Analysis of current directions in the bends of an ephemeral river and its geological implications

Abstract

Sediment transport directions in four point bars of an ephemeral meandering river Usri, India, were measured from sedimentary structures and compared with the flow directions of the adjacent river-channel flow. As the bars were crescentic in shape, each bar has been divided into several sectors along with the adjacent river-channel bend. Vector means of sediment transport directions in each sector were computed and compared with the vector means of the flow directions of the corresponding river-channel sector. The relationship between the sediment transport direction in the bar and the water flow direction of the adjacent river-channel is sometimes divergent and sometimes convergent. However, the difference between the vector means of the sediment transport direction in the bar and the flow direction of the adjacent river-channel water is subtle. Hence, it can be concluded that the sediment transport direction in the bar is parallel to the flow direction of the adjacent river-channel water. Therefore, the result of the present study implies reconstructing the paleo-river channel course.

Keywords

Usri River / ephemeral / meandering / point bar / directional data / vector means

References

[1] Allen J R L (1966). On bed forms and palaeocurrents. Sedimentology, 6(3): 153-190

[2] Bathurst J C, Thorne C R, Hey R D (1977). Direct measurements of secondary currents in river bends. Nature, 269(5628): 504-506

[3] Bluck B J (1971). Sedimentation in the meandering river Endrick. Scott J Geol, 7(2): 93-138

[4] Bluck B J (1974). Structure and directional properties of some valley sandur deposits in southern Iceland. Sedimentology, 21(4): 533-554

[5] Chayes F (1954). Discussion: effect of change of origin on mean and variance of two-dimensional fabrics. Am J Sci, 252: 567-570

[6] Coleman J M (1969). Brahmaputra River: Channel processes and sedimentation. Sediment Geol, 3(2-3): 129-239

[7] Curray J R (1956). The analysis of two dimensional data. J Geol, 64(2): 117-131

[8] Dey S, Ghosh P (2008). GRDM — A digital field-mapping tool for management and analysis of field geological data. Comput Geosci, 34(5): 464-478

[9] Dietrich W E, Smith J D, Dunne T (1979). Flow and sediment transport in a sand-bedded meander. J Geol, 87(3): 305-315

[10] Ghosh P (2000). Estimation of channel sinuosity from paleocurrent data: a method using fractal geometry. J Sediment Res, 70(3): 449-455

[11] Gustavson T C (1978). Bedforms and stratification types of modern gravel meander lobes, Nueces River, Texas. Sedimentology, 25(3): 401-426

[12] Jackson R G (1978). Preliminary evaluation of lithofacies models for meandering alluvial streams. In: Miall A D, ed. Fluvial Sedimentology. Calgary: Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Memoir5, 543-576

[13] Jizba Z V (1953). Mean and standard deviation of certain geologic data — a discussion. Am J Sci, 251: 899-906

[14] Jorgensen P J, Fielding C R (1996). Facies architecture of alluvial flood basin deposits: Three-dimensional data from the Upper Triassic Callide coal measures of East-Central Queenland, Autralia. Sedimentology, 43(3): 479-495

[15] Khan I A, Bridge J S, Kappelman J, Wilson R (1997). Evolution of Miocene Fluvial environments, eastern Potwar plateau, northern Pakistan. Sedimentology, 44(2): 221-251

[16] Le Roux J P (1992). Determining the channel sinuosity of ancient fluvial systems from paleocurrent data. J Sediment Petrol, 62: 283-291

[17] Mardia K V, Jupp P E (2000). Directional Statistics. Chichester: Wiley

[18] Miall A D (1994). Reconstructing fluvial macroform architecture from two-dimensional outcrops: Examples from Castlegate sandstone, Book cliffs, Utah. J Sediment Res, 64b: 146-158

[19] Nanson G C (1980). Point bar and flood plain formation of the meandering Beaton River, northeastern British Columbia, Canada. Sedimentology, 27(1): 3-29

[20] Peterson F (1984). Fluvial sedimentation on a quivering craton: Influence of slight crustal movements on fluvial processes, upper Jurassic Morrison formation, Western Colorado Plateau. Sediment Geol, 38(1-4): 21-49

[21] Pincus H J (1953). The analysis of aggregates of orientation data in the earth sciences. J Geol, 61(6): 482-509

[22] Pincus H J (1956). Some vector and arithmetic operations on two-dimensional orientation variates, with applications to geological data. J Geol, 64(6): 533-557

[23] Potter P E, Olson J S (1954). Variance components of cross-bedding direction in some basal Pennsylvanian sandstones of the Eastern Interior Basin: Geological application. J Geol, 62(1): 50-73

[24] Potter P E, Pettijohn F J (1977). Paleocurrents and Basin Analysis, New York: Springer-Verlag, 425

[25] Purkait B (1981). Morphology and growth pattern of the Pathri river point bar, Bihar, India. In: Proceedings of Second International Fluvial Conference: Modern and Ancient Fluvial Systems, Sedimentology and Processes 1981. Keele: University of Keele, 98

[26] Purkait B (1983). Current directions in the Usri river point bar, Bihar. Indian J Earth Sci, 10(2): 170-184

[27] Purkait B (1985). Morphology and growth pattern of the Pathri river point bar, Bihar. Indian J Earth Sci, 11(3-4): 239-249

[28] Purkait B (2000). Morphology and growth pattern of the Usri River point bars. Int J Sediment Res, 15: 445-457

[29] Purkait B (2002). Current dispersion pattern in an ephemeral river bend, India. Journal of Combinatorics. Information and System Sciences, 27(1-4): 135-153

[30] Reiche P (1938). An analysis of cross-lamination: The Coconino sandstone. J Geol, 46(7): 905-932

[31] Rubey W W, Bass N W (1925). The Geology of Russell Country, Kansas, Part-I. Kansas: Kansas Geological Survey Bulletin, 104pp.

[32] Rust B R (1972). Structure and process in a braided river. Sedimentology, 18(3-4): 221-245

[33] Sakalowsky P P Jr (1974). Theories of stream meander causation: review and analysis. Earth Sci Rev, 10(2): 121-138

[34] Schwartz D E (1978). Hydrology and current orientation analysis of a braided-to-meandering transition: the Red River in Oklahoma and Texas, USA. In: Miall A D, ed. Fluvial Sedimentology. Calgary: Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Memoir5, 105-127

[35] Shukla U K, Singh I B, Srivastava P, Singh D S (1999). Paleocurrent patterns in braid-bar and point-bar deposits: Examples from the Ganga River, India. J Sediment Res, 69(5): 992-1002

[36] Smith N D (1974). Sedimentology and bar formation in the Upper Kicking Horse River, a braided outwash stream. J Geol, 82(2): 205-223

[37] Sorby H C (1849). On the oscillation of the currents drifting sandstone beds of the southeast of Northumberland and on the general direction in the coal field in the neighborhood of Edinburgh. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 3(0): 232-240

[38] Willis B J (1993). Interpretation of bedding geometry within ancient point bar deposits. In: Marzo M, Puigdefábregas C, eds. Alluvial Sedimentation. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications, 101-114

[39] Willis B J (1997). Architecture of fluvial-dominated valley-fill deposits in the cretaceous Fall River Formation. Sedimentology, 44(4): 735-757

[40] Wright M D (1959). The formation of cross-bedding by a meandering or braided stream. J Sediment Petrol, 29: 610-615

[41] Zaleha M J (1997). Intra- and extrabasinal controls on fluvial deposition in the Miocene Indo-Gangetic foreland basin, northern Pakistan. Sedimentology, 44(2): 369-390

Acknowledgements

The work was carried out from the Indian Statistical Institute. The author is grateful to Prof. Supriya Sengupta of the Statistical Institute for introducing him to the problem. Editorial comments from Prof Z. Chen and Dr. Jing Chen are gratefully acknowledged.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg