Chapter 2 - 1

Chapter - 2
Lecture - 1
River Morphology and Regime
By: Inst. Fikadu G. (MSc.)

River Morphology
 River morphology is used to describe the shapes of river channels and

how they change over time
River morphology is concerned:
 with channel configuration and geometry,
 with longitudinal profile;
 It is time dependent and varies particularly:
 with discharge,
 with sediment input and characteristics,
 with bank material

River Morphology
 Rivers are mainly classified according to the topography of the river basins as:
Upper reaches – rivers in the hilly regions
Middle reaches – rivers in flood plains
End reaches – tidal rivers
 Rivers may also be classified according to their morphological processes.
 Zone I – similar to the upper reaches
Zone II – the rivers at gentle slope
Zone III – the flood plains and tail reach of the rivers.
River Morphology
1. Upper reaches – could be:
a. Incised or rocky rivers:
 The channel generally formed by the process of degradation (erosion)
 The bed and the banks are usually highly resistant to erosion
 The sediment load is different from the bed material

 No regular pattern of meanders because varying resistance of bed and banks to
erosion.
b. Boulder rivers:
 The beds consist of a mixture of boulders, gravels, shingle and sand.
 Tend to have straighter courses with wide shallow beds and interlaced channels.
River Morphology
2. Middle reaches (rivers in flood plains)
 Characterized by the zigzag fashion it flows – meandering
 While meandering, carry sediment similar to the bed material
 Material constantly carried from the concave bank and deposited on the convex
side or between two successive bends.
 It is this reaches that requires training due to unbalance of flow in the river.
River Morphology
3. End reaches (tidal /deltaic rivers)–
 Just before joining sea, a river divided into branches and forms delta shape.
 The velocity gets reduced as it approaches the sea and water level rises as a
result.
 It is also affected by the tidal wave of sea water. This leads to spills of flow and
formation of many new channels.
River Morphology
 The morphology of a river channel is a function of a number of processes and

environmental conditions, including:
 the composition and erodibility of the bed and banks (e.g., sand, clay,
bedrock);
vegetation and the rate of plant growth;
the availability of sediment;
the size and composition of the sediment moving through the channel;
 the rate of sediment transport through the channel and the rate of deposition
on the flood plain, banks, and bed; etc.
River Morphology
 As water moves its way downstream, energy is expended on the transportation

and rearrangement of materials in the river channel and on the flood plain.
 meanders can migrate,
 banks may erode,
 new channels may form and
 old ones cut off creating backwaters
 Schumm (1977) assigned three zones to the land-water interactions within

fluvial hydro systems:
River Morphology
 There are three zones to the land-water interactions within fluvial hydro-
systems:-
 ZONE 1 : Sediment supply zone
 the upper zone within the catchment
 characterized by valley slopes impinging almost directly onto the channel
 there are coarse channel sediments and these arise from bank and slope
erosion inputs
River Morphology
 ZONE 2 : Sediment transfer zone
 comprises mainly the lowland reaches of the river where the channel is
often bordered by a wide floodplain
 in this zone the rivers redistributes sediment derived from upstream bank
and bed erosion.
 sediment varies from cobble and gravel- sized material in the upper reaches
to silt, clay and alluvium in the lower reaches.
 meander bends migrate laterally and fine sediments can be stored on the
floodplain after a flood
River Morphology
 ZONE 3 : Depositional zone
Sediment is deposited in estuary
The range of substrates found within the ‘production’ and ‘transfer’ zones
together with their hydrological regime, determine the habitat characteristics
of the river.
In a natural/unmodified river it is the range of natural habitat features, and it

is this that may be degraded or altered by river engineering works.
River Morphology
River Morphology
River regime
 A river is said to be in a state of regime or fully developed when the flow in
the river is such that there is no scouring or no silting
 A fully developed river is called a matured river
 Generally a matured river is formed by the deposition of silt or erosion of

bed and bank material.
 Factors affecting river regime are
 variation of river discharges
 variation of bed slope of the river
 change of direction and curvatures

River regime theory
1. Kennedy ‘s theorem:
 a state of regime is achieved when there is no silting or scouring in the river

channel.
2. Lacy theorem :
 is a widely acceptable theorem
 Differentiated three regime conditions:
 True regime
 Initial regime
 Final regime
True regime
 Accordingly the regime theory is applied only for rivers which satisfy
conditions of final and true regime.
 The river shall be in regime, if there is neither silting nor scouring
 The silt load entering the river must be carried through by the river/channel
section
 Lacey stated a river at regime would have the following characteristics:
 The discharge is more or less constant
 Flow is almost uniform

River regime theory
Silt charge and grade is almost constant
 The channel is flowing through a material which can be scoured as
easily as it can be deposited and is of the same grade as is transported.
 Accordingly to lacy theory for a river to be in true regime the above should be
maintained but, -Practically not true –
 Due to this artificial channels will only be in initial or final regime.
Initial regime:
 The river shall be in initial regime when only the bed slope of a channel varies
and it’s cross-section or wetted perimeter remains unaffected.
River regime theory
Final regime:
 If there is no resistance from the sides, and all the Variables like ,wetted
perimeter, depth, slope are equally free to vary and finally get adjusted
according to discharge and silt grade then the river/channel is said to have
achieved final stability called final regime:
 The channel is said to be in true regime state and regime theory is applicable
only for such channels.
River regime theory
❖ 𝑓 = 1.75 𝑑𝑚𝑚 ….silt factor where d is average particle size mm
1
𝑄𝑓2 6 𝑚 𝑚3
❖ V= where v = and Q =
140 𝑠 𝑠
5 𝑣2
❖ 𝑅= R(hydraulic mean depth ) is depth (m)
2 𝑓
❖ 𝑃 = 4.75 𝑄 p is perimeter( m)
5
𝑓3
❖ 𝑠= 1 s is slope of river
3340𝑄6
River regime theory
❖ For wide stream or rivers where:
p ≈ width of the river
❖ The regime width = 4.75 𝑄

❖ The regime score depth for such rivers is
1
𝑄 3
𝑅 = 0.475
𝑓
❖ For any other types of active river the normal scour depth is given by
1
𝑞2 3
𝑅 = 1.35 where q= Q/L , l is actual river width
𝑓
River regime theory
❖ Design procedure for lacy theory:
1
2
𝑄𝑓 6
1. Calculate the velocity by the equation V =
140
5 𝑣2
2. Find out hydraulic mean depth: 𝑅 =
2 𝑓
𝑄
3. Compute area of the section: 𝐴 =
𝑣
4. Compute the wetted perimeter P = 4.75 𝑄

5
𝑓3
5. Finally calculate bed slope: 𝑠 = 1
3340𝑄6
River regime theory
Exercise 1:
1. Design a regime channel for a discharge of 50 𝑚^3/𝑠 and a silt factor f = 1.1
using lacy theory. Assume a trapezoidal channel of 1:1/2 side slope (V:H).

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Chapter - 2

River Morphology and Regime

By: Inst. Fikadu G. (MSc.)

 River morphology is used to describe the shapes of river channels and

River morphology is concerned:

 with channel configuration and geometry,

 with longitudinal profile;

 It is time dependent and varies particularly:

 with sediment input and characteristics,

 with bank material

Upper reaches – rivers in the hilly regions

Middle reaches – rivers in flood plains

End reaches – tidal rivers

 Rivers may also be classified according to their morphological processes.

 Zone I – similar to the upper reaches

Zone II – the rivers at gentle slope

a. Incised or rocky rivers:

 The channel generally formed by the process of degradation (erosion)

 The sediment load is different from the bed material

 The beds consist of a mixture of boulders, gravels, shingle and sand.

2. Middle reaches (rivers in flood plains)

 Characterized by the zigzag fashion it flows – meandering

 While meandering, carry sediment similar to the bed material

3. End reaches (tidal /deltaic rivers)–

 The morphology of a river channel is a function of a number of processes and

vegetation and the rate of plant growth;

the availability of sediment;

 As water moves its way downstream, energy is expended on the transportation

 meanders can migrate,

 banks may erode,

 new channels may form and

 old ones cut off creating backwaters

 Schumm (1977) assigned three zones to the land-water interactions within

 ZONE 1 : Sediment supply zone

 the upper zone within the catchment

 characterized by valley slopes impinging almost directly onto the channel

 ZONE 2 : Sediment transfer zone

 ZONE 3 : Depositional zone

Sediment is deposited in estuary

In a natural/unmodified river it is the range of natural habitat features, and it

 A fully developed river is called a matured river

 Generally a matured river is formed by the deposition of silt or erosion of

 Factors affecting river regime are

 variation of river discharges

 variation of bed slope of the river

 change of direction and curvatures

 a state of regime is achieved when there is no silting or scouring in the river

 is a widely acceptable theorem

 Differentiated three regime conditions:

 The river shall be in regime, if there is neither silting nor scouring

 Lacey stated a river at regime would have the following characteristics:

 The discharge is more or less constant

 Flow is almost uniform

 The channel is flowing through a material which can be scoured as

easily as it can be deposited and is of the same grade as is transported.

 Due to this artificial channels will only be in initial or final regime.

p ≈ width of the river

❖ The regime width = 4.75 𝑄