Morphodynamics of boulder-bed semi-alluvial streams in northern
Fennoscandia: a flume experiment to determine sediment self-organization
Abstract
In northern Fennoscandia, semi-alluvial boulder-bed channels with coarse
glacial legacy sediment are abundant, and due to widespread
anthropogenic manipulation during timber-floating, unimpacted reference
reaches are rare. The landscape context of these semi-alluvial rapids—
with numerous mainstem lakes that buffer high flows and sediment
connectivity in addition to a regional low sediment yield— contribute
to low amounts of fine sediment and incompetent flows to transport
boulders. To determine the morphodynamics of semi-alluvial rapids and
potential self-organization of sediment with multiple high flows, a
flume experiment was designed and carried out to mimic conditions in
semi-alluvial rapids in northern Fennoscandia. Two slope setups (2% and
5%) were used to model a range of flows (Q1 (summer high flow), Q2, Q10
& Q50) in a 8 x 1.1 m flume with a sediment distribution analogous to
field conditions; bed topography was measured using
structure-from-motion photogrammetry after each flow to obtain DEMs. No
classic steep coarse-bed channel bedforms (e.g., step-pools) developed.
However, similarly to boulder-bed channels with low relative
submergence, at Q10 and Q50 flows, sediment deposited upstream of
boulders and scoured downstream. Because the Q50 flow was not able to
re-work the channel by disrupting grain-interlocking from preceding
lower flows, transporting boulders, or forming channel-spanning
boulders, the channel-forming discharge is larger than the Q50. These
results have implications for restoration of gravel spawning beds in
northern Fennoscandia and highlight the importance of large grains in
understanding channel morphodynamics.