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Geol 440 2011 Lecture 15web

This document summarizes key aspects of braided river facies and depositional models. It examines the initiation and evolution of braided channel patterns through growing and linking alternating bars. Facies models are presented for the sandy braided South Saskatchewan River, including transverse bar, longitudinal bar, and channel facies. The development of individual braid bars is explored over changing water stages. Physical experiments are discussed regarding factors controlling braided versus anastomosing channel patterns. The relationship between base level changes and fluvial scour surfaces and sequence boundaries is also examined.

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86 views25 pages

Geol 440 2011 Lecture 15web

This document summarizes key aspects of braided river facies and depositional models. It examines the initiation and evolution of braided channel patterns through growing and linking alternating bars. Facies models are presented for the sandy braided South Saskatchewan River, including transverse bar, longitudinal bar, and channel facies. The development of individual braid bars is explored over changing water stages. Physical experiments are discussed regarding factors controlling braided versus anastomosing channel patterns. The relationship between base level changes and fluvial scour surfaces and sequence boundaries is also examined.

Uploaded by

Ahmad Aji S P
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© © All Rights Reserved
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GEOL 440

Sedimentology and stratigraphy:


processes, environments and
deposits
Lecture 15:
Fluvial facies
(Part 2)
Aims
Examine braided river
Initiation of braiding
Bedforms
Facies
Depositional models
Controls (and links to sequence stratigraphy)
Sandy braided rivers
William River
How to evolve a straight into a braided channel
1. Single row of alternating bars
Initially straight channel
Curved channel with full point bar
Adding cross-bar channels
Initially straight channel
Curved channel with proto-point bar
Curved channel with full point bar
Curved channel with proto-point bar
How to evolve a straight into a braided channel
2. Double row of alternating bars
Initially straight channel
Widened channel with proto-bars
Widened channel with full size bars
Adding cross-bar channels
braid bar
channel
channel
Model for braid bar growth (Bridge, 1993)
Potential rising stage erosion, falling stage deposition
Potential rising stage deposition, falling stage erosion
bend thalweg confluence
upstream bar head
downstream bar end bar top
Potential cross-bar channel directions at high stage
flow
Facies Models for Braided Rivers;
the sandy braided South Saskatchewan River, Canada
The sandy braided South Saskatchewan River:
A block model
Cant & Walker (1978)
Facies model for
braided river
coarse channel lag deposit
in-channel large-scale trough x-strat.
braid bar within channel during
high & low water stage
repetition of braid bar - to -
in-channel succession
fine-grained floodplain mud with
thin overbank sand layers
in-channel small-scale trough x-strat.
small channel fill on bar top
small-scale tabular x-strat. on bar top
Walker & Cant (1984)
Cant & Walker, 1976
Three facies profiles?
transverse bar
mid-channel or
longitudinal bars
bank-attached
or
lateral bar
Sandy braided river
transverse
bar tabular
x-strat.
channel
trough
x-strat.
scoured
base
longitudinal
bar avalanche
stratification
channel
trough x-strat.
scoured
base
idealised
vertical
sections
in-channel
trough
x-strat.
continued
channel
aggradation,
occasional
braid bar
final
channel fill
vertical
aggradation
High water stage Intermediate water stage
Low water
stage
Rising water
stage
above bar top below bar top above bar top below bar top
Low water
stage
Rising water
stage
Development of braid bar
during falling then rising water stages
Collinson (1970)
Sedimentology of a braid bar in the Jamuna River,
Bangladesh..a large braided river
Avulsion some physical experiments
Fans -
Steeper
slopes
Braided
River
Henk Berendsen
..anastomosing rivers.
Sediment
supply
Stream
power,
sediment
transport
capacity
When does a river flow erode or deposit sediment?
Base level is constant
Sediment supply > Transport capacity
Base level rise
Sediment supply < Transport capacity
Base level fall
Fluvial scour and sequence boundaries
effect of sea level on base level
longitudinal river profile
river profile adjusts
to new base level
river incision by
headward erosion
sea level fall
incised valley and
sequence boundary
When is a scour surface a sequence boundary?
Scour depth exceeds five times the channel depth
Scour is traceable for distances greater than the
floodplain width
Scour is traceable for distances greater than the
avulsion step length
Ideally, scour is traceable between basins
There should be evidence for interfluve paleosols
(although this is not necessarily diagnostic)
Points for you to think over.
Sand-bed braided river facies
Braided river barforms?
Grain size differences..the same facies model?
Small vs- big rivers?
Large-scale controls
Base level and sequence boundaries
Reading:
B&D: Chapter 13
Boggs: Chapter 8
Bridge: Chapter 3 in new Facies Models Revisited
Leeder: Chapter 17
Bridge: Rivers and Floodplains textbook

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