Fundamentals of Fluvial Geomorphology

Rivers are significant geomorphological agents, they show an amazing diversity of form and behaviour and transfer water and sediment from the land surface to the oceans. This book examines how river systems respond to environmental change and why this understanding is needed for successful river management. Highly dynamic in nature, river channels adjust and evolve over timescales that range from hours to tens of thousands of years or more, and are found in a wide range of environments.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of recent developments in river channel management, clearly illustrating why an understanding of fluvial geomorphology is vital in channel preservation, environmentally sensitive design and the restoration of degraded river channels.

It covers:

• flow and sediment regimes: flow generation; flow regimes; sediment sources, transfer and yield
• channel processes: flow characteristics; processes of erosion and sediment transport; interactions between flow and the channel boundary; deposition
• channel form and behaviour: controls on channel form; channel adjustments; floodplain development; form and behaviour of alluvial and bedrock channels
• response to change: how channels have responded to past environmental change; impacts of human activity; reconstructing past changes
• river management: the fluvial hydrosystem; environmental degradation; environmentally sensitive engineering techniques; river restoration; the role of the fluvial geomorphologist.

Fundamentals of Fluvial Geomorphology is an indispensable text for undergraduate students. It provides straightforward explanations for important concepts and mathematical formulae, backed up with conceptual diagrams and appropriate examples from around the world to show what they actually mean and why they are important. A colour plate section also shows spectacular examples of fluvial diversity.

Ro Charlton lectures in the Geography Department at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, where she teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses in fluvial geomorphology and hydrology. Her research interests include meandering river canyons in caves and the impact of climate change on water resources.