Sufficient conditions for river meandering: A simulation approach

Abstract

A digital simulation model produces realistic meandering patterns starting from an initially straight channel with small random perturbations. The model assumes that nominal migration rates increase as channel curvature increases but reach a maximum when bend radius divided by channel width is about 3, with decreasing rates for sharper bends, in accord with observations of Nanson and Hickin (1983) and others. However, it is also necessary to assume that local migration rates are a weighted average of local and upstream nominal rates, with the weighting decreasing upstream. The model includes provisions for neck cutoffs and may be used to forecast future patterns of channel migration in meandering streams.