River basin sediment systems: archives of environmental change PDF
Preview River basin sediment systems: archives of environmental change
RIVER BASIN SEDIMENT SYSTEMS © 2001 Swets & Zeitlinger B.V. River Basin Sediment Systems: Archives of Environmental Change Edited by Darrel Maddy Department of Geography, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Mark G. Macklin Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK Jamie C. Woodward School of Geography, University of Leeds, UK A.A. BALKEMA PUBLISHERS / LISSE / ABINGDON / EXTON (PA) / TOKYO © 2001 Swets & Zeitlinger B.V. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Applied for Cover design: Studio Jan de Boer, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Typesetting: C&D Composition & Design services, Minsk, Belarus. Printed by: Grafisch Produktiebedrijf Gorter, Steenwijk, The Netherlands. Published by A.A. Balkema Publishers, a member of Swets & Zeitlinger Publishers www.balkema.nl and www.szp.swets.nl © 2001 Swets & Zeitlinger B.V. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, mechanical, by photo- coping, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers. ISBN 90 5809 342 5 © 2001 Swets & Zeitlinger B.V. Contents Preface ix Part 1: The context 1 1. Fluvial archives of environmental change 3 D. Maddy, M.G. Macklin & J.C. Woodward 2. Alluvial systematics 19 J. Lewin Part 2: Tectonic forcing: crustal instability and the fluvial record 43 3. The Maas terrace sequence at Maastricht, SE Netherlands: evidence for 200 m of late Neogene and Quaternary surface uplift 45 M.W. van den Berg & Ton van Hoof 4. Flow in the lower continental crust as a mechanism for the Quaternary uplift of the Rhenish Massif, north-west Europe 87 R. Westaway Part 3: Climate forcing: records of pleistocene and holocene river behaviour 169 5. Early Pleistocene fluvial and estuarine records of climate change in the southern Netherlands and northern Belgium 171 C. Kasse & S. Bohncke 6. Fluvial responses to external forcing: examples from the French Massif Central, the Texas Coastal Plain (USA), the Sahara of Tunisia, and the Lower Mississippi Valley (USA) 195 M. D. Blum & E.C. Straffin v © 2001 Swets & Zeitlinger B.V. vi Contents 7. River terrace formation in synchrony with long-term climatic fluctuation: supporting mammalian evidence from southern Britain 229 D.R. Bridgland & D.C. Schreve 8. Lateglacial and Holocene environmental change indicated by floodplain deposits of the Hessian Depression (Central Germany) 249 P. Houben, S. Nolte, H. Rittweger & J. Wunderlich 9. Lateglacial and Holocene palaeohydrology of the lower Vychegda river, western Russia 265 A. Sidorchuk, O. Borisova, N. Kovalyukh & A. Panin 10. A 300-year history of flooding in an Andean mountain river system: the Rio Alizos, southern Bolivia 297 G.S. Maas, M.G. Macklin, J. Warburton, J.C. Woodward & E. Meldrum Part 4: Geoarchaeological perspectives and the human impact 325 11. The Holocene fluvial sedimentary record and alluvial geoarchaeology in the Nile Valley of northern Sudan 327 J.C. Woodward, M.G. Macklin, D.A. Welsby 12. Lateglacial and Holocene fluvial records from the central part of the Paris Basin (France) 357 J.-F. Pastre, N. Limondin-Lozouet, C. Leroyer, M. Fontugne, A. Gebhardt, V. Krier 13. Historic and possible prehistoric human impacts on floodplain sedimentation, North Branch of the Susquehanna River, Pennsylvania, USA 375 D.M. Thieme 14. Archaeological resources, preservation and prospection in The Trent valley: the application of Geographical Information Systems to Holocene fluvial environments 405 A.J. Howard, K. Challis & M.G. Macklin Part 5: Modelling and monitoring of sediment fluxes and river channel dynamics 421 15. Holocene sediment budgets in an upland gravel bed river: the River South Tyne, northern England 423 D.G. Passmore & M.G. Macklin 16. The potential for high resolution fluvial archives in braided rivers: quantifying historic reach-scale channel and floodplain development in the River Feshie, Scotland 445 B. Rumsby, J. Brasington & R. McVey © 2001 Swets & Zeitlinger B.V. Contents vii 17. Exploring the possibilities and limitations of modelling Quaternary fluvial dynamics: a case study of the River Meuse 469 L.A. Tebbens & A. Veldkamp 18. Modelling the impacts of different flood magnitudes and frequencies on catchment evolution 485 T.J. Coulthard, M.G. Macklin & M.J. Kirkby © 2001 Swets & Zeitlinger B.V. Preface The last decade has seen a burgeoning of research activity concerned with the relationship between river behaviour and environmental change. This research has involved a wide range of disciplines including geomorphology, sedimentology, geophysics, archaeology, palaeoecology, engineering and planning. Central to many studies has been causality and, in particular, establishing the extent to which river behaviour reflects extrinsic or intrinsic controls. This issue is equally important to the earth scientist, or archaeologist, attempting to establish whether episodes of valley floor cut-and-fill result from tectonic activity or climate change, or for the river manager who, confronted by an unstable reach, must es- tablish its cause, including both the temporal and spatial context. The Fluvial Archives Group (FLAG) Reflecting this increasing interest in fluvial systems, the Fluvial Archives Group (FLAG) formed in 1996 as a Research Group of the British Quaternary Research Association for a fixed term of 3 years. Since that time its membership has grown to over 160, with mem- bers from all over the globe representing 22 countries. FLAG is now an independent, in- ternationally oriented group of researchers (http://qra.org.uk/FLAG) which has set out the following aims: – To promote the value of investigating fluvial archives through the production of widely available and readily accessible published information; – To establish a forum for the exchange of information and ideas; – To identify foci for future research, and, in particular, to identify the gaps in current knowledge; – To facilitate joint ‘focused’ initiatives to formulate strategies for addressing problems. In order to address these aims two major research themes were identified at the first meeting of the Group in Durham, UK in 1996. Theme 1 addresses Long Terrestrial Records spanning the entire Quaternary. Theme 2 addresses Fluvial Environments and Processes in relation to external and internal forcing. After the second meeting of the group in Arcen, the Netherlands (1997), it was decided to focus these research themes into more tightly defined research programmes. Four such programmes are presently defined and these are: ix © 2001 Swets & Zeitlinger B.V. x Preface Theme 1 – Global correlation of Late Cenozoic fluvial sequences (contact Dr David Bridgland [[email protected]]). This programme is now being developed as IGCP449 with a programme of events planned during the first project term 2000-2003. – Fluvial activity and crustal instability (contact Prof Frank Sirocco [[email protected] mainz.de]) Theme 2 These programmes are being developed to link closely with the international Past Global Change programme (PAGES). – Fluvial response to rapid environmental change during the last two interglacial-glacial cycles: The north-west European fluvial archive. This programme is now being devel- oped as an INQUA project (contact Prof Jef Vandenberghe [[email protected]]; Dr Darrel Maddy [[email protected]]) with a series of meetings planned during the project term 1999-2003. – Holocene fluvial system response to frequent and rapid periods of environmental change: identification and modelling of forcing factors (contacts Prof Mark Macklin [[email protected]] and Dr David Passmore [[email protected]]). The third meeting of the Fluvial Archives Group was held in Cheltenham, UK during September 1998. In accordance with the FLAG objectives, this meeting aimed to bring to- gether researchers from a wide range of disciplines with an interest in river dynamics and environmental change, and to provide a forum for the discussion of innovative techniques and methodologies, research gaps, and opportunities for interdisciplinary work. There was no restriction on time period or geographical area of research. The meeting called for pa- pers on topics of interest that included: – River response to long-term (Milankovitch frequencies e.g. monsoon extent and inten- sity, ice sheet build up and decay) and short-term (sub-Milankovitch frequencies e.g. Heinrich events, NADW, ENSO) climate change. – The role of tectonic activity, in controlling river development, sediment supply and preservation of the fluvial sedimentary record. – The impact of human activity, both inadvertent (e.g. land-use change, mining) and planned change (e.g. channelisation), promoting and preventing river instability. The two-day symposium was attended by over 60 delegates and generated much debate and a good deal of consensus on these and related issues. This volume brings together a series of papers presented at the Cheltenham meeting and we would like to express our gratitude to all the authors who have contributed papers to this volume. All the papers in this volume have been referred by at least two specialists and we would like to thank the following for their patience and diligence in this process: Geoff Bailey (Newcastle), Raimo Becker-Haumann (Cologne), Mike Blum (Nebraska), David Bridgland (Durham), Paul Carling (Southampton), Jo Cheesman (Manchester), Phil Collins (Brune), Tom Coulthard (Aberystwyth), Martin Evans (Manchester), Rob Ferguson (Shef- field), Phil Gibbard (Cambridge), Mark Gillings (Leicester), Chris Green (Royal Hollo- way), Andy Howard (Leeds), Richard Huggett (Manchester), Stuart Lane (Leeds), John Lewin (Aberystwyth), Kees Kasse (Amsterdam), J-F Pastre (Paris), Frank Pazzaglia (Le- High), Barbara Rumsby (Hull), Rob Scaife (Southampton), Meindert Van den Berg © 2001 Swets & Zeitlinger B.V. Preface xi (Dutch Geological Survey), Jef Vandenberghe (Amsterdam), Tom Veldkamp (Wagenin- gen), John Wainwright (London), Jeff Warburton (Durham), Rob Westaway (Open Uni- versity, UK) and Jan Zalasiewicz (Leicester). Finally, we would like to thank the Quaternary Research Association (UK) for sup- porting the FLAG initiative during its formative years and particularly during the period prior to and during the Cheltenham conference. Darrel Maddy, Newcastle Mark Macklin, Aberystwyth Jamie Woodward, Leeds © 2001 Swets & Zeitlinger B.V. River Basin Sediment Systems: Archives of Environmental Change List of Contributors Mike D. Blum, Department of Geosciences, 214 Bessey Hall, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0340, USA Sjoerd Bohncke, Department of Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology, Faculty of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands Olga Borisova, Institute of Geography, Academy of Sciences, Staromonetny 29, 109017, Moscow, Russia James Brassington, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge, CB2 3EN, UK David R. Bridgland, Department of Geography, University of Durham, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK Keith Challis, Trent & Peak Archaeological Unit, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK Tom Coulthard, Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, University of Wales Aberystwyth, Llandinam Building, Aberystwyth, SY23 3DB, UK Michel Fontugne, Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environement, Avenue de la Terrasse, 91118 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France Anne Gebhardt, Laboratoire d'Anthropologie, UMR 0153 CNRS, Campus de Beaulieu, 35042, Rennes Cedex, France Peter Houben, Institute of Physical Geography, J.W. Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main, P.O. Box 11 19 32, D-60054 Frankfurt am Main, Germany Andy Howard, School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK Kees Kasse, Department of Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology, Faculty of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands Mike J. Kirkby, School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK Nikolai Kovalyukh, State Scientific Centre of Environmental Radiogeochemistry, Kyiv Radiocarbon Laboratory, 34 Palladin Avenue, 252680, Kyiv-142, Ukraine Vincent Krier, AFAN, 7, rue de Madrid, 75008, Paris, France Chantal Leroyer, Centre National de Préhistoire et UMR 9933, 38 avenue du 26ème R.I., 24000 Périgueux, France John Lewin, Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, University of Wales Aberystwyth, Llandinam Building, Aberystwyth, SY23 3DB, UK Nicole Limondin-Lozouet, Laboratoire de Géographie Physique, UMR 8591 CNRS, 1 place Aristide Briand, 92195 Meudon Cedex, France © 2001 Swets & Zeitlinger B.V.
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