The sinuous form and peculiar evolution of meandering rivers has long captured the imagination of people. Today, meandering rivers exist in some of the most densely populated areas in the World, where they provide environmental and economic wealth and opportunities, as well as posing hazards. Through geological time, the ancestors of these modern meanders built deposits that are now host to mineral resources, groundwater, and hydrocarbons.
This Special Publication illustrates the breadth of current research on meandering rivers and their deposits. The collection of research papers demonstrates the state of science on fluvial process-product relationships. The articles cover fundamental and applied studies of both modern and ancient rivers, are based on state-of-the-art technology, include complementary philosophical approaches, and span a wide range of spatial and temporal scales.
This book includes some of the most recent advances in the study of the morphodynamics and sedimentology of meandering rivers, and is an important resource for those who want to investigate fluvial systems and their deposits.
Table of Contents
List of contributors vii
Acknowledgements x
Sedimentology of meandering river deposits: advances and challenges 1
Massimiliano Ghinassi, Luca Colombera, Nigel P. Mountney and Arnold Jan H. Reesink
Controls on the depositional architecture of fluvial point-bar elements in a coastal-plain succession 15
Michelle N. Shiers, Nigel P. Mountney, David M. Hodgson and Luca Colombera
Toggling between expansion and translation: The generation of a muddy-normal point bar with an earthquake imprint 47
Shelby Johnston and John Holbrook
Planform sinuosity of Proterozoic rivers: A craton to channel-reach perspective 81
Alessandro Ielpi, Massimiliano Ghinassi,Robert H. Rainbird and Dario Ventra
The shortage of geological evidence for pre-vegetation meandering rivers 119
William J. McMahon and Neil S. Davies
An exhumed fine-grained meandering channel in the lower Permian Clear Fork Formation, north-central Texas: Processes of mud accumulation and the role of vegetation in channel dynamics 149
Sharane S.T. Simon, Martin R. Gibling,William A. DiMichele, Dan S. Chaney and Rebecca Koll
Interpretation of cross strata formed by unit bars 173
Arnold Jan H. Reesink
Chute cutoffs in meandering rivers: formative mechanisms and hydrodynamic forcing 201
Daniele P. Viero, Sergio Lopez Dubon and Stefano Lanzoni
Predicting heterogeneity in meandering fluvial and tidal-fluvial deposits: The point bar to counter point bar transition 231
Paul R. Durkin, Stephen M. Hubbard,Derald G. Smith and Dale A. Leckie
Fill characteristics of abandoned channels and resulting stratigraphy of a mobile sand-bed river floodplain 251
Arved Schwendel, Rolf Aalto,Andrew Nicholas and Daniel Parsons
Characterising three-dimensional flow through neck cutoffs with complex planform geometry 273
Derek Richards, Kory Konsoer, Christopher Turnipseed and Clinton Willson
Hydro-sedimentological processes in meandering rivers: A review and some future research directions 297
Koen Blanckaert
Unsuccessful cut offs - origin and partial preservation of enigmatic channel fills encased within a large-scale point-bar deposit - The McMurray Formation type section, Alberta, Canada 321
Milovan Fustic, Rudy Strobl, Massimiliano Ghinassi and Shuyu Zhang
Modern and ancient amalgamated sandymeander-belt deposits: recognition and controls on development 349
Adrian J. Hartley, Amanda Owen, Gary S. Weissmann and Louis Scuderi
A novel approach for prediction of lithological heterogeneity in fluvial point-bar deposits from analysis of meander morphology and scroll-bar pattern 385
Catherine E. Russell, Nigel P. Mountney, David M. Hodgson and Luca Colombera
Reconstructing the architecture of ancient meander belts by compiling outcrop and subsurface data: A Triassic example 419
César Viseras, Saturnina Henares, Luis Miguel Yeste and Fernando Garcia-Garcia
Reconstruction of a sandy point-bar deposit: implications for fluvial facies analysis 445
Alistair Swan, Adrian J. Hartley, Amanda Owen and John Howell
Fluvial point-bar architecture and facies heterogeneity and their influence on intra-bar static connectivity in humid coastal-plain and dryland fan systems 475
Na Yan, Luca Colombera, Nigel P. Mountney and Robert M. Dorrell
Emergent facies patterns within fluvial channel belts 509
Brian J. Willis and Richard P. Sech
Quantifying impacts of fluvial intrachannel- belt heterogeneity on reservoir behaviour 543
Brian J. Willis and Richard P. Sech
Index 573
