Geology of Large River Systems

Large Rivers: Geomorphology and Management

Volumn , Issue , 2008, Pages 7-28

  Tandon, Sampat K ^a   Sinha, Rajiv ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF DELHI   (India)

^b INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KANPUR   (India)

Author keywords

Aeolian sediment and windblown shells; Braided and low sinuosity rivers; Continental scale cratonic areas; Different climatic and geomorphic settings; Different tectonic settings and climatic regimes; Foothills fed and plains fed rivers; Global tectonics and hydrologic system; Ongoing and future climate change; Sediment transport and network organization; Southward thrusting and massive frontal erosion

Indexed keywords

RIVERS; SEDIMENT TRANSPORT; TECTONICS;

AEOLIAN SEDIMENTS; CLIMATIC REGIMES; CONTINENTAL SCALE; FUTURE CLIMATE; HYDROLOGIC SYSTEMS; NETWORK ORGANIZATION;

CLIMATE CHANGE;

EID: 84889456592     PISSN: None     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book    
DOI: 10.1002/9780470723722.ch2     Document Type: Chapter

References (99)

1. Ahnert, F., (1984) Local relief and the height limits of mountain ranges. American Journal of Science, 284: 1035-1055.
2. Beaumont, C., Jamieson, R.A., Nguyen, M.H. and Lee, B., (2001) Himalayan tectonics explained by extrusion of a low-viscosity crustal channel coupled to focused surface denudation. Nature, 414: 738-742.
3. Belcher, R.C., (1975) The geomorphic evolution of the Rio Grande. Baylor Geological Studies Bulletin 29, 64 p.
4. Blum, M.D. and Törnqvist, T.E., (2000) Fluvial responses to climate and sea-level change: a review and look forward. Sedimentology, 47(Suppl.1): 2-48.
5. Bogaart, P.W., Van Balen, R.T., Kasse, C. and Vandenberghe, J., (2003) Process-based modelling of fluvial system response to rapid climate change - I. Model formulation and generic applications. Quaternary Science Reviews, 22: 2077-2095.
6. Bridges, E.M., (1990) World Geomorphology, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
7. Brookfield, M.E., (1993) Quaternary deposits along the Indus suture zone and evolution of Himalayan rivers. Current Science, 64(11 and 12): 903-907.
8. Brookfield, M.E., (1998) The evolution of the great river systems of southern Asia during the Cenozoic India-Asia collision: rivers draining southwards. Geomorphology, 22: 285-312.
9. Burbank, D.W., (1992) Causes of recent Himalayan uplift deduced from deposited patterns in the Ganga basin. Nature, 357: 680-683.
10. Burbank, D.W. and Beck, R.A., (1991) Models of aggradation versus progradation in the Himalayan foreland. Geologische Rundschau, 80: 623-638.
11. Burbank, D.W., Leland, J., Fielding, E., Anderson, R.S., Brozovic, N., Reid, M.R. and Duncan, C., (1996) Bedrock incision, rock uplift and threshold hillslopes in the northwestern Himalayas. Nature, 379: 505-510.
12. Burke, K.C., Kevin, J.F. and Dewey, J.F., (1973) Plume generated triple junction: key indicators in applying plate tectonics to old rocks. Geology, 81: 406-433.
13. Caine, N., (1980) The rainfall intensity-duration control of shallow landslides and debris flows. Geografiska Annaler, 62A: 23-27.
14. Chandra, S., (1993) Fluvial landforms and sediments in the north-central Gangetic plains, India. PhD Thesis, University of Cambridge, Cambridge.
15. Chapin, C.E. and Seager, W.R., (1975) Evolution of the Rio Grand Rift in the Socorro and Las Cruces areas. In: Guide Book of the Las Cruces Country (W.R. Seager, Ed.). New Mexico Geological Society, Socorro, NM, pp. 297-321.
16. Clift, P.D. and Blusztajn, J.S., (2005) Reorganization of the western Himalayan river system after five million years ago. Nature, 438: 1001-1003.
17. Covey, M., (1986) The evolution of foreland basins to steady state: the foreland basin of the Banda Orogen. International Association of Sedimentology Special Publication No. 8: 77-90.
18. Cox, K.G., (1989) The role of mantle plumes in the development of continental drainage patterns. Nature, 342: 873-877.
19. Cullen, J.L., (1981) Microfossil evidence for changing salinity patterns in the Bay of Bengal over the last 20 000 years. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 35: 315-356.
20. DeCelles, P.G., Gehrels, G.E., Quade, J. and Ojha, T.P., (1998) Eocene-early Miocene foreland basin development and the history of Himalayan thrusting, western and central Nepal. Tectonics, 17: 741-765.
21. England, P.C. and Houseman, G.A., (1988) The mechanics of the Tibetan Plateau. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, A326: 301-320.
22. Enzel, Y., Ely, L.L., Mishra, S., Ramesh, R., Amit, R., Lazar, B., Rajaguru, S.N., Baker, V.R. and Sandler, A., (1999) Highresolution Holocene environmental changes in the Thar desert, Northwestern India. Science, 284: 125-128.
23. Ervin, C.P. and McGinnis, L.D., (1975) Reelfoot rift: reactivated precursor of the Mississippi Embayment. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 86: 1287-1295.
24. Fisher, W.L. and McGowen, J.H., (1967) Depositional systems in the Wilcox Group of Texas and their relationship to occurrences of oil and gas. Gulf Coast Association of the Geological Society, 27: 105-125.
25. Friend, P.F., Raza, S.M., Geehan, G. and Sheikh, K.A., (2001) Intermediate-scale architectural features of the fluvial Chinji Formation (Miocene), Siwalik Group, northern Pakistan. Journal of the Geological Society of London, 158: 163-177.
26. Gasse, F., (2000) Hydrological changes in the African tropics since the last glacial maximum. Quaternary Science Reviews, 19(1-5): 189-211.
27. Gasse, F., Tehet, R., Durand, A., Gibert, E. and Fontes, J.C., (1990) The arid humid transition in the Sahara and the Sahel during the last deglaciation. Nature, 346(6280): 141-146.
28. Gibbard, P.L., (1988) The history of the great northwest European rivers during the past three million years. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 318: 559-602.
29. Gibling, M.R., (2006) Width and thickness of fluvial channel bodies and valley fills in the geological record: a literature compilation and classification. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 76(5-6): 731-770.
30. Gibling, M.R., Tandon, S.K., Sinha, R. and Jain, M., (2005) Discontinuity-bounded alluvial sequences of the southern Gangetic plains, India; aggradation and degradation in response to monsoonal strength. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 75(3): 369-385.
31. Goodbred S.L., Jr, (2003) Response of the Ganges dispersal system to climate change: a source-to-sink view since the last interstade. Sedimentary Geology, 162: 83-104.
32. Goodbred, S.L. and Kuehl, S.A., (1999) Holocene and modern sediment budgets for the Ganges Brahmaputra river system: evidence for highstand dispersal to flood-plain, shelf and deepsea depocentres. Geology, 27(6): 559-562.
33. Goodbred, S.L. and Kuehl, S.A., (2000a) The significance of large sediment supply, active tectonism, and eustasy on margin sequence development: Late Quaternary stratigraphy and evolution of the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta. Sedimentary Geology, 133: 227-248.
34. Goodbred, S.L. and Kuehl, S.A., (2000b) Enormous Ganges-Brahmaputra sediment discharge during strengthened early Holocene monsoon. Geology, 28(12): 1083-1086.
35. Goswami, D.C., (1985) Brahmaputra River, Assam, India: physiography, basin denudation, and channel aggradation. Water Resources Research, 21: 959-978.
36. Gregory, K.J. and Walling, D.E., (1973) Drainage Basin Form and Process, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, New York.
37. Grimal, N., (1988) A History of Ancient Egypt, Blackwell, London.
38. Gupta, S., (1997) Himalayan drainage patterns and the origin of fluvial megafans in the Ganga foreland basin. Geology, 25(1): 11-14.
39. Hack, J.T., (1973) Stream-profile analysis and stream gradient indices. United States Geological Survey Journal of Research, 1: 421-429.
40. Hess, R., Klaucke, I., Khodabaksh, S., Piper, D.J.W., Ryan, W.B.F. and NAMOC Study Group, (2001) Sandy submarine braid plains: potential deep water reservoirs. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 85: 1499-1521.
41. Hodges, K.V., Parrish, R.R. and Searle, M.P., (1996) Tectonic evolution of the central Annapurna Range, Nepalese Himalayas. Tectonics, 15(6): 1264-1291.
42. Hovius, N., (1998) Controls on sediment supply by large rivers. In: Relative Role of Eustasy, Climate and Tectonism in Continental Rocks (K.W. Shanley and P.J. McCabe, Eds.). SEPM Special Publication No. 59, Tulsa, OK, pp. 4-15.
43. Hurst, H.E. and Phillips, P., (1931) The Nile Basin. General Description of the Basin, 1. Government Press, Cairo.
44. Islam, M.S. and Tooley, M.J. (2004) Coastal and sea level changes during the Holocene in Bangladesh. Quaternary International, 55: 61-75.
45. Jain, V. and Sinha, R., (2003) River systems in the Gangetic plains and their comparison with the Siwaliks: a review. Current Science, 84(8): 1025-1033.
46. Jain, V. and Sinha, R., (2004) Fluvial dynamics of an anabranching river system in Himalayan foreland basin, Baghmati river, north Bihar plains, India. Geomorphology, 60:147-170.
47. Jain, V. and Sinha, R., (2005) Response of active tectonics on the alluvial Baghmati river, Himalayan foreland basin, eastern India. Geomorphology, 70(3-4): 339-356.
48. Kent, R., (1991) Lithospheric uplift in eastern Gondwana: evidence for a long-lived mantle plume system? Geology, 19: 19-23.
49. Knox, J.C., (1993) Large increases in flood magnitude in response to modest changes in climate. Nature, 361: 430-432.
50. Kumar, R., (1993) Coalescence megafan: multistorey sandstone complex of the late-orogenic (Mio-Pliocene) sub-Himalayan belt, Dehra Dun, India. Sedimentary Geology, 85: 327-337.
51. Kumar, S., Wesnousky, S.G., Rockwell, T.K., Ragona, D., Thakur, V.C. and Seitz, G.G., (2001) Earthquake recurrence and rupture dynamics of Himalayan Frontal Thrust, India. Science, 294: 2328-2331.
52. Latrubesse, E.M., Stevaux, J.C. and Sinha, R., (2005) Tropical rivers. Geomorphology, 70: 187-206.
53. Lavé, J. and Avouac, J.P., (2000) Active folding of fluvial terraces across the Siwalik Hills, Himalayas of central Nepal. Journal of Geophysical Research, 105(B3): 5735-5770.
54. Leopold, L.B., Wolman, M.G. and Miller, J.P., (1964) Fluvial Processes in Geomorphology. W.H. Freeman, San Francisco.
55. McKenzie, D.P., (1984) A possible mechanism for epeirogenic uplift. Nature, 307: 616-618.
56. Makaske, B., (2001) Anastomosing rivers: a review of their classification, origin and sedimentary products. Earth Science Reviews, 53: 149-196.
57. Miall, A.D., (1981) Alluvial sedimentary basins: tectonic setting and basin architecture. Geological Association of Canada Special Paper, 23: 1-33.
58. Miall, A.D., (1996) The Geology of Fluvial Deposits. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
59. Miall, A.D. and Jones, B.G., (2003) Fluvial architecture of the Hawkesbury Sandstone (Triassic), Near Sydney, Australia. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 73: 531-545.
60. Milliman, J.D. and Syvitski, P.M., (1992) Geomorphic/ tectonic control of sediment discharge to the ocean: the importance of small mountainous rivers. Journal of Geology, 100: 525-544.
61. Nanson, G.C. and Gibling, M.R., (2004) Anabranching and anastomosing rivers. In: Encyclopedia of Geomorphology (A.S. Goudie, Ed.). International Association of Geomorphologists, Routledge, London, pp. 21-25.
62. Overpeck, J., Anderson, D., Trumbore, S. and Prell, W., (1996) The Southwest Indian monsoon over the last 18 000 years. Climate Dynamics, 12: 213-225.
63. Owen, L.A., Finkel, R.C. and Caffee, M.W., (2002) A note on the extent of glaciation throughout the Himalaya during the global Late Glacial Maximum. Quaternary Science Reviews, 21: 147-157.
64. Parkash, B., Sharma, R.P. and Roy, A.K., (1980) The Siwalik Group (molasse)-sediments shed by collision of continental plates. Sedimentary Geology, 25: 127-159.
65. Parkash, B., Kumar, S., Rao, M.S., Giri, S.C., Kumar, C.S., Gupta, S. and Srivastava, P., (2000) Holocene tectonic movements and stress field in the western Gangetic plains. Current Science, 79(4): 438-449.
66. Petri, S. and Fulfaro, V.J., (1983) Geologia da chapada dos Parcis, Mato Grosso, Brasil. Revista Brasileria de Geociencias: 274-282.
67. Pinet, P. and Souriau, M., (1988) Continental erosion and large scale relief. Tectonics, 7: 536-582.
68. Potter, P.E., (1978) Significance and origin of big rivers. Journal of Geology, 86: 13-33.
69. Pratt, B., Burbank, D.W., Heimsath, A. and Ojha, T., (2002) Impulsive alluviation during early Holocene strengthened monsoons, central Nepal Himalaya. Geology, 30: 911-914.
70. Prell, W.L. and Kutzbach, J.E., (1987) Monsoon variability over the past 150 000 years. Journal of Geophysical Research, 92: 8411-8425.
71. Prins, M.A. and Postma, G., (2000) Effects of climate, sea level, and tectonics unraveled for last deglaciation turbidite records of the Arabian Sea. Geology, 28: 375-378.
72. Raiverman, V., Kunte, S.V. and Mukherjea, A., (1983) Basin geometry, Cenozoic sedimentation and hydrocarbon prospects in northwestern Himalaya and Indo-Gangetic plains. Petroleum Asia Journal, 6: 67-97.
73. Roy, N.G. and Sinha, R., (2005) Alluvial geomorphology and confluence dynamics in the Gangetic plains, Farrukhabad-Kannauj area, Uttar Pradesh, India. Current Science, 88(12): 2000-2006.
74. Ruddiman, W.F. (2001) Earth's Climate: Past and Future. W.H. Freeman, San Francisco.
75. Schlager, W., (1993) Accommodation and supply - a dual control on stratigraphic sequences. Sedimentary Geology, 86: 111-136.
76. Seeber, L. and Gornitz, V., (1983) River profiles along the Himalayan arc as indicators of active tectonics. Tectonophysics, 92: 335-367.
77. Shanley, K.W. and McCabe, P.J., (1994) Perspectives on sequence stratigraphy of continental strata. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 78: 544-568.
78. Shukla, U.K., Singh, I.B., Sharma, M. and Sharma, S., (2001) A model of alluvial megafan sedimentation: Ganga megafan. Sedimentary Geology, 144: 243-262.
79. Singh, H., Parkash, B. and Gohain, K., (1993) Facies analysis of the Kosi megafan deposits. Sedimentary Geology, 85: 87-113.
80. Sinha, R., (1995) Sedimentology of Quaternary alluvial deposits of the Gandak-Kosi interfan, north Bihar plains. Geological Society of India, 46: 521-532.
81. Sinha, R. and Friend, P.F., (1994) River systems and their sediment flux, Indo-Gangetic plains, northern Bihar, India. Sedimentology, 41: 825-845.
82. Sinha, R., Tandon, S.K., Gibling, M.R., Bhattacharjee, P.S. and Dasgupta, A.S., (2005a) Late Quaternary geology and alluvial stratigraphy of the Ganga basin. Himalayan Geology, 26(1): 223-240.
83. Sinha, R., Gibling, M.R., Jain, V. and Tandon, S.K., (2005b) Sedimentology and avlusion patterns of the anabranching Baghmati river in the Himalayan foreland basin, India. Special Publication of International Association of Sedimentologists, 35: 181-196.
84. Sinha, R., Jain, V., Prasad Babu, G. and Ghosh, S., (2005c) Geomorphic characterization and diversity of the fluvial systems of the Gangetic plains. Geomorphology, 70: 207-225.
85. Sinha, R., Bhattacharjee, P., Sangode, S.J., Gibling, M.R., Tandon, S.K., Jain, M. and Godfrey, D., (2007) Valley and interfluve sediments in the southern Ganga plains, India: exploring facies and magnetic signatures. Sedimentary Geology doi:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2007.07.004.
86. Stevaux, J.C., (1994) The upper Parana river (Brazil): geomorphology, sedimentology and paleoclimatology. Quaternary International, 21: 143-161.
87. Summerfield, M.A., (1990) Geomorphology and mantle plumes (Scientific Correspondence). Nature, 344: 387-388.
88. Summerfield, M.A., (1991) Global Geomorphology. Longman, London.
89. Tandon, S.K., Gibling M.R., Sinha R., Singh V., Ghazanfari P., Dasgupta A., Jain M. and Jain V., (2006) Alluvial valleys of the Gangetic Plains, India: causes and timing of incision. In: Incised Valleys in Time and Space (B. Dalrymple, Ed.). SEPM Special Publication No. 85, Tulsa, OK, pp. 15-35.
90. Törnqvist, T.E., (1993) Holocene alternation of meandering and anastomosing fluvial systems in the Rhine-Meuse delta (central Netherlands) controlled by sea level rise and subsoil erodibility. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 63: 683-693.
91. Umitsu, M., (1993) Late Quaternary sedimentary environments and landforms in the Ganges delta. Sedimentary Geology, 83: 177-186.
92. Van Dijk, G.J., Berendsen, H.J.A. and Roeleveld, W., (1991) Holocene water level development in The Netherlands' river area: implications for sea level reconstruction. Geologie en Mijnbouw, 70: 311-326.
93. Weber, M.E., Wiedicke, M.H., Kudrass, H.R., Hubscher, C. and Erlenkeuser, H., (1997) Active growth of the Bengal Fan during sea-level rise and highstand. Geology, 25: 315-318.
94. Wellner, R.W. and Bartek, L.R., (2003) The effect of sea level, climate and shelf physiography on the development of incised valley complexes: a modern example from the East China Sea. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 73(6): 926-940.
95. Wells, N.A. and Dorr, J.N., (1987) Shifting of the Kosi river, northern India. Geology, 15: 204-207.
96. White, R.S. and McKenzie, D.P., (1989) The generation of volcanic continental margins and flood basalts. Journal of Geophysical Research, 94: 7685-7730.
97. Wiedicke, M., Kudrass, H.-R. and Hubscher, C., (1999) Oolitic beach barriers of the last Glacial sea-level lowstand at the outer Bengal shelf. Marine Geology, 157: 7-18.
98. Wilhelmy, H., (1969) The ancient river valley on the eastern border of the Indus Plain and the Sarasvati problem. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie, 8: 76-93.
99. Wobus, C.W., Hodges Kip, V. and Whipple, K.X., (2003) Has focused denudation sustained active thrusting at the Himalayan topographic front? Geology, 31(10): 861-864.