-settlement incision in the Wolumla catchment of Australia in-
degree to which it is connected to competent flows, and it can be seques- creased the LongSC of larger channels, which amplified sediment yields
tered for long periods in colluvial deposits that are protected from erosive downstream that are derived from reworked alluvium (Fryirs and
flows. River connectivity may refer to the linking of processes, fluxes of Brierley, 1999). This increased LongSC of the larger Wolumla channels
energy or materials, or simply to proximity. Several types of connectivity may be somewhat similar to the flume-like transport in incised tribu-
have been identified, including sediment, hydrologic, geochemical, river- taries of Wisconsin (Knox, 1987, 2006; Faulkner and McIntyre, 1996).
ine, and landscape connectivity (Wohl et al., 2017). Sediment In contrast, hillslope sediment production in tributaries of the Wolumla
Fig. 10. Types of fluvial sediment storage based on availability or lateral connectivity.
From Madej (1989).
River was initially connected to the downstream channel system but was spatial scales, sediment may be laterally discontinuous with gaps be-
later decoupled causing sediment to remain in the source tributaries tween terrace deposits and erosive flows where stored sediment is not
(Fryirs and Brierley, 1999). Changes in sediment connectivity may also within reach of erosive flows of moderate floods. Lateral continuity and
vary with the time scale considered. For example, coupling between connectivity commonly decrease through time as channels incise to bed-
gullies and stream channels in northwest England was cyclic over pe- rock or become armored during the degradation phase of an ADE, which
riods of a few years but progressive over longer periods (Harvey, may result in large volumes of sediment being perched in terrace de-
1992). The appearance and destruction of surface rills occurred on an an- posits. As channel incision and armoring isolate the sediment,
nual cycle, whereas coarse sediment accumulations at the base of gullies moderate-magnitude floods become less effective at entraining sediment.
was removed on a cycle of 2–5 years. Over longer periods the coupling
between gullies and channels decreased and was ultimately broken 9. Stream power and energy expenditure
(Harvey, 1997).
The related concept of sediment continuity may be used to describe Sediment transport is strongly influenced by reach-scale stream gra-
the spatial or temporal extent or gaps between sedimentary deposits dients and flow magnitudes. Equating sediment transport with the
(Hooke, 2003; Grant et al., 2017). One system may have a continuous de- product of slope and discharge has long been advocated in fluvial geo-
posit with no interruptions, whereas another system with low continuity morphology (Lane, 1955; Bagnold, 1980, 1986) and is considered a ro-
may have large zones (or periods of time) without deposits. A system bust approach when hydraulic and grain size data are limited (Gomez
with low longitudinal continuity may have sediment deposits only in and Church, 1989). Cross-sectional stream power can be computed
low-velocity reaches where flat areas with wide valley bottoms occur from stream gradient and drainage area:
above valley constrictions (Hooke, 2003). Such a system with low conti-
nuity, however, may have high LongSC if sediment easily passes through Ω ¼ pg Q S ð5Þ
the gaps. For example, Gilbert's (1917) classic sediment wave described
sources of sediment in the mountains that were highly connected to the where Ω is power per unit channel length, S is slope, Q is discharge, p is
flat Sacramento Valley below but discontinuous in space through long density of the fluid-sediment mix, and g is acceleration due to gravity
stretches of steep, narrow canyons devoid of sediment (Fig. 12). At finer (Bagnold, 1966; Rhoads, 1987). Stream power can be used to explain
Fig. 11. Floodplain and terraces of legacy sediment at a site above Red Dog Ford on Greenhorn Creek, California, where hydraulic mining sediment generated a large aggradation-
degradation episode (ADE). (A and B) Shaded relief map from a digital elevation model (DEM) showing relatively active sediment in channel (Ch), floodplain (F), and tailings fan (TF)
deposits, but large volumes of inactive mine tailings in terraces (T1, T2, and T3). (C) Oblique view of same channel reach showing gravel bars and terraces. Images derived from aerial
photographs acquired December 2016 with a small unmanned aerial system (sUAS) ~40 m above ground; processed with Photoscan Structure from Motion (SfM) photogrammetric
software.
down valley and catchment-scale patterns of sediment deposition, stor-

age, and reworking. Slope and Q are easily derived from digital elevation
models (DEMs) assuming that Q is geometrically proportional to drain-
age area, so this approach is conducive to spatial modeling of sediment
storage and transport for large catchments. By setting a threshold of
power below which transport is negligible and integrating over time,
the energy available for geomorphic work can be computed (Fig. 13)
(Costa and O'Connor, 1995; Gartner et al., 2015; Magilligan et al.,
2015). Although most energy is lost to friction, the assumption is that
sediment transport is proportional to the energy expended above the
threshold level. Regional flood frequency curves can be used to compute
the Q2, Q10, etc. and to develop estimates of power for specific discharge
magnitudes and frequencies. Reach-averaged stream power does not
account for local variations such as lateral sediment connectivity, so
these models may need to specify valley bottom morphology and the lo-
cation of sediment relative to flows at specific sites. Lidar or SfM data Fig. 12. Bear River long profile showing longitudinal discontinuity of hydraulic mining
can be used to develop detailed spatially specific topographic models sediment. At the time of maximum aggradation, little sediment was deposited in the
from which valley-bottom and channel top widths can be determined. gorges between 20 and 20.5 or between 50 and 70 km.
assumed. In non-equilibrium systems, however, channels may change

to substantially different dimensions and continue to change in a new
direction. Evidence from Quaternary studies, threshold systems, and
rivers disturbed by human activities, has made it clear that many geo-
morphic systems are in non-equilibrium or multiple equilibrium
states (Schumm, 1973; Graf, 1979; Renwick, 1992; Phillips, 2003b).
River management should be based on realistic probabilities of change
that include potential non-equilibrium behavior; i.e., systems that do
not tend toward a stable equilibrium condition (Renwick, 1992).
Many studies have adopted complex response and intrinsic thresholds
as common non-linear conditions in fluvial systems (Schumm, 1973;
Wohl, 2013), and many others have applied catastrophe theory to flu-
vial systems to model or conceptualize complexity (Thornes and
Gregory, 1991; Wainwright, 2015). River systems influenced by hu-
Fig. 13. Stream power integrated through time gives energy expended. Applying a
transport threshold isolates energy expended by competent flows, which are man activities should be considered over broad scales of time and
proportional to the shaded areas under the curves. space; i.e., over at least decadal time scales (Werner and Mcnamara,
Adapted from Magilligan et al. (2015); Costa and O'Connor (1995). 2007; Poeppl et al., 2017). Following extreme changes to channel
morphology and sediment flux rates, and in response to ongoing hy-
drologic and engineering changes, channels recovering from episodic
sedimentation could be CND systems that lack self-regulating behav-
Ultimately, these spatial databases may be embellished with spatially
ior and could experience major erosion, sedimentation, or long-term
explicit extents and elevations of erodible sediment. Embedding
channel instability.
thresholded energy functions and stage-discharge rating curves into
such topographic models may ultimately allow computation of sedi-
ment erodibility and storage potential as well as simulation of the mag- 11. Geohistorical, geoarchaeological, and chronostratigraphic
nitude and frequency of sediment erosion and deposition. perspectives
10. Complex nonlinear dynamic processes Understanding the behavior and evolution of legacy sediment calls
for geohistorical, stratigraphic, and views of geomorphology over exten-
Sediment storage and remobilization are complex non-linear dy- sive time periods. These approaches are not universally applied by all
namic (CND) processes, especially when human activities are involved. geomorphologists, so teams of interdisciplinary researchers may be
The laws of physics are invariable and geologic time is persistent, but needed to accurately assess sedimentation processes spanning decen-
human activities tend to interfere with fluvial processes in ways that nial or centennial time scales. Geohistorical and stratigraphic methodol-
change environmental trajectories. For example, rapidly aggrading or ogies have emerged that provide important perspectives on long-term
degrading channel systems may be engineered with levees, dykes, river processes that enhance other forms of evidence and should be
dams, and canals that disrupt or prevent channel adjustments; and al- carefully considered when working with legacy sediment. Although his-
teration, removal, or destruction of those works can suddenly change torical documentary sources can be obscured by large amounts of bio-
geomorphic rates and processes. More subtly, land use change through graphic and anecdotal content, they can be rich in information.
time alters water and sediment generation regimes. Concepts of CND Geohistorical methods, such as the use of historical maps and contem-
systems have been developed across most of the sciences and have porary descriptions of physical systems, can be combined with
been studied by geomorphologists for decades. They embrace a broad geoarchaeological, chronostratigraphic, sedimentologic, paleobotanical,
set of theoretical concepts including chaos, in which order is concealed and geochemical evidence to develop a robust view of fluvial evolution
by apparent disorder, fractals with self-similarity across scales, and ca- over historical time periods.
tastrophe theory that includes bifurcations, thresholds, and other non-
It is true that much recent geomorphic work is not concerned with
linear behaviors (Graf, 1979; Malanson et al., 1990; Phillips, 1992).
the historical perspective; rather it is the workings of and relations
Theories of fluvial geomorphology in the second half of the twenti-
among components of the system that have been of major concern
eth century were largely dominated by concepts of dynamic equilib-
(Hack, 1960, 1976). Thus it is possible to view the fluvial system ei-
rium in which disturbed systems are assumed to have a strong
ther as a physical system or as a historical system. In actuality the
tendency to return to a modal state (Strahler, 1952; Hack, 1960). The
system is a physical system with a history. Hence the objective of
equilibrium perspective assumes a high degree of system stability and
the geomorphologist is to understand not only the physics and
resiliency through self-regulation or negative feedbacks. Change to an
chemistry of the landscape, but its alteration and evolution through
equilibrium system will presumably result in adjustments leading to a
time (Schumm, 1977, p. 10).
new equilibrium state, as was expressed by Mackin (1948):
The geohistorical and evolutionary perspectives are particularly im-
A graded stream is one in which, over a period of years, slope is deli- portant when working with anthropogenic changes to environmen-
cately adjusted to provide, with available discharge and with prevail- tal systems where humans have altered natural processes.
ing channel characteristics, just the velocity required for the
transportation of the load supplied from the drainage basin. The At longer time scales the historical record becomes unreliable, lacks
graded stream is a system in equilibrium; its diagnostic characteristic fine-scale resolution, or may be nonexistent, so geoarchaeological and
is that any change in any of the controlling factors will cause a dis- stratigraphic methods become important for identification and inter-
placement of the equilibrium in a direction that will tend to absorb pretations of anthropogenic sediment. Episodic sedimentation gener-
the effect of the change (Mackin, 1948, p. 471). ated by the introduction of agriculture, silviculture, or mining often
From a practical standpoint, the inherent geomorphic resiliency as- buried soils long before documentary records were generated in the
sumed by equilibrium theory leads to a tendency to underestimate area. These periods of sedimentation can be documented by
the likelihood of major geomorphic adjustments in the future. For ex- geoarchaeological methods (Butzer, 1982; Brown, 1997; Holliday,
ample, the tendency for disturbed channels to return to a modal mor- 2004; Beach et al., 2008), which embrace the earth science fields of pe-
phology that combines width, depth, slope, and sinuosity is often dology, geology, and geography and a wide array of subfields
Fig. 14. Schematic showing seven of the ten concepts associated with legacy sediment. Concepts of stream power, complex non-linear dynamics, and geohistory/geoarchaeology apply at
all scales.
including geophysics, geochemistry, stratigraphy, sedimentology, geo- overlap, and vary in scale. Floodplain morphodynamic responses to
morphology, etc. (Butzer, 1982). Such approaches may analyze the im- this sedimentation vary greatly between catchments. Moreover, sepa-
pact of humans as a component of an anthropogenic event stratigraphy rating broad-scale human-induced sediment from other sources such
(Stinchcomb et al., 2013) or by alluvial archive methods (Lewin and as tectonics, climate change, extreme floods, and wild fires can be diffi-
Macklin, 2003; Jones et al., 2015), coupled with chronostratigraphic cult, so integrated approaches to understanding sedimentation are
methods (Rittenour, 2008; Portenga and Bishop, 2016). needed (Downs et al., 2013). Thus, conceptual models of channel mor-
phological responses to legacy sediment are needed that are flexible
12. Discussion enough to accommodate a wide variety of cases. The 10 concepts pre-
sented here apply to long-term behavior of anthropogenic sediment.
Ten concepts commonly associated with legacy sediment have been The cascade model of intermittent accumulation and movement of sed-
presented with methods and processes that they are commonly associ- iment packages from hillslopes toward floodplains has not been well-
ated with. These concepts should not be regarded as discrete, indepen- documented outside of Europe. In North America, where legacy sedi-
dent ideas but as highly interdependent or complementary approaches ment quickly overwhelmed many fluvial systems, studies have focused
to understanding legacy sediment. For example, sediment delivery ra- on postcolonial floodplain sedimentation. Yet, this model suggests that
tios, sediment waves, residence times, and connectivity are highly inter- systematic increases in longitudinal sediment connectivity occurred
active and an understanding of any one of them provides knowledge through time during early settlement periods of Europe and this may
about the others. Similarly, these 10 concepts occur at various scales apply to New World sites where sediment production rates were
ranging from local or reach scales to large basins. Some concepts, such more subtle or where indigenous precolonial rates were high. Sediment
as ADEs, residence time, storage potential, and connectivity, apply pri- delivery ratios can provide estimates of the proportion of anthropogenic
marily to a reach scale and can be considered Eulerian (Fig. 14). Other sediment stored in a catchment. Widely different SDRs in regions with
concepts apply to larger systems or can be considered from a Lagrangian diverse erosional histories may reflect factors controlling sediment stor-
frame of reference that tracks fluxes downstream. Local-scale concepts age potential, diverse erosional histories, and sediment dynamics of
may be relevant to larger systems. For example, colluvial cascades are catchments. Sediment waves or megaslugs are commonly described
essentially the headwater component of an open sediment system, but can be difficult to isolate when multiple sediment pulses occur at
but by buffering sediment deliveries downstream they govern sediment the catchment scale, multiple waves move through discontinuous sys-
delivery rates to larger streams. Other concepts, such as sediment deliv- tems, or sediment loads are elevated over long periods.
ery ratios, waves, budgets, stream power, complex non-linear dynam- Aggradation-degradation episodes provide a general description of
ics, and geoarchaeology can be applied locally or to distributed models the dynamics of fluvial systems disturbed by severe sedimentation
over entire basins. ranging from decennial to millennial periods. The concept can be ap-
plied to a diverse assortment of potential processes and forms embed-
13. Conclusions ded within the simple overarching sequence of aggradation,
degradation, floodplain morphogenesis, and downvalley progression
Anthropogenic fluvial sediment is widespread and can greatly influ- of evolutionary stages. Many rivers are presently in the degradation
ence modern geomorphic processes and non-point source pollution phase of an ADE that may be compared with variations of the channel
loadings. As with many fields of global change, studies of the long- evolution model. Sediment storage potential ratios provide a useful
term behavior of legacy sediment are in their infancy. Yet many concep- pedagogical tool for summarizing the factors governing sediment resi-
tual models are applicable that span a wide variety of principles, often dence times; but if quantitative data for these factors are available,
development of a sediment budget is generally preferable. Budgets can Brierley, G.J., Brooks, A.P., Fryirs, K., Taylor, M.P., 2005. Did humid-temperate rivers in the
Old and New Worlds respond differently to clearance of riparian vegetation and re-
quantify sediment behavior at various scales of space or time and ex- moval of woody debris? Prog. Phys. Geogr. 29 (1):27–49. https://doi.org/10.1191/
plicitly specify inputs, outputs, and changes in storage from which 0309133305pp433ra.
other processes can be inferred. Sediment connectivity is a highly vari- Brown, A.G., 1997. Alluvial Geoarchaeology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
(377pp).
able concept that is essential to understanding processes and likeli- Brown, A., Toms, P., Carey, C., Rhodes, E., 2013. Geomorphology of the Anthropocene:
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expressed longitudinally, laterally, and vertically and can be contrasted 3–13.
Brown, A.G., Tooth, S., Bullard, J.E., Thomas, D.S.G., Chiverrell, R.C., Plater, A.J., Murton, J.,
with continuity. Cross section stream power provides an analytical tool
Thorndycraft, V.R., Tarolli, P., Rose, J., Wainwright, J., Downs, P., Aalto, R., 2017. The
that can be used to estimate spatially distributed patterns of sediment geomorphology of the Anthropocene: emergence, status and implications. Earth
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4, 463–484.
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mapped basinwide. Many fluvial systems—especially those greatly in rainfall intensity with climate change. Earth Surf. Process. Landf. 41:563–566.
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My knowledge and enthusiasm for studies of legacy sediment arise
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largely from studies under James C. Knox at the University of Wisconsin United States. J. Soil Water Conserv. 31 (6), 264–266.
and from many colleagues—too numerous to identify in summa, but in- Dietrich, W.E., Dunne, T., 1978. Sediment budget for a small catchment in mountainous
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Dietrich, W.E., Dunne, T., Humphrey, N.F., Reid, L.M., 1982. Construction of sediment bud-
Magilligan, Dave May, Patricia McDowell, and Bob Pavlowsky. The over- gets for drainage basins. In: Swanson, F.J., Janda, R.J., Dunne, R., Swanston, D.N. (Eds.),
all idea of a ‘concepts of legacy sediment’ paper was largely born from a Sediment Budgets and Rounting in Forested Drainage Basins. U.S. Dept. Agriculture,
keynote presentation on legacy sediment in October 2017 at the Seattle Forest Service Gen. Tech. Report PNW-141, pp. 5–23.
Diodato, N., Grauso, S., 2009. An improved correlation model for sediment delivery ratio
Geological Society of America Pardee Symposium on landscapes in the assessment. Environ. Earth Sci. 59:223–231. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-009-
Anthropocene. I thank Jose Constantine and Ronadh Cox at Williams 0020-x.
College and Wes Lauer at Seattle University kindly for extending that in- Dotterweich, M., 2008. The history of soil erosion and fluvial deposits in small catchments
of central Europe: deciphering the long-term interaction between humans and the
vitation. Finally, I'd like to thank Dick Marston, Chief Editor of Geomor- environment — A review. Geomorphology 101, 192–208.
phology, and three anonymous reviewers for their invaluable help in Dotterweich, M., Ivester, A.H., Hanson, P.R., Larsen, D., Dye, D.H., 2014. Natural and
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Geomorphology 317 (2018) 199–217

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Ten conceptual models of large-scale legacy sedimentation – A review

1. Introduction and scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

1. Introduction and scope

Anticipating the effects of global climate and land use changes on

SDR ¼ aAb ð2Þ

where D is sediment delivery to the site, and T is sediment transport from

down valley and catchment-scale patterns of sediment deposition, stor-

assumed. In non-equilibrium systems, however, channels may change

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