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(Reference retrieved automatically from Web of Science through information on FAPESP grant and its corresponding number as mentioned in the publication by the authors.)

Dunes in the world's big rivers are characterized by low-angle lee-side slopes and a complex shape

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Author(s):
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Cisneros, Julia [1] ; Best, Jim [2, 1, 3, 4, 5] ; van Dijk, Thaienne [1, 6] ; de Almeida, Renato Paes [7, 8] ; Amsler, Mario [9] ; Boldt, Justin [10] ; Freitas, Bernardo [11] ; Galeazzi, Cristiano [7] ; Huizinga, Richard [12] ; Ianniruberto, Marco [13] ; Ma, Hongbo [14] ; Nittrouer, Jeffrey A. [14] ; Oberg, Kevin [15] ; Orfeo, Oscar [16] ; Parsons, Dan [17] ; Szupiany, Ricardo [18] ; Wang, Ping [19] ; Zhang, Yuanfeng [19]
Total Authors: 18
Affiliation:
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[1] Univ Illinois, Dept Geol, Urbana, IL 61801 - USA
[2] Univ Illinois, Dept Mech Sci & Engn, Urbana, IL 61801 - USA
[3] Univ Illinois, Dept Geog, Urbana, IL 61801 - USA
[4] Univ Illinois, Dept GIS, Urbana, IL 61801 - USA
[5] Univ Illinois, Ven Te Chow Hydrosyst Lab, Urbana, IL 61801 - USA
[6] Deltares, Dept Appl Geol & Geophys, Utrecht - Netherlands
[7] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Geociencias, Sao Paulo - Brazil
[8] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Energia & Ambiente, Sao Paulo - Brazil
[9] Natl Sci & Tech Res Council, Inst Nacl Limnol, Santa Fe - Argentina
[10] US Geol Survey, Ohio Kentucky Indiana Water Sci Ctr, Louisville, KY - USA
[11] Univ Estadual Campinas, Fac Tecnol, Limeira - Brazil
[12] US Geol Survey, Cent Midwest Water Sci Ctr, Rolla, MO - USA
[13] Univ Brasilia, Inst Geociencias, Brasilia, DF - Brazil
[14] Rice Univ, Dept Earth Environm & Planetary Sci, Houston, TX - USA
[15] US Geol Survey, Cent MidWest Water Sci Ctr, Urbana, IL - USA
[16] Natl Sci & Tech Res Council, Ctr Ecol Aplicada, Corrientes - Argentina
[17] Univ Hull, Energy & Environm Inst, Kingston Upon Hull, N Humberside - England
[18] Univ Nacl Litoral, Fac Engn & Water Sci, Int Ctr Large Rivers Res, Santa Fe - Argentina
[19] Yellow River Inst Hydraul Res, Zhengzhou - Peoples R China
Total Affiliations: 19
Document type: Journal article
Source: NATURE GEOSCIENCE; JAN 2020.
Web of Science Citations: 0
Abstract

Dunes in the world's big rivers are dominated by lee-side slopes with angles of less than 10 degrees, according to a bedform analysis of high-resolution bathymetric datasets. Dunes form critical agents of bedload transport in all of the world's big rivers, and constitute appreciable sources of bed roughness and flow resistance. Dunes also generate stratification that is the most common depositional feature of ancient riverine sediments. However, current models of dune dynamics and stratification are conditioned by bedform geometries observed in small rivers and laboratory experiments. For these dunes, the downstream lee-side is often assumed to be simple in shape and sloping at the angle of repose. Here we show, using a unique compilation of high-resolution bathymetry from a range of large rivers, that dunes are instead characterized predominantly by low-angle lee-side slopes (<10 degrees), complex lee-side shapes with the steepest portion near the base of the lee-side slope and a height that is often only 10% of the local flow depth. This radically different shape of river dunes demands that such geometries are incorporated into predictions of flow resistance, water levels and flood risk and calls for rethinking of dune scaling relationships when reconstructing palaeoflow depths and a fundamental reappraisal of the character, and origin, of low-angle cross-stratification within interpretations of ancient alluvial sediments. (AU)

FAPESP's process: 17/06874-3 - Fluvial dynamics and sedimentary deposits in the Amazon channel: providing tools to decipher the paleogeographical evolution of Amazonia and deposits of large anabranching rivers in the rock record
Grantee:Cristiano Padalino Galeazzi
Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
FAPESP's process: 14/16739-8 - Developing facies models for large river systems: processes and products in active bars in the Brazilian Amazon and implications for the paleogeographic reconstructions of the Neogene Amazon and the Mesozoic of Gondwana in NE-Brazil and E-Australia
Grantee:Renato Paes de Almeida
Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants