Читать книгу A Field Guide to British Rivers - George Heritage - Страница 16

The pattern and features of any watercourse are influenced by the river type and its sediment load, as well as by the environment through which the stream flows (its catchment). Furthermore, the form of a channel both influences and reflects the processes active in the stream system. As such, the classification of channel form can help those concerned with rivers to understand the hydraulic and sediment processes acting on a watercourse and how the physical nature of the watercourse modifies local processes (Rosgen 1994). An appropriate river typology is thus a valuable tool when trying to understand and work with a watercourse and can facilitate interventions in rivers and across floodplains which work with current and restored processes to provide sustainable systems for the future. This short chapter reviews a wide variety of classifications developed for rivers.