Floodplain construction by recent, rapid vertical accretion: Waipaoa River, New Zealand

Abstract

The rate of vertical accretion (typically 14–18 mm h−1) during eight floods in the Waipaoa River basin, with recurrence intervals of 5 to 60 years, was determined by relating the floodplain stratigraphy at McPhail's bend to the 1948–1995 flood history. Overbank deposits remaining after a flood that occurred in March 1996 suggest a rate of vertical accretion of 15 mm h−1. By contrast, because the flow velocity across the floodplain was too high to permit deposition from suspension, during the record flood of March 1988 the rate of vertical accretion was only 6 mm h−1. The sequence of deposition is highly discontinuous, and the rapid vertical accretion is a response to a late 19th to early 20th century phase of deforestation in the headwaters that probably initiated a far greater change in suspended sediment yield than in discharge. Cross-section surveys conducted since 1948 indicate that the high suspended sediment load of the Waipaoa River also promoted in-channel deposition, which effected a progressive reduction in bankfull channel width although, due to the overbank deposition, channel capacity remained constant. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.