FUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF STREAM MEANDERS

The development of very regular sinuous meanders in laminar-flow surface-tension streams on a Perspex plate produces regularity of the meanders in the absence of random influences, which suggests that meander information is not an essentially random process. The conspicuously convex-downslope shape of individual curves, often recognizable in regular river meanders, suggests that models which predict symmetrical meander curves are incomplete; study of the propagation sequence of meanders suggests that no intrinsic hydraulic phenomenon, such as reversal of secondary circulation, is needed to explain the regular reversal of meander curvature; the increasing irregularity of meanders as fluid turbulence increases suggests that meander irregularity results from random disturbances to the basically regular meandering tendency. Similarities of shape and behavior suggest that surface-tension meanders offer a useful analogy through which river meanders may be better understood. (Author)

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• Corporate Authors:

  Geological Society of America

  3300 Penrose Place
  Boulder, CO  United States  80301
• Authors:
  • Davies, TRH
  • Tinker, C C
• Publication Date: 1984-5

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: p. 505-512
• Serial:
  • Geological Society of America, Bulletin
  • Volume: 95
  • Issue Number: 5
  • Publisher: Geological Society of America
  • ISSN: 0016-7606

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Fluid mechanics; Geometric curves; Laminar flow; Meanders; Rivers; Streams; Surface tension; Turbulence
• Old TRIS Terms: Disturbances
• Subject Areas: Highways; Hydraulics and Hydrology; I26: Water Run-off - Freeze-thaw;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00387059
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 30 1984 12:00AM