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

Barendra PURKAIT

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PDF(686 KB)
Front. Earth Sci. ›› DOI: 10.1007/s11707-010-0125-2
RESEARCH ARTICLE
RESEARCH ARTICLE

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

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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

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Barendra PURKAIT. Analysis of current directions in the bends of an ephemeral river and its geological implications. Front Earth Sci Chin, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-010-0125-2

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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.

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2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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