1. Chlorophyll a (Chl a) distribution across a 0.36 km restored floodplain (Cosumnes River, California) was analysed throughout the winter and spring flood season from January to June 2005. In addition, high temporal-resolution Chl a measurements were made in situ with field fluorometers in the floodplain and adjacent channel. 2. The primary objectives were to characterise suspended algal bioma...

River Res Applic. 2017;1–13. Abstract The transport of water and sediment from rivers to adjacent floodplains helps generate complex floodplain, wetland, and riparian ecosystems. However, riverside levees restrict lateral connectivity of water and sediment during flood pulses, making the re‐introduction of floodplain hydrogeomorphic processes through intentional levee breaching and removal an e...

The state of the science of lowland river floodplain restoration reflects the relatively new and experimental nature of large river floodplain rehabilitation efforts. Based on results of a case study of floodplain restoration at the lowland Cosumnes River, California, we present a geomorphic monitoring and adaptive assessment framework that addresses the need to inform and utilize scientific kn...

[1] We present a continuity-based approach for calculating flow delivered to a main channel from an adjacent floodplain and use the values in a linear diffusion model to generalize fluxes across a floodplain. Using interferometric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) measurements of floodplain water level changes and the continuity equation, we demonstrate that flow rates are not the same throughout ...

River-floodplain systems are susceptible to rapid hydrological events. Changing hydrological connectivity of the floodplain generates a broad range of conditions, from lentic to lotic. This creates a mixture of allochthonously and autochthonously derived dissolved organic matter (DOM). Autochthonous DOM, including photosynthetic extracellular release (PER), is an important source supporting bac...

With the improvements in sensor technologies over the past decade, there has been a significant decrease in the cost of acquisition and increase in the density and accuracy of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data. Due to its advantages over traditional surveying techniques, LiDAR data are widely preferred for floodplain delineation. But, processing dense LiDAR data is time-consuming and mem...

The majority of the world's floodplains are dammed. Although some implications of dams for riverine ecology and for river channel morphology are well understood, there is less research on the impacts of dams on floodplain geomorphology. We review studies from dammed and undammed rivers and include influences on vertical and lateral accretion, meander migration and cutoff formation, avulsion, an...

This paper investigates the impacts on floods of hypothetical changes to river channel geometry by construction or removal of embankments to prevent water spreading onto the floodplain at high flows. A numerical model is applied to the River Cherwell between Oxford and Banbury to simulate changes to flood hydrographs. Embanking the river increases the peak flows downstream by 50-150%. Restoring...

Restoration of sustainable geomorphic processes that create floodplain topography through development of sand-splay complexes at intentional breaches is one method to promote variability in physical structure needed for habitat restoration. The topography of splay complexes provides a range of floodplain elevations that creates local variability in (i) inundation duration and frequency and dept...