Song, X.; Wang, S.; Li, G.; Huang, H.; Xu, H.; Bai, Y. Riparian Vegetation’s Effects on the Evolution of an Experimental Meandering Channel Driven by an Upper Vortex Flow. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 2023, doi:10.1002/esp.5601.
Song, X.; Wang, S.; Li, G.; Huang, H.; Xu, H.; Bai, Y. Riparian Vegetation’s Effects on the Evolution of an Experimental Meandering Channel Driven by an Upper Vortex Flow. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 2023, doi:10.1002/esp.5601.
Song, X.; Wang, S.; Li, G.; Huang, H.; Xu, H.; Bai, Y. Riparian Vegetation’s Effects on the Evolution of an Experimental Meandering Channel Driven by an Upper Vortex Flow. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 2023, doi:10.1002/esp.5601.
Song, X.; Wang, S.; Li, G.; Huang, H.; Xu, H.; Bai, Y. Riparian Vegetation’s Effects on the Evolution of an Experimental Meandering Channel Driven by an Upper Vortex Flow. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 2023, doi:10.1002/esp.5601.
Abstract
We conducted the meander evolution experiments incorporating the effects of riparian vegetation and the series of upper vortex flow disturbances induced by a scour pit simultaneously. Two employed nonlegume plants with salinity and alkalinity resistance, had uniform degrees of seedling normal growth and different lengths of root networks. Our results show that riparian vegetation in general can consolidate the single-thread channel planform without branching outward under the flooding flow conditions. Transverse point bars on inner banks were instead by downstream scroll bars in overall channel for long, unless the coupling of riparian vegetation and flood scour. Shallow-rooted plant was inadequate to resist the inner-bank cutting effect brought by the upper vortex flow. Deep-rooted plant can stabilize the bank-lines and thalweg significantly, but that was susceptible to locally low vegetation coverage. Using evolutionary spectral analysis based on thalweg, we found streamwise high-frequency distribution of bed topography mainly concentrated downstream the bifurcation interface in unvegetated scenario when faced with a flood, shrank to the upper isolated turning interface in shallow-rooted scenario, and conversely stood out along the bare roots disturbed region in deep-rooted scenario. This experimental study expands a much wider understanding of vegetation effects in hydro-bio-geomorphological systems engineering.
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