Lateral migration of alluvial rivers

A fundamental characteristic of rivers is that they move laterally. This movement affects, for example, the construction and destruction of stratigraphy, the erosion of uplifting topography, and the timescales of storage and reworking of sediments. Using a suite of physical experiments, we develop and test a model that describes the rate and extent of channel migration as a function of environmental parameters.

Here you can download a timelapse of images that were taken at one minute intervals and that record the reworking of an initially dry surface (white) by channels (black). The reworked area is colored in grey. The upper right panel tracks the area that is reworked between two images, the lower right panel tracks the increase of the reworked area over time. (Link to video)