Lab-0013

Meandering River Dynamics

Model
Meanderpy

Duration
2.0 hrs

Updated
2020/06/02

Download
download

Run online using:

Contributor(s)

Zoltan Sylvestre at Texas Bureau of Economic Geology.

Irina Overeem at University of Colorado.

Introduction

Meanderpy is a Python module that implements a simple numerical model of meandering, the one described by Howard & Knutson in their 1984 paper "Sufficient Conditions for River Meandering: A Simulation Approach".

This is a kinematic model that is based on computing migration rate as the weighted sum of upstream curvatures; flow velocity does not enter the equation. Curvature is transformed into a 'nominal migration rate' through multiplication with a migration rate (or erodibility) constant; in the Howard and Knutson, 1984 paper this is a nonlinear relationship based on field observations that suggested a complex link between curvature and migration rate.

In the 'meanderpy' module we use this linear relationship between the nominal migration rate and curvature, as recent work using time-lapse satellite imagery suggests that high curvatures result in high migration rates (Sylvester et al., 2019).

You can read more about the model, find references at: https://csdms.colorado.edu/wiki/Model:Meanderpy.

There is a keynote lecture on the concepts behind this model that you can watch here:

https://csdms.colorado.edu/wiki/Presenters-0433

Classroom organization
This is a self-contained jupyter notebook using meander py. It is recommended the instructor introduces concepts of meandering rivers, and students read papers on meadner migration rate - i.e. the papers directly associated with the model. Students can run through the examples, and then assignments can be worked on plenary in a lab style class or as homework. It is recommended that results are being discussed plenary after the completion of the exercises.

Download associated file: MeanderRiverDynamics slides.ppt

Learning objectives
Skills

learn how to save a plot in python, and make a movie from a model simulation
implement basic calculations of river hydraulics and morphological relationships on command line

Key concepts

learn about the planview morphology of meandering rivers
learn how to quantify sinuosity, relationship between slope,
learn how meandering rivers migrate

Lab notes

Notes are in the associated jupyter notebook.

References

Sylvester, Z., Durkin, P., and Covault, J.A., 2019, High curvatures drive river meandering: Geology, v. 47, p. 263–266, doi:10.1130/G45608.1.
Howard, A, Knutson, T., 1994. Sufficient conditions for meandering.