Articles | Volume 6, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-6-1011-2018
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-6-1011-2018
Research article
 | 
07 Nov 2018
Research article |  | 07 Nov 2018

Uniform grain-size distribution in the active layer of a shallow, gravel-bedded, braided river (the Urumqi River, China) and implications for paleo-hydrology

Laure Guerit, Laurie Barrier, Youcun Liu, Clément Narteau, Eric Lajeunesse, Eric Gayer, and François Métivier

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Cited articles

Ashmore, P.: Treatise on Geomorphology, vol. 9, chap. Morphology and Dynamics of Braided Rivers, San Diego, Academic Press, 289–312, 2013. a
Ashworth, P. J.: Mid-channel bar growth and its relationship to local flow strength and direction, Earth Surf. Proc. Land., 21, 103–123, 1996. a
Ashworth, P. J., Ferguson, R. I., and Powell, M. D.: Dynamics of gravel-bed rivers, Bedload transport and sorting in braided channels, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 497–515, 1992. a
Bluck, B. J.: Sedimentation in the meandering River Endrick, Scot. J. Geol., 7, 93–138, 1971. a, b
Bluck, B. J.: Sedimentation in some Scottish rivers of low sinuosity, Transactions Royal Society of Edinburgh, 69, 425–455, 1976. a
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Short summary
The grain-size distribution of ancient alluvial systems is commonly determined from sections of gravel deposits exposed vertically to reconstruct paleo-environments or changes in tectonics and/or climate. To test whether such a grain-size distribution is equivalent to one of the sediments that was in direct contact with the flow at the time of deposition, we dug a large trench in an active gravel-bedded, braided river. We show that the granulometry is uniform at the scale of the active layer.
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