CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Brooks, G,R.
Date : 2001.
Title : Channel changes along the lower reaches of major Mackenzie River tributaries.
Publication : The Physical Environment of the Mackenzie Valley: a Baseline for the Assessment of Environmental Change, Edited by: L.D. Dyke and G.R. Brooks. Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin
Issue : 547:
Page(s) : 159-166.
Abstract
Alluvial rivers undergo lateral channel change through progressive lateral migration at bends or through channel avulsions. The floodplains of rivers experiencing lateral channel change contain geomorphic features indicative of past migration. Based on aerial photography spanning from the late 1940s-early 1950s to the 1970s-1980s, insignificant lateral channel change occurred along the lowest reaches of the Root, Willowlake, Blackwater, Great Bear, Hume, Ramparts, Hare Indian, Ontaratue, and Arctic Red rivers; all of which have a meandering or meandering-straight planform. In contrast, the lowest reaches of the North Nahanni, Dahadinni, Redstone, Keele, Mountain and Carcajou rivers have all experienced significant lateral channel change, ranging from up to 3 m/year to 11m/year. An increase in the magnitude and frequency of extreme flows arising from climate warming may cause an overall increase in the rate of bank erosion and net widening of the channel along those river reaches presently experiencing active lateral migration.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology