ARTICLE IN PRESS

Quaternary Science Reviews 22 (2003) 2199–2207

Controls on channel sinuosity changes: a case study of the

Tisza River, the Great Hungarian Plain
Ga! bor Tima! r
. os
Space Research Group, Department of Geophysics, Eotv ! any
. University of Budapest, Pazm ! P. s!etany
! 1/A, H-1117 Budapest, Hungary
Received 21 January 2002; accepted 15 November 2002

Abstract

The planform geometry of the Tisza, the trunk river of the subsiding Great Hungarian Plain is studied by reconstruction of the
last pre-regulation river course. The thalweg sinuosity has been computed for the main alluvial section of the river. Remarkable
sinuosity changes have been found to correlate with discharge and sediment load changes at the inflow of tributaries, as well as with
active deformation areas, like differential subsidence and wrench fault zones.
Analysing the change of the river pattern, a new discrimination line has been derived, which separates the meandering zone on the
classic slope vs. discharge diagram into two subzones. The first subzone (lower slope values) corresponds to a range of true, self-
organized meandering. The second subzone (higher slope values) corresponds to a range of ‘unorganized meandering’. This is a
range where river sinuosity decreases although the channel slope increases. In the case of the Tisza River, this subzone equals to the
wandering river pattern.
r 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction present activity was suggested by Bada et al. (1999)

and Horva! th and Bada (2001) using modelling of
The Great Hungarian Plain (GHP), the central part of the stress field evolution of the Pannonian Basin. Using
the Pannonian Basin, surrounded by the arc of the the data set presented by Mike (1975), Schumm et al.
Carpathian Mts. (Fig. 1), is one of the world’s most (2000) suggest that the westward shift of the Tisza
regularly developed floodplains. As a result of the stress- River at the Late Pleistocene can be explained in
induced, thermal- and compaction-induced subsidence terms of reactivation of the Mid-Hungarian Shear Zone
in the Quaternary (e.g. Horva! th, 1993; Horva! th and and a change from an extensional to a compressive
Cloetingh, 1996; Bada, 1999) the area is very flat; the stress field.
relief undulations remain under 100 m on the GHP. This An interesting question for the geology of the GHP is
subsidence lasts up to now, although its rate shows to what extent there are neotectonically active fault zones
differences in the area (Joo, ! 1992). In addition, the in the area. On industrial (e.g. hydrocarbon exploration)
subsidence was equalized by river activity and fluvial seismic sections the youngest reflectors are usually not
sedimentation (Ka! zme! r, 1990). The pre-Tertiary base- imaged, therefore their use for neotectonic studies are
ment and the sedimentary fill of the GHP have been very limited. Accordingly, interpretation of earthquake
investigated by drilling campaigns (for a summary see data, the riverine seismic surveys and the river planform
!
Ronai, +
1985) and seismic surveys (e.g. Lorincz et al., analysis offer a good tool for neotectonic studies.
2002). The results show elongated SW–NE directed As a result of the subsidence, in the historical times
tectonic units in the basement rocks. One of the the GHP was mainly a large swamp, sparsely populated
most important structures of the GHP is the Mid- with only a few permanent buildings. Thus the small,
Hungarian Shear Zone (Poga! cs!as et al., 1989; Csontos or even the moderate earthquake events were not
et al., 1992), a sinistral strike-slip fault system whose ! et al., 1995). The number of
necessarily recorded (Toth
recorded earthquakes from the last 100 years is simply
E-mail address: timar@ludens.elte.hu (G. Tim!ar). not enough for drawing a reliable conclusion. As

0277-3791/03/$ - see front matter r 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0277-3791(03)00145-8
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G. Timar

Fig. 1. Shaded relief map of the Pannonian Basin. Dash-dotted line indicates national frontiers, the boundary of the Great Hungarian Plain is shown
by dotted line. MHSZ indicates the Mid Hungarian Shear Zone. The map is based on GTOPO30 global digital elevation data (GLOBE Task Team,
1999). The study section of the Tisza River is between the cities of Tokaj and Szeged.

presented in this paper, riverine seismic profiling and On the plain the longitudinal profile of the river
river planform analysis can be a useful tool to answer the has only minor slope changes (La! szloffy,! 1982)
questions of neotectonic activity and landform evolu- and due to the flatness of the plain, the channel
tion. slope is less than 10 cm/km everywhere downstream of
The Tisza, the trunk river of the GHP, drains Tokaj.
157,000 km2, and its catchment area covers the eastern The annual mean discharge of the river at Szeged is
part of the Pannonian Basin. It originates in the about 800 m3/s. Floods can occur in the spring season
Ukrainian part of the Carpathian Mts. and leaves its due to the snowmelt on the mountains of the catchment
narrow valley at Sighet (on the Romanian–Ukrainian area. The Tisza flows to the Danube and the local
frontier) changing from a bedrock to an alluvial river. erosional base of the whole Pannonian Basin is the Iron
Its real braided section ends up at Korolevo where the Gate where the Danube crosses the Southern Car-
river reaches the GHP (Fig. 1). From this point (the so pathian Mts. (Fig. 1).
called ‘Korolevo Gate’) till the estuary the Tisza is a The course of the river Tisza changed signi-
river without any bedrock control. ficantly during the late Quaternary (Ga! bris, 1998).
The section from Korolevo to Tiszabecs represents The river pattern was alternating between braiding
the alluvial fan, therefore the main fraction of the and meandering as a response to the climatic
river sediment is gravel and the river pattern is a changes during the Pleistocene (Vandenberghe, 1995;
transition from braided to meandering, which is Ga! bris, 1998). During the Holocene period the mean-
called wandering type (Miall, 1977, 1996). The dering pattern has been dominant everywhere down-
river starts the real meandering pattern at Tiszabecs stream of the alluvial fan section of the Tisza River
and it lasts till the estuary, along the whole GHP. (Ga! bris, 1987).
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Fig. 2. Important characteristics of the Tisza River between the cities of Tokaj and Szeged (see Fig. 1). (a) Confluence of the tributaries. The size of
the circles refers to the discharge of the tributary, in m3/s units under the circles. The percent data shows the discharge ratio of the tributary and the
Tisza River at the confluence. (b) Thalweg sinuosity of the Tisza River. Italic numbers and vertical dashed lines indicate the subsections (see text).
Capital letters show the discussed sinuosity anomalies. (c) Depth to the base of Quaternary strata (Frany!o, 1992), and a zone of tectonic deformation
derived from the seismic data of Toth ! et al. (1997).

Riverine seismic surveys were taken in 1997 along the 2. Method and results
major part of the Tisza River, between the cities of
Tokaj and Szeged. This was selected as a study section As the study section of the Tisza River has been
for river planform analysis. It is located between 250 meandering throughout the entire Holocene, the mor-
and 840 km from the estuary, measured along the phometric parameters of meandering rivers can be used
longer, pre-regulation channel. As there is only minor for planform analysis. For numerical and quantitative
variance of the valley slope along the study section, the approaches, Schumm (1963) suggested to define the
river planform is primarily controlled by the water and sinuosity of a section of a meandering river as a ratio of
sediment discharge of the tributaries. Fortunately, a the channel length and the geometrical distance between
long part of the study section is free of major its endpoints. The dependence of the channel sinuosity
confluences (Fig. 2a) which offers excellent conditions on the slope angle was studied by Schumm and Khan
for the analysis. (1972) using flume experiments. Setting a given dis-
The goal of this study is to find a correlation be- charge with constant sediment load, and increasing the
tween the known geological features (e.g. subsidence slope of the flume the flow was straight at low slope
centres, and other seismically detected deformation values and when a critical dip was reached, it started
features) and river planform changes and to show the meandering. The sinuosity of the thalweg increased with
applicability of river pattern analysis for neotectonic increasing slope to a point where it was maximum,
studies. beyond this maximum the sinuosity quickly fell and the
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mechanism of braiding started. This behaviour of the

sinuosity as a slope variance indicator, is the starting
point of tectonic studies based on river analyses (e.g.
Miall, 1996; Pinter, 1996).
Ouchi (1985) showed, also by flume model experi-
ments, that a meandering flow crossing a region of uplift
changes its sinuosity. Naturally, the sinuosity decreases
upstream of the uplift axis and increases downstram.
This model result was verified in studies of North
American rivers (Adams, 1980; Burnett and Schumm,
1983; Marple and Talwani, 1993, 2000).
The present course of the Tisza River is a result of
drastic river regulation and flood control works carried
out between 1846 and 1910. Its total length was reduced
about to the 60% of the original one, while the channel
slope increased from around 4 to 6.5 cm/km at the study
section (La! szloffy,
! 1982). The sinuosity of the present-
day channel is far from the original. For the planform
analysis, the sinuosity data of the original, pre-regula-
tion channel has been derived from the reconstructed
river course. Therefore, topographic map sheets in a
scale of 1:28.800 of the 2nd military survey of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire (produced by the Institute of
Military Geography, Vienna; reprints are available at
the Hungarian Archive of Military History, Budapest)
were used to reconstruct the last undisturbed river
course. These sheets were surveyed between 1850 and
1863, using the Cassini-Soldner projection and the Fig. 3. Subsections and sinuosity of the Tisza River prior to the river
regulations (at about 1840). Different grey shadings indicate the
Vienna1806 datum. The maps were fitted to the average thalweg sinuosity of the subsections (see text) as follows:
Hungarian national grid and the HD72 datum by 1=high sinuosity (above 3); 2=intermediate sinuosity (2.5–3);
rectification, using the ER Mappers GIS software (for 3=normal sinuosity (1.5–2.5); 4=low sinuosity (below 1.5). Contour
details of the mentioned geodetical and cartographical lines with numbers show the thickness of the Quaternary strata
references, see Mugnier, 1999). The transformation (Frany!o, 1992) in meters. Small numbers along the river refer to the
subsections.
error was below 40 m and not a systematic one. The
centreline of the channel was digitized manually, and,
subsequently, the distance of the vertices was set to
250 m along the river thalweg. thalweg length of the given section by the Cartesian
The sinuosity was computed in two different ways: distance between the endpoints of it (Fig. 3). Note
that the sinuosity computed this way can differ
1. For each vertice of the digitized river course a 50 km
remarkably from the results of the first method only
long section (‘window’) was assigned from 25 km (100
in the case of a subsection shorter than the used
vertices) upstream of it to the same distance down-
window-size of 50 km.
stream, along the course. Getting the Cartesian
distance (D) between the endpoints of this selected
Along with the sinuosity, the thickness of the
section, the sinuosity (S) at the given vertex, with a
Quaternary sediments (Franyo, ! 1992) is shown in
window-size of W (here W ¼ 50 km) is:
Fig. 2c, and as a map background also in Fig. 3.
W Concerning the reliability of this data set it has to be
S¼ :
D underlined, that the definition of the Pliocene–Quatern-
The resulted thalweg sinuosity of the study section of ary boundary in terrestrial environments is still a matter
the Tisza River is shown in Fig. 2b. As this function is of debate (Partridge, 1997). However, the main pattern
too detailed for showing on a map, the sinuosity was of the Quaternary thickness map in the Great Hungar-
computed also by another, more simple way. ian Plain is quite reliable because good magnetostrati-
2. Seventeen subsections of the study section of the river !
graphic constraints are available (Ronai, 1985). Recent
were selected based on the morphometry of indivi- vertical movement data derived from repeated precise
dual meander curves by Mike (1991). The sinuosity of ! 1992) was considered but not used
levellings (Joo,
each subsection was calculated by dividing the because it shows severe human impact due to compac-
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Fig. 4. Courses of the Tisza River around the subsection 11, plotted on a digital elevation model (derived from 1:10,000 scale topographic maps of
Hungary). Numbers indicate the following river courses: 1=present, regulated channel (black); 2=the last natural channel just before the river
regulation (continuous white); 3=a paleochannel (dash-dotted white), of about 5 kyr ago. Note the remarkable change of sinuosity between the
paleochannel (3) and the last natural channel (2).

tion induced by fluid extraction from the beginning of (E) The high sinuosity anomaly in the subsection 6,
the 20th century (Tima! r and Ra! cz, 2002). between 395 and 360 km.

There is a good correlation between the thickness of

Quaternary sediments as a subsidence indicator and the
3. Discussion
sinuosity (see Fig. 2). The anomalies B and D follow the
local minima of the Quaternary thickness (and hence,
According to the results of Ouchi (1985), high to low
the subsidence), and even the anomalies A and E
and low to high sinuosity changes indicate that the
correlate with a smaller local minimum in the thickness.
river crosses subsidence or uplift axes, respectively. In
However, it can be seen that the fall of the sinuosity at
case of an area subsiding as a whole like the GHP, the
the anomalies A and E also correlates with the
terms ‘subsidence’ and ‘uplift’ mean not absolute
confluence of the Sajo! and Kor . os
. Rivers, which
vertical movements but differential displacements rela-
increases the water discharge and the sediment load at
tive to the upstream and downstream sections of the
those places (La! szloffy,
! 1982). Other sinuosity falls in
rivers.
the study section may be interpreted as consequences of
In the study section of the Tisza River the most
the rivers self-organization to the energy balance (see
evident sinuosity changes are as follows (Fig. 2b):
Langbein and Leopold, 1966). One example can be seen
(A) The rise and fall of the sinuosity in the subsection in Fig. 4, which shows the subsection 11, anomaly C,
16, at 805 and 775 km, respectively. where the highly sinuous mid-Holocene paleochannel
(B) The rise and fall of the sinuosity in the subsection has changed for an almost straight recent channel
12, at 560 and 545 km, respectively. without any apparent tectonic reasons.
(C) The fall of sinuosity in the subsection 11 at 525 km. Concerning the results of the high-resolution riverine
(D) The rise and fall of the sinuosity at the two ! et al., 1997), the vast majority of
seismic survey (Toth
endpoints of subsection 8 at 460 and 435 km, the study sections do not exhibit any tectonic deforma-
respectively. tion. However, a clear flower structure (Fig. 5b),
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meandering rivers increases with the valley slope

only to a critical dip. If the slope further increases
then the meandering river starts to straighten. It is
obvious that our analysis is valid only in the slope
interval below this critical value. The specific question
emerges where this critical dip value is located along the
Tisza River. It will be seen that in our attempt to
answering this specific question we arrive at a more
general result on the controlling factors of river plan-
form changes.
Let us use the original graph of Schumm and Khan
(1972); the ‘vertical’ plane on Fig. 6, which gives the
sinuosity vs. slope relationship, together with the
discrimination lines between straight, meandering and
braided patterns. The same discrimination lines
were presented on the graphs of Leopold and Wolman
(1957) and Ackers and Charlton (1971) in a co-ordinate
system of bankfull discharge and channel slope. As
the two graphs have different meanings of ‘slope’
(valley and channel), the one of Schumm and Khan
(1972) was recalculated in order to have the channel
slope as a horizontal axis. This makes it possible to
combine the two graphs and arrive at a three-dimen-
sional chart, showing the sinuosity as function of the
channel slope and bankfull discharge (Fig. 6). To
construct this chart, it is assumed that the relationship
of Schumm and Khan (1972) is basically valid for
different values of discharge, therefore similar graphs
can be drawn between the two discrimination lines of
Leopold and Wolman (1957) and Ackers and Charlton
Fig. 5. Correlation of a sharp sinuosity change and a fault zone at the (1971) at any discharge (Fig. 6). This enables to project
boundary of the subsections 8 and 9. (a) A map showing the pre- the maximum sinuosity value onto the slope vs.
regulation and the present courses of the Tisza River and the location discharge plane, and thus define a new discrimination
! et al.,
of the seismic section below. (b) The seismic section (after Toth
1997) measured on the river and showing the young wrench fault
line (dashed line in Fig. 6).
associated with the Mid-Hungarian Shear Zone. This line divides the meandering zone into two parts:
the zone of self-organizing meandering (sensu Turcotte,
associated with the Mid-Hungarian Shear Zone 1992; St^lum, 1996) and the zone of ‘unorganized
+
(Lorincz et al., 2002), has been imaged right at the meandering’ because here the sinuosity decreases with
boundary of subsections 8 and 9. This has been the increasing slope.
interpreted (Bada, 1999; Horva! th and Bada, 2001) as a Plotting the slope and discharge data pairs along the
sinistral strike-slip fault with a small normal faulting alluvial section of the Tisza River, a trajectory is
component. This feature correlates with the most received (the short-dashed line in Fig. 7). It can be
dramatic planform change along the study section: the seen from Fig. 7 that the study section plots completely
rising sinuosity at anomaly D, exactly at the border of in the zone of self-organizing meandering, which means
subsections 8 and 9. Moreover, the normal faulting that our analysis on the tectonic influence on the
component of the fault explains well the zone of larger channel sinuosity is justified. Furthermore, it shows
Quaternary thickness and therefore the higher subsi- that in case of the Tisza River the braided to mean-
dence and the direction of the sinuosity change as well. dering transition (sensu Leopold and Wolman, 1957)
This is a clear evidence of the ongoing tectonic activity refers to the border of the true braided zone, while the
of the Mid-Hungarian Shear Zone. classic self-organizing meandering occurs only beneath
the maximum sinuosity line. The section in-between is
the range of ‘unorganized meandering’, and interestingly
4. Interpretation in terms of river dynamics enough, in the case of the Tisza River this section
coincides with the zone of intermediate streams (sensu
According to the flume model results of Schumm and Lane, 1957) and the wandering flow pattern (sensu
Khan (1972), at a given discharge the sinuosity of Miall, 1977).
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Fig. 6. Derivation of the line (dashed) showing the slope resulting the maximum sinuosity at any discharge by the combination of the channel slope
vs. bankfull discharge diagram (Leopold and Wolman, 1957; Ackers and Charlton, 1971) with the chart of sinuosity vs. slope (after Schumm and
Khan, 1972). The vertical axis has no units because of the qualitative approach of the combination.

Fig. 7. Discharge vs. channel slope discrimination diagram (after Leopold and Wolman, 1957; Ackers and Charlton, 1971), and the plot of the
alluvial section of the Tisza River, showing the river planform change from braided, via wandering to meandering. For the determination of the line
of maximum sinuosity (dashed), see Fig. 6 (see text for discussion).
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5. Conclusions (Ed.), Geodynamics of Rifting. Vol. 1. Case History Studies on

Rifts: Europe and Asia. Tectonophysics 208, 221–241.
Franyo, ! F., 1992. Thickness of Quaternary sediments in Hungary.
The analysis of the pre-regulation planform geometry
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of the study section of the Tisza River shows that the G!abris, Gy., 1987. Correlation between meander properties and
sinuosity of the river is strongly correlated with the Holocene discharges in the Great Hungarian Plain. In: Gardiner
position of faults and subsidence anomalies. From a V. (Ed.), International Geomorphology Conference 1985, Part I.
tectonic point of view this implies that the Mid- Wiley, Chichester, pp. 723–730.
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increases. On the example of the Tisza, a representative the Pannonian Basin. Tectonophysics 226, 333–357.
alluvial river, the zone of unorganized meandering Horv!ath, F., Bada, G., 2001. Active tectonics in the Pannonian Basin:
equals to the wandering river pattern of Miall (1977). .
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