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Stream power

About: Stream power is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1135 publications have been published within this topic receiving 51324 citations.


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the relation between water discharge and suspended-sediment concentration (SSC) was analyzed based on daily discharge and SSC recorded at six stations in Ningxia-Inner Mongolia reaches of the upper Yellow River in flood seasons from 1952 to 1986.

64 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors demonstrate that rivers incising into a substrate of very poorly sorted relict glacial sediment behave in a detachment limited manner, and develop a methodology by which to both test the appropriate incision model and constrain its form.
Abstract: [1] Bed erosion and sediment transport are ubiquitous and linked processes in rivers. Erosion can either be modeled as a “detachment limited” function of the shear stress exerted by the flow on the bed, or as a “transport limited” function of the sediment flux capacity of the flow. These two models predict similar channel profiles when erosion rates are constant in space in time, but starkly contrasting behavior in transient settings. Traditionally detachment limited models have been used for bedrock rivers, whereas transport limited models have been used in alluvial settings. In this study we demonstrate that rivers incising into a substrate of loose, but very poorly sorted relict glacial sediment behave in a detachment limited manner. We then develop a methodology by which to both test the appropriate incision model and constrain its form. Specifically we are able to tightly constrain how incision rates vary as a function of the ratio between sediment flux and sediment transport capacity in three rivers responding to deglaciation in the Ladakh Himalaya, northwest India. This represents the first field test of the so-called “tools and cover” effect along individual rivers.

63 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a mathematical model for erodible channels is formulated, developed and tested with field data, which can account for changes in both channel width and channel-bed profile of aggrading and degrading streams.
Abstract: A mathematical model for erodible channels is formulated, developed and tested with field data. A significant feature of the model is its ability to account for changes in both channel width and channel-bed profile of aggrading and degrading streams. Since changes in channel width and channel-bed elevation are closely interrelated, this model represents an improvement in this direction. This model employs the techniQues for water and sediment routing; an additional condition based upon the concept of minimum stream power is used as the width predictor. Analysis using this model shows that the total stream power of a reach is reduced if the widths at all cross-sections are so adjusted as to reduce the variation in energy gradients at these sections. When this model is applied, a varied flow will eventually develop into a uniform flow for which the stream power is an eventual minimum.

63 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the relative importance of detachment-limited versus transport-limited erosion by flowing water on soil-mantled hillslopes and low-order valleys is discussed.
Abstract: Many numerical landform evolution models assume that soil erosion by flowing water is either purely detachment-limited (i.e. erosion rate is related to the shear stress, power, or velocity of the flow) or purely transport-limited (i.e. erosion/deposition rate is related to the divergence of shear stress, power, or velocity). This paper reviews available data on the relative importance of detachment-limited versus transport-limited erosion by flowing water on soil-mantled hillslopes and low-order valleys. Field measurements indicate that fluvial and slope-wash modification of soil-mantled landscapes is best represented by a combination of transport-limited and detachment-limited conditions with the relative importance of each approximately equal to the ratio of sand and rock fragments to silt and clay in the eroding soil. Available data also indicate that detachment/entrainment thresholds are highly variable in space and time in many landscapes, with local threshold values dependent on vegetation cover, rock-fragment armoring, surface roughness, soil texture and cohesion. This heterogeneity is significant for determining the form of the fluvial/slope-wash erosion or transport law because spatial and/or temporal variations in detachment/entrainment thresholds can effectively increase the nonlinearity of the relationship between sediment transport and stream power. Results from landform evolution modeling also suggest that, aside from the presence of distributary channel networks and autogenic cut-and-fill cycles in non-steady-state transport-limited landscapes, it is difficult to infer the relative importance of transport-limited versus detachment-limited conditions using topography alone. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

63 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the lower Trinity River, Texas showed no consistent downstream pattern of increases or decreases in discharge, stream power, or water surface slope, consistent with earlier findings of limited fluvial sediment delivery to the coastal zone.

62 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
202351
2022103
202154
202067
201952
201847