Articles | Volume 13, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-13-593-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-13-593-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
22 Jul 2025
Research article |
| 22 Jul 2025
| 22 Jul 2025
Modeling memory in gravel-bed rivers: a flow-history-dependent relation for evolving thresholds of motion
Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis, 63130 Missouri, USA
Joel P. L. Johnson
Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, 78712 Texas, USA
Dieter Rickenmann
WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow, and Landscape Research, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Jens M. Turowski
Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
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Short summary
This paper presents a novel model that predicts how gravel riverbeds may evolve in response to differences in the frequency and severity of flood events. We test our model using a 23-year-long record of river flow and gravel transport from the Swiss Prealps. We find that our model reliably captures yearly patterns in gravel transport in this setting. Our new model is a major advance towards better predictions of river erosion that account for the flood history of a gravel-bed river.
This paper presents a novel model that predicts how gravel riverbeds may evolve in response to...
