Royal Society Philosophical Transactions: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences

River sediments
Author(s): Martin Williams

Source: Philosophical Transactions: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol.
370, No. 1966, River history (13 May 2012), pp. 2093-2122
Published by: Royal Society
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23250622
Accessed: 11-04-2019 02:42 UTC
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PHILOSOPHICAL
TRANSACTIONS
OF__ A Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A (2012) 370, 2093-2122
THE ROYALdoi:10.1098/rsta.2011.0504
SOCIETY
River sediments
By Martin Williams*
Discipline of Geography, Environment and Population, University of Adelaide,

Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
River history is reflected in the nature of the sediments carried and deposited over time.
Using examples drawn from around the world, this account illustrates how river sediments
have been used to reconstruct past environmental changes at a variety of scales in time
and space. Problems arising from a patchy alluvial record and from influences external
to the river basin can make interpretation difficult. The Nile is treated in some detail
because its history is further complicated by tectonic, volcanic and climatic events in
its headwaters and by enduring human impacts. It arose soon after 30 Ma. Since that
time approximately 100 000 km3 of rock have been eroded from its Ethiopian sources and
deposited in the eastern Mediterranean, with minor amounts of sediment laid down along
its former flood plains in Egypt and Sudan. From these fragmentary alluvial remains, a
detailed history of Nile floods and droughts has been reconstructed for the last 15 kyr,
and, with less detail, for the past 150 kyr, which shows strong accordance with global
fluctuations in the strength of the summer monsoon, which are in turn perhaps modulated
by changes in solar insolation caused by changes in the Earth's orbit and by variations
in solar irradiance.
Keywords: alluvial history; Nile basin; river metamorphosis; suspension load; traction load
1. Introduction
For it is clear to any intelligent observer ... that Egypt ... is, as it were, the gift of the river
and has come only recently into the possession of its inhabitants ... the greater part of the
country I have described has been built up by silt from the Nile ... the soil of Egypt does
not resemble that of the neighbouring country of Arabia, or of Libya, or even of Syria ... but
is black and friable as one would expect of an alluvial soil formed of the silt brought down
by the river from Ethiopia.
Herodotus (ca 485-425 BC) [1, pp. 104-106]
Most rivers are efficient conveyors of water and sediment from their headwaters to
the sea, as Herodotus discovered nearly 2500 years ago [1]. The Amazon presently
contributes 20 per cent of all fresh water brought by rivers to the sea and carries
on average approximately 1200 million tonnes of sediment to the Atlantic each
year [2]. In a pioneering study, Gibbs [3] estimated that roughly 90 per cent
of both the dissolved and suspended loads transported by the Amazon to the
sea came from only about 10 per cent of the total catchment area, namely the
*martin. williams@adelaide.edu.au
One contribution of 10 to a Theme Issue 'River history'.
2093 This journal is © 2012 The Royal Society
2094 M. Williams
Andean headwaters. The amount of fluvial erosion in other mountainous regions

is equally impressive. The Arun River in Asia has maintained its course through
the Himalayas, keeping pace with Cainozoic uplift, and creating one of the deepest
valleys on the Earth [4]. In Africa, the Blue Nile and Tekazze rivers have eroded
approximately 100 000 km3 of rock from the Ethiopian Highlands during the last
30 Myr, carving gorges to rival the Grand Canyon. Much of the resultant sediment
has been deposited in the eastern Mediterranean, with minor amounts of sediment
laid down as flood plain deposits in Egypt and Sudan [5].
Given the importance of the upper reaches of river basins as sources of water
and sediment, it is little wonder that recent deforestation and land-use change in
the headwaters of many tropical rivers has led to a change in flow regime and,
in some instances, to an influx of sediment onto previously unaffected farmland
[6,7]. These present-day changes in river behaviour and sediment transport mimic
the changes associated with the climatic fluctuations of the last few million years,
albeit taking place at a rate far faster than the environmental changes evident in
the Quaternary alluvial record.
The following account considers how river sediments may be used to
reconstruct alluvial history and the environmental fluctuations responsible for
changes in fluvial deposition over time. A perennial problem inherent in using
river sediments to reconstruct river history is the fragmentary nature of the
alluvial record. Indeed, it is often necessary to seek a more complete archive
in the correlative marine sediments. Another issue is recognizing the influence
of factors external to the river basin, such as changes in river basin boundaries
caused by tectonic and hydrological events. It is therefore important to recognize
that problems arising from a patchy alluvial record, from human activities and
from influences external to the river basin can make interpretation difficult.
The Nile is treated in some detail in this account not only because it is a big and
very well-studied river, spanning a wide climatic and altitudinal range, but also
because its history is further complicated by tectonic, volcanic and climatic events
in its headwaters and by prolonged and varied human activities. In addition, a
focus on the Nile allows the reader to follow in some detail the different methods
employed to decipher river history from river sediments, with some salutary but
far from obvious lessons for natural resource management.
2. River sediment inputs to the ocean
Thirty years ago, the best estimates for the total amount of river sediment
transported each year to the oceans amounted to about 20 billion tonnes (approx.
2 x 1010tyr-1) [8]. That estimate was based on data from about 100 rivers and
has since been revised upwards, partly because better data, from over 500 rivers
by 1997, revealed that the huge input of sediment from many small and hitherto
poorly monitored rivers such as the Fly in Papua New Guinea (0.085 x 106 tyr-1)
had not been adequately considered, but chiefly because of accelerating changes
in land use within major tropical rivers [9]. However, with the proliferation of
large dams in the last few decades, such as the Aswan High Dam in Egypt and
the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangste in southern China, some of the sediment
that would normally reach the ocean is now retained in large reservoirs, thereby
reducing their water storage capacity and effective life. Another consequence
Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A (2012)
River sediments 2095
of recent dam construction has been increased coastal erosion along the deltas
downstream, because the former equilibrium between sediment input from rivers
flowing to the sea and sediment removal by wave action and longshore drift has
been altered.
Drilling into ocean sediments during the search for oil in the 1960s and
1970s allowed rates of oceanic sediment accumulation to be determined for the
past 65Myr of Cainozoic time (figure 1) [10]. Interpreting the results has not
been straightforward, with some workers arguing that low rates of accumulation
reflected low rates of sediment input during episodes of global aridity, citing the
relatively low sediment yields from present-day Australian rivers as a possible
modern analogue. Another explanation for the high rates of non-carbonate
sedimentation in the latter part of the Cainozoic (figure 1) is that they reflect
accelerated tectonic uplift and mountain building at this time, most notably in
the Himalayas, Andes and Rockies. Indeed, Ruddiman et al. [11] have argued
that the increased rates of erosion triggered by tectonic uplift in the latter
half of the Cainozoic have led to enhanced silicate weathering and a draw
down of atmospheric carbon dioxide, accompanied by Cainozoic cooling and
desiccation. It is also no coincidence that over half of all river sediments supplied
to the ocean today come from a few big rivers, each originating in regions of
recent tectonic uplift. These rivers include the Amazon (1.2 x 109tyr_1), the
Yangste (0.48 x 109tyr_1) [12] and the combined Brahmaputra-Ganges rivers in
Bangladesh (1.7 x 109tyr_1) [13]. Such figures do not take account of sediment
stored in flood plains or of the contributions from dissolved and traction load.
(Traction load or bed load is that part of total sediment load moved on or just
above the channel bed, with particles being mostly boulders, cobbles, pebbles
and gravel. Suspension load refers to mainly silt- and clay-sized particles of low
settling velocity held in suspension and kept aloft as a result of upward currents in
eddies of turbulent flow. Once the current slackens, they will settle to the bottom
of the fluid in accordance with Stokes' Law.)
Both the Indus and the Hwang Ho (Yellow River) have very large offshore
deltas but little sediment now reaches the ocean today from those highly regulated
and flow-deprived rivers [13,14]. The distal reaches of many river valleys have
become more and more intensively cultivated, so that the Loess Plateau of central
China, for example, has some of the highest rates of erosion on the Earth [15].
However, rapid rates of rock weathering, high relief, steep slopes and intense
summer monsoon rains are the decisive factors in the high rates of sediment yield
from the big rivers.
Much effort has gone into using changes in the rates of fluvial sedimentation
offshore, together with changes in the terrestrial pollen content, to reconstruct
past changes in climate in Africa and elsewhere [16]. One difficulty with this
approach relates to how fluvial inputs are to be distinguished from silts derived
from dust plumes, as in the case of the Harmattan dust blown from West Africa
and studied by Darwin in the Cape Verde Islands in January 1832 [17]. Does an
abundance of clay- and silt-sized sediment offshore denote an aeolian provenance
or does it simply mean that the rivers of the day were transporting abundant
fine sediment in suspension? More subtle interpretation is needed if the valley-fill
deposits now being eroded originated as loess deposits many thousands of years
earlier, as is the case with the Matmata Hills of Tunisia, the piedmont valleys of
Namibia, the valleys of Sinai and the Flinders Ranges of South Australia.
2096 M. Williams
Atlantic Ocean Pacific Ocean Indian Ocean
20
B
0(S
M carbonate carbonate
a 15 -
-kfl ■
_o
>>
10
c s rtJ
D
£ B
5-
u
C/3
0- i 1 1
jy
1 r
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
age (Myr) age (Myr) age (Myr)
Figure 1. Cainozoic sedimentation rates in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Rates were
calculated from the graphs in Davies et al. [10] and are displayed here as histograms. (Online
version in colour.)
3. Factors controlling river sediment yield
Figure 2 a illustrates very schematically the dominant roles of tectonic history

and climate in controlling sediment load in rivers, with the former primarily
controlling relief, rock type and basin form, and the latter rainfall and run
off. Soil and plant cover reflect the interaction between climate and geology.
The reality is of course more complex, with soil development determined by the
'passive' factors of rock type and topography and the 'active' factors of soil climate
and biological activity, operating in combination over time. Figure 2b provides a
schematic overview of the factors controlling dissolved load in rivers, with climate
and rock type as primary agents once again modulated by plant cover and soil. In
arid areas, sediment production is weathering-limited and, in humid areas where
weathering is rapid, sediment production is erosion-limited.
This simple schema ignores sediment inputs to rivers from outside the
immediate catchment in the form of wind-blown dust or advancing sand dunes,
as well as inputs from more extreme events such as the sudden release of water
from a glacially dammed lake [18,19], resulting for example in the 'Channeled
Scablands' of Dakota [20]. Climate operates primarily through rainfall and run
off, with good evidence that highest sediment yields coincide with areas of highest
seasonality of rainfall, such as the seasonally wet tropics and summer monsoon
domains of Asia, Africa, South America and Australia [3,9,21,22]. In areas of long
dry season and frequent fires, for the same unit momentum of raindrop impact,
soil loss from bare burnt surfaces at the start of the wet season can be an order
Figure 2. Factors that control (a) suspende
of magnitude higher than at the heig

a maximum [23]. If extensive areas of
as a result of either forest clearing or
be several orders of magnitude high
concomitant choking of wetlands and
An interesting set of questions for riv
contributed from the valley slopes t
how much is stored within the river
swamps, and for how long? Detailed
the lower reaches of the Alligator Riv
demonstrated that the river chann
building up their flood plains for se
to the attainment of a reasonably sta
reached its present level some 6 kyr a
4. Suspension load, bed load and
Nearly half a century has passed

ground-breaking monograph Fluvial pro
synthesis inspired later workers to
channel hydraulics, channel patterns
palaeohydrology, human influences on
One outcome of these studies was c
Leopold & Wolman [33] and Leopold e
form are intimately related to sedim
in sediment supply, sediment size an
are in turn determined by events up
and cover) that influence the ratio of
range contributed from hill slope to
2098 M. Williams
areas and in recently deglaciated regions such as much of New Zealand, Alaska
and northern Europe often have a braided channel pattern, carry a large traction
load of generally coarse and non-cohesive pebbles and boulders, shift channel
course frequently and have steeply sloping, wide and shallow channels. However,
no single channel morphology can be considered as typical of the periglacial zone
[34], and the same is true of arid areas.
At the other extreme are rivers that flow in wide meanders across low-gradient
floodplains composed mainly of clay. Such winding rivers tend to have relatively
deep and narrow channels, a classic example (and origin of the noun meander)
being the Buyiikmenderes in what is now Turkey, known to the ancient Greeks as
the River Maiandros in Phrygia. As a general rule, such meandering rivers have
'suspension-load' channels and braided rivers have mainly 'bed-load' channels
[28,35]. An intermediate category of 'mixed load' channels shares some of the
attributes of both ends of the spectrum, depending upon the ratio of load in
suspension to load in traction. River channels can change during the course
of several seasons, decades or centuries from one type of channel to another,
depending upon changes in sediment and water influx. Schumm [36] termed such
a change 'river metamorphosis'.
The physical processes involved in such changes depend upon often small
changes in stream power (W), defined by Bagnold [37] as the rate of energy
loss per unit length of stream, expressed per unit width of channel as the product
of tractive force (r) and velocity (V).
W = rV. (4.1)
Tractive force is the product of hydraulic radius (R) (i.e. the channel cross
sectional area divided by the wetted perimeter), slope (S) and the specific weight
of the fluid (y),
r = yRS. (4.2)
Both stream power and sediment transport rate are proportional to stream
velocity cubed [28]. Once stream power falls below a limiting threshold value,
bank erosion and sediment transport will diminish, leading to a change in channel
pattern from braided to meandering.
In his investigation of the former channels that now criss-cross the floodplain
of the Murrumbidgee (figure 3) in the aptly named Riverine Plain of southeast
Australia, Schumm [35] noted that the sediments filling two types of former
channel differed in lithology. The 'ancestral stream' channels were sinuous with
meander wavelengths several times those of the present meandering channel,
and were filled with mainly fine sediment, consistent with their sinuous channel
pattern. The 'prior stream' channels on the other hand contained a coarser
channel fill and were linear in plan, with wide relatively straight channels.
Schumm concluded that the sinuous ancestral channels were suspension-load
channels formed at a time when the overall climate was wetter than that of
today and bankfull discharge several times greater than at present, in contras
to what he considered the more seasonal flow regime of the prior channels,
which experienced episodically very high discharge from more sparsely vegetated
headwaters. Bowler [38] built upon the pioneering work of Schumm and provided
j IN O W J
enlargement
Figure 3. Wide Late Pleistocene palaeochannels and narrow modern river channel, lower
Murrumbidgee valley, southeast Australia, 27 December 2006. (Google 2010, Image 2011 Digital
Globe, 2011 Cnes/Spot Image, 34°40'40.03" S 143°10'31.30"E, elevation approx. 60 m). (Online
version in colour.)
the first coherent radiocarbon chronology of the Late Pleistocene palaeochannels

of the Riverine Plain, while noting that some of the alluvial sediment exposures
reflected neotectonic activity within parts of the catchment.
Later workers used a combination of radiocarbon and luminescence techniques
to extend the alluvial chronology of the Murray-Darling basin of Australia and
of the rivers draining westwards into Lake Eyre, finding that times of high
inferred river flow coincided with independently dated times when lake levels were
also high [39-42], One interesting aspect of this research was the recognition of
a process of sediment recycling, with source-bordering dunes being generated
2100 M. Williams
from river channel sands and later becoming reincorporated into the fluvial
sediments. For source-bordering dunes to form, three conditions are necessary:
a regularly replenished supply of channel sands, sparse riparian vegetation and
strong unidirectional winds, at least seasonally.
In presently semi-arid west-central New South Wales, the alluvial landscape
consists of highly seasonal sandy alluvial channels, source-bordering dunes, Late
Quaternary alluvial fans derived in part from the reworking of such dunes and
small ephemeral lakes with Late Pleistocene sandy, gypseous and clay lunettes
on their downwind margins. Strong similarities between the Late Quaternary
sedimentary facies of western New South Wales and the Late Triassic of Somerset
in southwest England, together with similar fossils (charophyte oogonia) and
evaporite minerals (carbonate, gypsum), led Talbot et al. [43] to postulate that
the Late Quaternary landscape of east-central Australia provided a modern
analogue for the Triassic environment of Somerset.
5. Dating alluvial sediments
Efforts to reconstruct river history usually start with a careful analysis of the
physical properties of these sediments, followed by a detailed investigation of
their geochemistry and fossil content [44-46]. Inevitably, the study will require a
precise and reliable chronology, i.e. one in which the age of the sample obtained
actually relates to its time of deposition. However, very recent flood sediments
may contain reworked charcoal fragments several thousand years older than the
actual sediment [47]. Caution is also required when interpreting ages because
many alluvial formations are time-transgressive [48-50].
Earlier workers had to rely upon a few flecks of charcoal, sporadic prehistoric
stone artefacts, occasional sherds of pottery and, if lucky, ancient coins, in order
to devise an alluvial chronology for coastal valleys around the Mediterranean [51]
and tropical floodplains in Asia and Africa. In Australia, the 'post-European'
alluvial horizon is demarcated at the base by fragments of bottle glass and
rusting lengths of fencing wire. In peninsular India, widespread volcanic ash
deposits were laid down across the sub-continent as a result of the eruption of
Toba volcano in northern Sumatra 73kyr ago. The jury is still out on whether
or not they constitute an isochronous marker bed, with some claiming that
reworking of the primary air-fall mantle nullifies this claim and others arguing
for rapid remobilization of the original ash, with deposition in back-swamps and
depressions and preservation beneath younger alluvium [52].
Useful as relative dating methods are as a first approximation in the field, there
is now a veritable battery of techniques (table 1) for dating alluvial sediments over
and above the long-established and generally reliable radiocarbon dating with its
effective upper limit of 40-50 kyr. These methods include magneto-stratigraphy,
potassium-argon (40K/40Ar) and argon-argon (40Ar/39Ar) dating methods, and
dating using luminescence techniques, cosmogenic nuclides and uranium series.
Each method is useful at different temporal scales and for particular types of
sediment [53-55].
Luminescence dating is a widely used and versatile technique for dating when
grains of quartz or feldspar were last exposed to daylight [56,57]. Under ideal
conditions, it can provide a million year record, but its more usual upper limit is
Table 1. Methods commonly used in direct an

Williams et al. [53, table Al]. AMS, accelerated
spectrometry.
method range precision
I. correlation methods
tephrochronology 0-5 x 109 years 0.5%

geomagnetic reversals 0-5 x 109 years 0.5%
orbital variations 0-5 x 109 years 0.5%
II. radioisotope parent-stable daughter

potassium-argon approximately 50kyr to 5 x 109 years 0.5%
argon-argon approximately lOkyr to 5 x 10® years 0.5%
radiocarbon (conventional) 0-40 kyr 0-6 kyr, 60 years;
6-30 kyr, 1%;
greater than
30 kyr, greater
than 10%
radiocarbon (AMS) 0-50 kyr as above
III. disequilibrium between parent and daughter radioisotopes

U-series: I, zero initial 230Th 0-250 kyr (a-spec) 1% (a-spec)
0-500 kyr (TIMS) less than 0.5%
(TIMS)
U-series: II, excess initial 230Th 0-250 kyr 10-20%
IV. trapped electrons

thermoluminescence 0 to 100-500 kyr 10%
OSL (optical dating) 0-100 kyr 7-10%
ESR (electron spin resonance) 0-1 x 106 years 10-20%
V. cosmogenic isotopes
Beryllium-10 lO^lO6 years 15%
VI. chemical methods

amino acid racemization 0 to 100-500 kyr more than 15%
approximately 4 x 104yr [58]. Magneto-stratigraphy can operate at scales from

101 to 1010 yr, but can only provide a relative chronology and so needs independent
calibration by other methods. Cosmogenic nuclide dating is becoming an
increasingly useful method of dating soils, sediments and rocks back to 106 yr,
but has not so far been much used for dating alluvial sediments, although initial
results appear promising. Uranium-series dating is useful for dating tufa deposits
within alluvial sequences but has mainly been used to date flowstone deposits in
limestone caves. Both 40K/40Ar and 40Ar/39Ar dating methods are widely used to
date tephra and lavas sandwiched within Quaternary and older river sediments,
and are generally used for material older than about 5 x 104 yr.
Against this general background, we now consider one river—the Nile—in
some detail, because this will allow us to provide a more integrated account of
how different techniques can be deployed to reconstruct river history using river
sediments, with some unexpected lessons for natural resource managers.
2102 M. Williams
6. Reading Nile alluvial history from sediments
(a) Nile hydrology and sediment load

The Nile is the longest river in the world, with a total length of 6670 km from the
headwaters of the Kagera River in Uganda to the Mediterranean Sea, and drains
an area variably estimated at 2.96-3.25 million km2, although this has varied in
the past (figure 4). Two of the three most important contributors of water and
sediment to the main Nile are the Blue Nile/Abbai and the Atbara/Tekezze, both
of which rise close to one another in the volcanic highlands of Ethiopia, wher
they have eroded approximately 100 000 km3 of rock and cut spectacular gorges
nearly 2 km deep and 35 km wide [5]. These two rivers provide, respectively, 68
per cent and 22 per cent of the peak flow and 61 per cent (140 ± 20 million t yr-1)
and 25 per cent (82 ± 10 million tyr-1) of the total Nile sediment load, which
amounts at present to 230 ± 20 million t yr-1 [59,60]. This is in strong contrast
to the White Nile, which provides relatively little sediment to the main Nile
but is important for quite a different reason. The White Nile flows from the
lake plateau of Uganda and disappears into the extensive swamps of southern
Sudan, where it emerges as a river of nearly constant flow throughout the year
It provides 83 per cent of Nile discharge during the month of lowest flow and
is responsible for maintaining perennial flow in the main Nile during extreme
drought years in Ethiopia [61]. The main Nile flows north through the eastern
Sahara desert, receiving no further water or sediment once north of the Atbar
confluence, reaching the Mediterranean Sea after a waterless journey of 2689 km
Samuel Baker [62] aptly described the Blue Nile as 'a rapid mountain stream,
rising and falling with great rapidity' in contrast to the White Nile that flowed
through a land of 'malaria, marshes, mosquitoes, misery' but had a far more
equable flow regime than the Blue Nile. The distinction is an important one.
Owing to its highly seasonal flow and vigorous bank erosion, the alluvial record
of the lower Blue Nile is fragmentary in the extreme, with only the more recen
sediments well preserved, while that of the lower White Nile is remarkably
complete over the last 250 kyr, despite very low rates of sedimentation. It is
instructive to compare the Late Quaternary sedimentary record preserved in the
upper few metres of the lower Blue and White Nile valleys, because they provide
a useful record of environmental events in their respective headwaters.
(b) Cainozoic evolution of the Nile

Nile history closely reflects the influence of tectonic, volcanic and climatic
events in its Ethiopian and Ugandan headwaters. The hydrological differences
between the Blue and White Nile rivers reflect their very different geological and
geomorphic histories. The Blue Nile gorge is one of the most spectacular features
in the Nile basin, and post-dates the Ethiopian flood basalts that were erupted
within the space of a million years some 3 x 107 years ago [63,64]. The volume of
rock eroded from the Abbai and Tekezze basins since then amounts to 100 000 ±
50 000 km3 from an area of 275 000 km2, which is comparable to the volume of
the Nile cone in the eastern Mediterranean, estimated at 150000 ± 50000 km3
[5]. The concordance between these two independent estimates is consistent with
an Ethiopian source for the bulk of the Nile cone sediment. The major drainage
Figure 4. Nile basin. (Online versi
divides date back to 2-3 x 107 yea

up of the original Ethiopian volcan
2 x 107 years ago [63,64]. Uplift of
(29-10, 10-6 and 6-0 x 106 years ag
at approximately 10 and 6 x 106 yea
Climatic cooling and progressive
approximately 2.5 Ma [67,68] ushe
characterized by cold, dry conditio
conditions during interglacial phas
2104 M. Williams
than today. During the last glacial maximum (LGM) at 21 ±2 kyr ago, the
Semien Highlands (figure 4) were glaciated down to 4200 m, the lower limit of
periglacial solifluction was 1000 m lower (3100 m), and temperatures were 4 8°C
colder [69]. Lake Tana (figure 4) became a closed basin until 17-15 kyr ago [70].
The rivers also became more seasonal and carried sands and gravels to the Nile
until 17-15 kyr ago, when they deposited silt and clay across their floodplain
[61,71]. Deforestation in the headwaters over the past 100 years has increased
erosion by an order of magnitude, leading to widespread silting up of reservoirs
downstream [72]. The discussion that follows amplifies these statements. We begin
with the Blue Nile.
(c) Blue Nile fining-upwards alluvial sequence

Fifty kilometres south of Khartoum, a series of gravel pits have been excavated
in recent years close to the present Blue Nile just south of Masoudia (figure 5)
and afford a striking insight into the alluvial history of that river. The uppermost
layer of sediment consists of a black cracking clay with a discontinuous band of
Nile oyster shells (Etheria elliptica) near the base of the clay layer, above a thin
band of rolled carbonate gravel (figure 5 a). Such cracking clays (or vertisols) form
a continuous mantle, 1-2 m thick, across the surface of the Gezira alluvial plain
[73-75]. The Gezira is a low-angle alluvial fan built up during the Late Cainozoic
by the Blue Nile and its tributaries. It forms a triangular plain bounded to the
south by the Manaqil Ridge, to the east by the Blue Nile, to the west by the
White Nile, with its apex at Khartoum, where these two great Nile tributaries
meet (figure 5).
Exposed beneath the surface vertisol in the gravel quarries, there are two
alluvial units, each several metres thick, composed of rolled quartz and ironstone
gravel in a sandy clay matrix, with large cross-beds indicative of high-energy
flow. Both gravel units contain up to 25 per cent of irregular and linear
calcium carbonate concretions 10-30 cm long, reflecting replacement of former
tree roots by carbonate and indicating prolonged intervals of soil development
accompanied by carbonate precipitation following deposition of the river gravel
units (figure 5 a). The overall sedimentary sequence shows two phases of high
energy Blue Nile flow, each followed by a shift in the channel and prolonged
soil formation under semi-arid conditions. The final phase of widespread clay
deposition across the former Blue Nile floodplain indicates a major change in the
type of sediment being carried by the river, followed by exposure of the alluvial
clays and ensuing pedogenesis.
(d) Gezira alluvial fan

The youngest portion of the Gezira alluvial fan (figures 5 and 6) consists of
a veneer of dark clay (generally, 1-2 m thick) that mantles alluvial sands and
gravels with very large cross-beds indicative of very high-energy flow. The clays
contain freshwater mollusc shells with maximum calibrated radiocarbon ages of
15 kyr near the base of the clays [61]. (Since the strength of the Earth's magnetic
field has varied over time, with concomitant changes in the cosmic ray flux
in the atmosphere and hence the conversion of 14N to 14C, radiocarbon years
are not calendar years and so need to be calibrated against other less variable
chronologies, such as that devised by counting tree rings, or the marine coral
—I
33°00' 34°00'
figure 5a
Khartoum rOm
-15°00'
«■
. 'I
%
-14°l ^ 14°00 -
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i« ; ~
fish bones * *
shells • • • •x S*k
-13°00' gravel * « © 13°00

erosional gap
Okms 50
palaeochannels, distinct J l L_ _l I
_L
Figure 5. Gezira alluvial fan. Stratigraphic logs show (a) Pleistocen

clay mantle, and (b) Pleistocene White Nile clays, sandy clays a
(Online version in colour.)
record dated by very high-resolution uranium series

gastropod species (Melanoides tuberculata, Biomp
truncatus, Corbicula fluminensis and, appropriate
become less frequent towards the surface, and are rep
aquatic snails such as Pila wernei and Lanistes carinat
towards 5 kyr ago by the land snail Limicolaria flamm
today in the acacia tall grass savannah region of so
2106 M. Williams
Figure 6. Gezira alluvial fan. Aqua sat

showing clay-mantled irrigated land t
Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response T
minimum rainfall of 500 mm

time indicate prolonged floodin
by a much more seasonal flood
plains some 5kyr ago, as a re
climatic desiccation or both, for
[61,71,76]. The sands and grav
dated but belong to the Late
ages from at least 40 to 17kyr
Figure 7. Depositional models for the Blue N

the Early Holocene. (Online versio
(e) Depositional models for the La

Thirty years earlier, when far fewer
et al. [78] and Williams & Adamson
linked to climate to account for the
the headwaters of major Ethiopian r
erosion would be accelerated and
sinuosity, bed-load streams which c
sorted gravels and sands (figure 7a)
conditions and re-establishment of
should see a change to high-sinuosi
deposited silts and clays (figure 76).
coarse basal gravels through sands t
a predictable outcome of a change f
2108 M. Williams
related to a change from glacial aridity to interglacial and postglacial climatic

amelioration. The precise timing of the last glaciation in the Ethiopian Highlands
is still being investigated. Osmaston et al. [81] considered that up to 180 km2 of
the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia could have been glaciated at this time, with a
central icecap of at least 30 km2. Glacial moraines and periglacial deposits in the
Semien Mountains near the sources of the Tekezze and Blue Nile/Abbai rivers
(figure 4) are presently being dated using cosmogenic nuclides. The few available
radiocarbon ages point to colder LGM conditions (4-8°C cooler), with a lowering
of the upper tree line by approximately 1000 m during the LGM [69,82].
(/) Glacial aridity in the Blue Nile basin

It can be argued that this depositional model is based upon an unproven
assumption, namely glacial aridity. After all, other workers had used the evidence
afforded by Late Pleistocene Nile sands and gravels in northern Sudan and
southern Egypt to argue for greater fluvial competence and so higher discharge
and more pluvial glacial conditions [83]. The inference by Adamson et al. [78]
that the Late Pleistocene was a time of greater aridity was based on the fact
that, during the last glacial, maximum lake levels were low in Ethiopia, Kenya
and Uganda [84], In addition, Saharan desert dunes were active up to 800 km
south of their present limits, to within at least 12° N of the equator [85]. In
addition, there are strong theoretical reasons why glacial aridity prevailed in the
intertropical zone, not least being a cooler sea surface and reduced evaporation
from the oceans, thereby curtailing the supply of moist air derived from tropical
convection.
Later work has confirmed that much of equatorial Africa was drier and colder
than today during the LGM [86,87], with Lakes Victoria, Albert and Edward no
longer flowing into the upper White Nile [88]. Two Late Pleistocene cores from
Lake Albert contain palaeosols dated to 20.7-17.7kyr ago and 16.6-15.1 kyr ago,
indicating lake desiccation at those times, with a high lake level before 20.7 kyr
ago and after 15.1 kyr ago evident in the 87Sr/86Sr values [89]. The older palaeosol
coincides with the LGM.
The White Nile, deprived of the run-off from its headwaters by the closure
of the Ugandan lakes, dried out in the winter months, during which sand dunes
migrated across its former bed [61,71]. To sum up, the Late Pleistocene Blue
Nile and Atbara rivers were highly seasonal bed-load streams that, together with
their tributaries, ferried and deposited vast quantities of poorly sorted sands
and gravels in central Sudan and southern Egypt [77]. With the return of the
summer monsoon towards 17 kyr ago, strengthening at 15 kyr ago [89], run-off
increased in the Ethiopian headwaters, and Lake Tana overflowed once more
[70]. From approximately 15 until 7.5 kyr ago and perhaps slightly later [61], the
Holocene Blue Nile was depositing clays across the low-angle Gezira alluvial fan in
the central Sudan. Thereafter, it began to incise, terminating its fining-upwards
depositional cycle.
(g) Relevance of the Blue Nile depositional models to India and Australia
A similar pattern of widespread deposition of Late Pleistocene sand and
gravel, followed by terminal Pleistocene to Early Holocene fine-grained alluviation
culminating in vertical river entrenchment has been documented for the Son and
Belan rivers in semi-arid north-central India [90,91] as well as in the sub-humid

to semi-arid Murray and Murrumbidgee river basin in southeastern Australia
[38-42]. It thus appears that rivers in semi-arid catchments are sensitive to
changes in plant cover, whether once glaciated or not. A substantial reduction in
vegetation cover in their headwaters is conducive to a bed-load regime, reverting
to a suspension-load regime once the plant cover has been restored and a soil
cover widely established in the headwaters. In essence, in the absence of any
eustatic, isostatic or other tectonic causes of changes in base level, a river will
tend to aggrade its valley when the load-to-discharge ratio is high and to degrade
its valley when the load-to-discharge ratio is low. However, care is needed to avoid
falling into the trap of circular argument in which a given type of climate (wetter,
drier, transitional from wet to dry or dry to wet) is inferred from the presence of
a river terrace, and the inferred climate is then used to account for the existence
of the same terrace. Some independent check upon the purely fluvial evidence is
therefore necessary when seeking to reconstruct hydrological and climatic changes
in river basins [92].
(h) Strontium isotope evidence for Late Pleistocene integrated Nile

drainage network
Careful studies of the lake sediments in Uganda and Ethiopia and the alluvial
sediments along the lower Blue and White Nile valleys demonstrated that, after
a long dry interval during the LGM, rainfall increased and the Ugandan lakes
overflowed once more into the upper White Nile in southern Sudan, causing
widespread flooding in the lower White Nile valley, from approximately 14.5 kyr
ago onwards. However, Beuning et al. [93] put forward a contrary view, averring
that Lake Victoria remained a closed basin until approximately 7.2 kyr ago.
This conclusion ran counter to three decades of research by many workers
and, if correct, would have required a complete re-thinking of Nile prehistoric
archaeology.
In order to test this hypothesis and ascertain more precisely the time at which
Lake Victoria overflowed, Talbot et al. [94] used strontium isotopes as tracers
to determine just when Lakes Victoria and Albert overflowed into the upper
White Nile. They analysed the strontium isotope ratio (87Sr/86Sr) preserved
in freshwater gastropod shells from Blue and White Nile sediments ranging in
age from terminal Pleistocene to present day, and compared these with the
strontium isotope ratios obtained from the Ugandan lakes. Since these ratios
are not changed by weathering and hydrological cycles, the strontium ratios of
river and lake waters give a weighted average for the type of rocks within the
various basins making up the overall river system. All of the shells analysed had
been tested for carbonate re-crystallization using X-ray diffraction. This work
demonstrated the overflow from Lake Victoria by approximately 14.5 kyr ago
and provided an independent confirmation that the present-day integrated Nile
drainage network became re-established at that time, a conclusion vindicated by
later studies [89].
The abrupt return of the summer monsoon was also reflected in wet conditions
along the southern margins of the Sahara, with dune stabilization [95], high
lake levels in the mountains of Tibesti and Jebel Marra [61,96,97] and a
2110 M. Williams
sudden reduction in dust flux from the Chad basin into the Atlantic [98]. The
approximately 14.5 kyr ago return (or strengthening) of the summer monsoon
evident in the Nile basin was a global event, and has been identified elsewhere i
Africa [87] as well as in India, China and Australasia [99,100].
(i) White Nile and main Nile floods and Mediterranean sapropels
During phases of very high Nile flow, clastic muds rich in continental organic
matter and highly organic sapropels accumulated on the floor of the eastern
Mediterranean [101-107]. Flood deposits exposed in trenches dug east of th
present White Nile near Esh Shawal village 250 km south of Khartoum [108
(figure 4) show episodes of middle to Late Pleistocene high flow (figure 56), which,
within the limits of the dating errors, coincide with sapropel units S8 (217ky
ago), S7 (195kyr ago) and S6 (172kyr ago) [104]. Sapropel 5 (124kyr ago) wa
synchronous with major flooding in the White Nile valley and with a prolonged
wet phase at approximately 125 kyr ago at Kharga Oasis in the Western Desert
of Egypt. Recently dated high flood deposits on the main Nile are roughly coeva
with sapropel units S6 (172kyr ago) and S3 (81 kyr ago) [77]. There are as yet
no well-dated Nile sediments synchronous with sapropel unit 2 (55kyr ago).
Thanks to a very gentle flood gradient (1:100 000), the post-LGM flood deposits
in the lower White Nile valley are well preserved. Calibrated 14C ages obtained
on freshwater gastropod and amphibious Pila shells and fish bones show high
White Nile flood levels around 14.7-13.1, 9.7-9.0, 7.9-7.6, 6.3 and 3.2-2.8 kyr
ago. The less complete Blue Nile record shows very high flood levels towards
13.9-13.2, 8.6, 7.7 and 6.3kyr ago [61]. The Blue Nile has cut down at least 10m
since approximately 15 kyr ago and at least 4 m since 9 kyr ago, with concomitant
incision by the White Nile amounting to 4 m since approximately 15 kyr ago and at
least 2 m since 9 kyr ago. Such incision would help in draining previously swamp
flood plains, freeing them for cultivation.
The most recent sapropel, SI, in the eastern Mediterranean is a composite unit,
with ages of 13.7-12.4kyr near the base and 9.9-8.9kyr near the top [101-103].
The gap in the SI record may coincide with the arid phase seen in other parts
of Africa coeval with the Younger Dryas (approx. 12.5-11.5kyr ago) [98]. Higgs
et al. [109] considered that formation of sapropel SI may have ended as recently as
5 kyr ago, which is also when the Nile deep-sea turbidite system became inactive
as a result of reduced sediment discharge from that river [107]. The interval from
approximately 13.7 to 8.9 kyr ago and locally up to 5 kyr ago also coincides with
a time when freshwater lakes were widespread across the entire Sahara and when
the White Nile attained flood levels up to 3 m above its modern unregulated
flood level.
Where independently dated comparisons exist between sapropel formation and
Nile floods, they point to synchronism between sapropel accumulation and times
of higher Nile flow, indicative of a stronger summer monsoon at these times.
Although the sapropel record in the eastern Mediterranean is incomplete, with
some evidence of complete removal of sapropels by post-depositional oxidation
[109], it is a longer and more complete record than that presently available on
land, and so can serve as a useful surrogate record for Nile floods and phases of
enhanced summer monsoon precipitation.
7. Nile floods, orbital and solar irradiance cycles, and El Nino Southern
Oscillation events
The 'African Humid Period' (14.8-5.5 kyr ago) [98] was a time of wetter climate
in the Blue and White Nile headwaters. This wet interval was linked to changes in
the tilt of the Earth's axis, such that the Earth was closest to the sun during the
northern summer, leading to a 7 per cent increase in summer (June-July-August)
insolation and a corresponding 7 per cent decrease in winter (December January- -
February) insolation relative to the present [110,111]. This asymmetrical heating
of the Earth's surface increased temperature and pressure gradients on either
side of the equator, strengthening the monsoon circulation and bringing more
summer rain to tropical northern Africa, including the now arid southern and
central Sahara [112-114]. The wet phase seems to have begun quite suddenly but
to have ended gradually, with lakes drying out first in higher latitudes and later in
lower latitudes, although this may simply indicate an initially slow response to the
northward shift of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and a time-transgressive
response to its final southward displacement.
An abiding puzzle is how slow changes in insolation can trigger abrupt
climatic responses. A possible reason is that, once insolation levels had passed
a certain threshold value, certain nonlinear 'biogeophysical' feedback processes
start to operate [98]. Such factors include changes in sea surface temperatures,
surface cover, albedo and sensible heat flux [115-121]. Such feedbacks would have
accentuated both Early Holocene humidity and the Mid-Holocene desiccation of
the Sahara and Nile valley evident in the strontium isotope records from the Nile
delta and the demise of the Old Kingdom dynasty in Egypt caused by the severe
drought at 4.2kyr ago [122,123].
The intervals of high White Nile flow listed in §6«, if correct, seem to occur
at millennial-scale frequency. Bond et al. [124] found that Holocene episodes
of ice-rafted debris (IRD) into the North Atlantic occurred at intervals of
approximately 1500 years. Comparison of 14C and 10Be concentrations (in
large part controlled by galactic cosmic radiation modulated by the strength
of the solar wind's magnetic field) in tree rings and Greenland ice cores
suggested a similar periodicity, prompting some workers to hypothesize that
cyclical fluctuations in solar irradiance might have been responsible for at
least some of the cyclical fluctuations discernible in Holocene marine, ice
core and speleothem climate proxy records [125-127]. Bard and Franck [128]
wisely advise caution in this regard. A further suggestion that fluctuations
in solar irradiance may have modulated the frequency of El Nino Southern
Oscillation (ENSO) events at millennial to centennial scales remains speculative
[129,130] but prompts us to consider the links between historic Nile floods
and ENSO events [131-133]. In essence, times of strongly negative Southern
Oscillation Index (SOI)—i.e. El Nino events—were almost always synchronous
with very low flow in the Nile, as well as with years of drought in northeast
China, peninsular India, Java and southeast Australia [131-133]. Conversely,
times of strongly positive SOI (i.e. La Nina events) were usually years of
exceptional floods in those same regions. By way of example, rivers were
in spate across eastern Australia during the 2010 La Nina. More sombrely,
during the great El Nino drought of 1877, six million people died in India and
some 10 million in China [131]. Since there is substantial overlap between the
2112 M. Williams
domain of the monsoon and that of ENSO [90], years of weak monsoon will
exacerbate the effect of El Nino-induced droughts, and conversely during La
Nina events.
8. River sediments and river basin management
Regulation of river flow by dam building has a 5000 year pedigree in Egypt,
but the effects are not always beneficial, with reservoir sedimentation, salt
accumulation in irrigated soils, and downstream erosion as some of the more
obvious consequences. For example, by 1996, the capacity of the Roseires reservoir
(figure 4) on the Blue Nile had been reduced by almost 60 per cent through silt
accumulation and that of the Khashm el Girba reservoir on the Atbara (figure 4)
by nearly 40 per cent [72], Forest clearance in the mountainous Ethiopian
headwaters for cultivation is a prime cause of such rapid rates of sedimentation.
Such clearance alters the hydrological balance through decreased infiltration and
increased run-off. Hurni [6] recorded a decrease in the area under natural forest
in the upper Blue Nile drainage basin from 27 per cent to 0.3 per cent between
1957 and 1995, with a corresponding increase from 40 to 77 per cent in the area
cultivated. Annual soil loss amounted to 2mmyr~1 on mountain slopes in this
region, increasing to over 15mmyr_1 in cultivation years. However, deforestation
has varied over the last few thousand years in Ethiopia, with intervals of forest
regrowth alternating with periods of forest removal [7].
More insidious is the slow build-up of salt within agricultural soils as a
result of poor canal maintenance (Uzbekhistan), inadequate soil drainage (Egypt
and Pakistan) and clearing of native vegetation (Australia). Another cause is
geological inheritance. The high levels of subsoil salinity in Quaternary alluvial
deposits flanking the lower White Nile have nothing to do with the present-day
climate and cannot be understood without a detailed knowledge of the complex
depositional history of that river [61,71,108,134], This is doubtless equally true
of other big rivers flowing through semi-arid regions, such as the Indus and the
T igr is-Euphr ates.
A final example will serve to illustrate the sometimes counterintuitive influence
of river sediments on land use. The Jonglei Canal project aims to drain part of the
Sudd swamps of South Sudan and so increase discharge downstream. The slogan
'more water for the North, more land for the South' conceals some less obvious
pitfalls. About 40 km3 of water enters the Sudd and half that amount flows out,
the balance lost in seepage and evapo-transpiration. However, the concentration
of dissolved solids in water leaving the Sudd is the same, but with an altered
composition. Moreover, the salinity levels in sediments beneath the Sudd are high.
In fact, the swamps operate as a gigantic biogeochemical filter, and also buffer the
flow regime [135]. Drainage resulting from the canal will probably expose saline
subsoils, alter water chemistry downstream and increase flow variability, leading
to bank erosion downstream and damage to the inlet pipes of pump schemes along
the lower White Nile. The original project planners did not consider these possible
consequences. The details are site specific; the principles are universal. Land use
that does not take due account of river history and sediment characteristics is
unlikely to endure.
Table 2. River responses to global and regio

(for sources, see text).
I. 250-25 kyr ago (interval includes two gla

A. Nile basin, Sahara and Mediterranean S
(1) high White Nile floods at more than 2

166 ± 30 kyr ago and approximately 125 k
Northern Hemisphere summer monsoon
(2) intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) d
Northern Hemisphere summer
(3) prolonged wet phase at approximately
of Egypt. Sahara studded in lakes
(4) sapropel accumulation in the east Med
(S7), 172kyr ago (S6), 124kyr ago (S5), 1
(S2), broadly coincident with phases of v
B. Rest of world
(1) high interglacial sea levels at approxim

(2) warmer interglacial sea surface temper
and wetter climates in the intertropical
(3) high lake levels in Africa and Australi
ago, 65 kyr ago and 40 kyr ago
(4) super-eruption of Toba volcano approx
intense global cooling and several centur
and possibly Africa. Low lakes levels in t
climatic impact of this eruption
II. 25-17 kyr ago (interval includes the last

A. Nile basin, Sahara and Mediterranean S
(1) lakes drying out in headwaters of Blue

displacement of the ITCZ relative to tod
weakening of the summer monsoon. Soils
20.7-17.7 kyr ago and 16.5-15.1 kyr ago
(2) White Nile deprived of overflow from
and its lower reaches blocked by desert
(2) lakes drying across the Sahara and Eas
(3) temperatures 4-8°C cooler than today
in the Semien and Bale Mountains and in
mountain slopes. Upper treeline lowered
supply abundant coarse debris to highly
(4) widespread deposition of coarse sand a
central Sudan and along the main Nile v
dries out during winter months. Human
migrate south in search of more reliable s
(Continued.)
2114 M. Williams
Table 2. (Continued.)
B. Rest of world
(1) maximum global ice volume and LGM sea levels approximately 120 m lower than today
(2) cooler sea surface temperatures and reduced evaporation from the oceans, with drier
conditions in the intertropical zone
(3) lakes low or dry in Africa and Australia during the LGM
(4) desert dunes active in Africa, Asia and Australia, and widespread deposition of desert
dust/loess in China, India, South America, Australia and Europe
III. 17-5 kyr ago

A. Nile basin, Sahara and Mediterranean Sea
(1) lakes in Blue and White Nile source regions begin to rise at approximately 17 kyr ago
and overflow perennially at 15-14.5 kyr ago
(2) stronger summer monsoon and ITCZ extends approximately 500 km further north than
today during the Northern Hemisphere summer
(3) upper catchments of Blue and White Nile densely vegetated and soil formation active
(3) perennial channel flow re-established in Blue and White Nile and Main Nile, which now
carry a large seasonal suspension load of silt and clay
(4) Blue Nile incised more than 10 m into its former floodplain since 15 kyr ago and more
than 4 m since 9 kyr ago, beheading its Gezira distributary channels, which dry out by
approximately 5 kyr ago
(5) high White Nile flood levels at ca 14.7-13.1, 9.7-9.0, 7.9-7.6, 6.3 and 3.2-2.8 kyr ago.
High Blue Nile flood levels at ca 13.9-13.2, 8.6, 7.7 and 6.3 kyr ago
(6) the Sahara is once more studded in sporadic lakes and supports a human population of
Mesolithic hunter-fisher-gatherers and later Neolithic pastoralists
(7) a composite sapropel (SI) accumulates in the eastern Mediterranean Sea between
approximately 13.7-12.4 kyr ago near the base and approximately 9.9-8.9 kyr ago near
the top. The gap between the two sapropel sub-units may denote the influence of the
Younger Dryas (YD) episode (approx. 12.5-11.5kyr ago), which was marked by aridity in
Lake Victoria and in the Sahara. Flow in the Nile was probably curtailed and more
seasonal during the YD
B. Rest of world
(1) retreat of icecaps and mountain glaciers in both hemispheres and rapid sea-level rise
from 17 kyr ago on
(2) sea surface temperatures higher once more, with greater evaporation from the oceans and
wetter climates in the intertropical zone
(3) stronger summer monsoon in both hemispheres
(4) high postglacial lake levels in Africa, Asia and Australia
(5) desert dunes vegetated and stable along desert margins, and supply of desert dust/loess
much reduced
(6) rivers of central India cut down approximately 30 m into their former floodplains at or
before approximately 8 kyr ago
(7) ice-rafted debris (IRD) events in N Atlantic at 11.0, 10.3, 9.4, 8.1 and 5.9 kyr ago
(8) Donggwe Cave speleothem record (South China) shows strong Asia Monsoon (AM) at
9-7kyr ago and weak AM events at 8.3, 7.2, 6.3 and 5.5 kyr ago
(9) Oman speleothems show reduced rainfall at 9.5, 9.0, 8.3, 7.4 and 6.3 kyr ago
(Continued.)
Table 2. (Continued.)
IV. 5-0 kyr ago

A. Nile basin, Sahara and Mediterranean Sea
(1) lakes in Blue and White Nile source regions continue to overflow
(2) weaker summer monsoon and ITCZ retreats approximately 500 km to the south during
the Northern Hemisphere summer
(3) more seasonal flow in Blue and White Nile rivers and Main Nile. Blue Nile carries a
mixed load of sand, silt and clay
(4) lakes dry out in the Sahara, which becomes abandoned by Neolithic pastoralists who
move south into West Africa or east into the Nile valley
(5) deposition of sapropel SI in the east Mediterranean Sea may have persisted until
approximately 5 kyr ago, when the Nile deep-sea turbidite system also becomes inactive
B. Rest of world
(1) climates in the intertropical zone become less humid and more seasonal
(2) summer monsoon still strong but less vigorous than in the previous phase and its spatial
domain probably somewhat reduced
(3) lakes dry out in arid and semi-arid areas
(4) sporadic glacier advances culminating in the most recent Little Ice Age
(5) increase in the frequency of El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events, leading to
more frequent extreme flood and drought events in the Americas, Africa, Australia and
Asia. Interaction between ENSO and summer monsoon leads to a more variable rainfall
regime in both hemispheres in regions influenced by them, and to highly seasonal or very
variable river flow regimes
(6) impact of human activities upon global climate (and on river basins) may have begun
with the advent of agriculture and has increased ever since, not always to the advantage
of either
(7) IRD events in North Atlantic at 4.2, 2.8 and 1.4 kyr ago
(8) Donggwe Cave speleothem record (South China) shows weak AM events at 4.5, 2.7, 1.6
and 0.5 kyr ago
9. Conclusions
River history is reflected in the nature of the sediments carried and deposited ov
time, allowing reconstruction of past environmental changes at a variety of s
in time and space, although a patchy alluvial record and influences externa
the river basin can make interpretation difficult. The continental record of L
Quaternary Nile floods is consistent with the well-dated record of highly org
sediments (sapropels) in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Times of high Nile fl
accord with global fluctuations in summer monsoon strength (table 2), per
modulated by changes in solar insolation caused by changes in the Earth's or
and by variations in solar irradiance. Understanding the alluvial record can as
catchment management and help avoid environmental damage. As Bacon [13
noted in 1620: Natura non nisi parendo vincitur (to command Nature, we m
first obey her laws).
2116 M. Williams
I owe a lasting debt of gratitude to friends and mentors from my Cambridge undergraduate days
Dick Chorley, Jean and Dick Grove, Bruce Sparks, Claudio Vita-Finzi, Andrew Warren, Paul
Williams. Appreciation in memoriam goes to Don Adamson, Desmond Clark and Mike Talbot,
quintessential scholar-gentlemen and field companions without equal.
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River sediments

Author(s): Martin Williams

Discipline of Geography, Environment and Population, University of Adelaide,

One contribution of 10 to a Theme Issue 'River history'.

2093 This journal is © 2012 The Royal Society

Andean headwaters. The amount of fluvial erosion in other mountainous regions

2. River sediment inputs to the ocean

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A (2012)

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A (2012)

Atlantic Ocean Pacific Ocean Indian Ocean

3. Factors controlling river sediment yield

Figure 2 a illustrates very schematically the dominant roles of tectonic history

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A (2012)

Figure 2. Factors that control (a) suspende

of magnitude higher than at the heig

4. Suspension load, bed load and

Nearly half a century has passed

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A (2012)

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A (2012)

the first coherent radiocarbon chronology of the Late Pleistocene palaeochannels

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A (2012)

5. Dating alluvial sediments

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A (2012)

Table 1. Methods commonly used in direct an

method range precision

tephrochronology 0-5 x 109 years 0.5%

II. radioisotope parent-stable daughter

III. disequilibrium between parent and daughter radioisotopes

IV. trapped electrons

VI. chemical methods

approximately 4 x 104yr [58]. Magneto-stratigraphy can operate at scales from

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A (2012)

6. Reading Nile alluvial history from sediments

(a) Nile hydrology and sediment load

(b) Cainozoic evolution of the Nile

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A (2012)

Figure 4. Nile basin. (Online versi

divides date back to 2-3 x 107 yea

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A (2012)

(c) Blue Nile fining-upwards alluvial sequence

(d) Gezira alluvial fan

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A (2012)

-13°00' gravel * « © 13°00

Figure 5. Gezira alluvial fan. Stratigraphic logs show (a) Pleistocen

record dated by very high-resolution uranium series

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A (2012)

Figure 6. Gezira alluvial fan. Aqua sat

minimum rainfall of 500 mm

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A (2012)

Figure 7. Depositional models for the Blue N

(e) Depositional models for the La

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A (2012)

related to a change from glacial aridity to interglacial and postglacial climatic

(/) Glacial aridity in the Blue Nile basin

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A (2012)

Belan rivers in semi-arid north-central India [90,91] as well as in the sub-humid

(h) Strontium isotope evidence for Late Pleistocene integrated Nile

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A (2012)

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A (2012)