Morphodynamic effects of riparian vegetation growth after stream restoration

Morphodynamic effects of riparian vegetation growth after stream restoration

Vargas Luna, A. (TU Delft Environmental Fluid Mechanics; Pontificia Universidad Javeriana)
Crosato, A. (TU Delft Environmental Fluid Mechanics)
Anders, Niels (Wageningen University & Research)
Hoitink, Antonius J.F. (Wageningen University & Research)
Keesstra, Saskia D. (Wageningen University & Research)
Uijttewaal, W.S.J. (TU Delft Environmental Fluid Mechanics)

2018

The prediction of the morphological evolution of renaturalized streams is important for the success of restoration projects. Riparian vegetation is a key component of the riverine landscape and is therefore essential for the natural rehabilitation of rivers. This complicates the design of morphological interventions, since riparian vegetation is influenced by and influences the river dynamics. Morphodynamic models, useful tools for project planning, should therefore include the interaction between vegetation, water flow and sediment processes. Most restoration projects are carried out in USA and Europe, where rivers are highly intervened and where the climate is temperate and vegetation shows a clear seasonal cycle. Taking into account seasonal variations might therefore be relevant for the prediction of the river morphological adaptation. This study investigates the morphodynamic effects of riparian vegetation on a re-meandered lowland stream in the Netherlands, the Lunterse Beek. The work includes the analysis of field data covering 5years and numerical modelling. The results allow assessment of the performance of a modelling tool in predicting the morphological evolution of the stream and the relevance of including the seasonal variations of vegetation in the computations. After the establishment of herbaceous plants on its banks, the Lunterse Beek did not show any further changes in channel alignment. This is here attributed to the stabilizing effects of plant roots together with the small size of the stream. It is expected that the morphological restoration of similarly small streams may result in important initial morphological adaptation followed by negligible changes after full vegetation establishment.

Delft3D
Lunterse Beek
Seasonal variation
Stream dynamics
Stream restoration
Vegetation modelling

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:647f6d7c-0af8-4b42-854f-41066d441422

https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.4338

2018-07-04

0197-9337

Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 43 (8)

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2018 A. Vargas Luna, A. Crosato, Niels Anders, Antonius J.F. Hoitink, Saskia D. Keesstra, W.S.J. Uijttewaal