Modification of river meandering by tropical deforestation
Modification of river meandering by tropical deforestation
Tropical forests are the only forest biome to have experienced increased rates of forest loss during the past decade because of global demands for food and biofuels. The implications of such extensive forest clearing on the dynamics of tropical river systems remain relatively unknown, despite significant progress in our understanding of the role of trees in riverbank stability. Here, we document rates of deforestation and corresponding average annual rates of riverbank erosion along the freely meandering Kinabatangan River in Sabah, Malaysia, from Landsat satellite imagery spanning A.D. 1989–2014. We estimate that deforestation removed over half of the river's floodplain forest and up to 30% of its riparian cover, which increased rates of riverbank erosion by >23% within our study reaches. Further, the correlation between the magnitude of planform curvature and rates of riverbank erosion only became strongly positive and significant following deforestation, suggesting an important role of forests in the evolution of meandering rivers, even when riverbank heights exceed the depth of root penetration.
Horton, Alexander J.
85a168b1-77cd-4786-973b-61d4704a41a2
Constantine, José Antonio
da5be542-9ff9-44e1-befe-897398ca78fa
Hales, Tristram C.
1bc9a154-0b56-4117-b79f-7af6ebaa47a3
Goossens, Benoit
1059e14b-b994-4b4a-94c6-a5d9b50684e2
Bruford, Michael W.
b80186ec-2582-493b-a071-c55b2dc680aa
Lazarus, Eli D.
642a3cdb-0d25-48b1-8ab8-8d1d72daca6e
Horton, Alexander J.
85a168b1-77cd-4786-973b-61d4704a41a2
Constantine, José Antonio
da5be542-9ff9-44e1-befe-897398ca78fa
Hales, Tristram C.
1bc9a154-0b56-4117-b79f-7af6ebaa47a3
Goossens, Benoit
1059e14b-b994-4b4a-94c6-a5d9b50684e2
Bruford, Michael W.
b80186ec-2582-493b-a071-c55b2dc680aa
Lazarus, Eli D.
642a3cdb-0d25-48b1-8ab8-8d1d72daca6e
Horton, Alexander J., Constantine, José Antonio, Hales, Tristram C., Goossens, Benoit, Bruford, Michael W. and Lazarus, Eli D.
(2017)
Modification of river meandering by tropical deforestation.
Geology.
(doi:10.1130/G38740.1).
Abstract
Tropical forests are the only forest biome to have experienced increased rates of forest loss during the past decade because of global demands for food and biofuels. The implications of such extensive forest clearing on the dynamics of tropical river systems remain relatively unknown, despite significant progress in our understanding of the role of trees in riverbank stability. Here, we document rates of deforestation and corresponding average annual rates of riverbank erosion along the freely meandering Kinabatangan River in Sabah, Malaysia, from Landsat satellite imagery spanning A.D. 1989–2014. We estimate that deforestation removed over half of the river's floodplain forest and up to 30% of its riparian cover, which increased rates of riverbank erosion by >23% within our study reaches. Further, the correlation between the magnitude of planform curvature and rates of riverbank erosion only became strongly positive and significant following deforestation, suggesting an important role of forests in the evolution of meandering rivers, even when riverbank heights exceed the depth of root penetration.
Text
Geology-2017-Horton-G38740.1
- Version of Record
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 5 February 2017
e-pub ahead of print date: March 2017
Organisations:
Earth Surface Dynamics
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 408609
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/408609
ISSN: 0091-7613
PURE UUID: 1e7378ac-4ed0-49ee-b661-67fc82a74bd0
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 25 May 2017 04:02
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 04:28
Export record
Altmetrics
Contributors
Author:
Alexander J. Horton
Author:
José Antonio Constantine
Author:
Tristram C. Hales
Author:
Benoit Goossens
Author:
Michael W. Bruford
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics
