Modelling fluvial, estuarine and deltaic landscapes

Anne Baar, Inci Güneralp, Eli Lazarus, Valentina Rossi, John B. Shaw

Fluvial, deltaic and estuarine landscapes form and evolve through interactions between physical and biological processes, which control their biomorphodynamic evolution. The mutual interactions between morphology and hydrodynamics, through sediment transport, are largely mediated by biological activity, which in turn respond to physical processes through complex bio-geomorphic feedbacks, whose signatures are imprinted in the sedimentary record. Bio-geomorphic feedbacks may show their effects at different spatial scales (from detailed sedimentary structures to whole landscapes) and temporal scales (from individual flood events to millennia), whose detection and prediction has key theoretical and practical implications. Mathematical models of fluvial, deltaic, and estuarine landscapes, together with field observations and laboratory experiments, are increasingly used to elucidate how fluvial, deltaic and estuarine landscapes evolve through bio-geomorphic feedbacks. These models have been essential for hypothesis testing, identifying key controls and geomorphological-sedimentological indicators, prediction, and management. In this session we welcome a broad spectrum of model-based research on rivers, deltas and estuaries, together with field observations and experiments, providing new insights across a wide rage of spatial and temporal scales.