Channel-reach morphology in formerly glaciated, mountain streams: controls and prediction

The spatial distribution of channel types in mountain drainage basins of coastal British Columbia is examined. Using field- and GIS-based data we show that the local channel slope and degree of colluvial-alluvial coupling imposed by the glacial valley morphology dictate the spatial organization of channel-reach morphology. In particular, the glacially-induced channel long profile generates characteristic sequences of channel reaches (with repetitions and inversions) that depart from the downstream succession distinctive of unglaciated mountain streams. For example, the presence of one hanging valley in the river long profile produces and separates two full successions of channel types a headmost one characterized by an ephemeral/seasonal hydrologic regime, and a downstream one, where water runoff is perennial. Exploratory scatter plots indicate that slope, shear stress, and relative roughness ensure best separation between reach types. At a confirmatory level, highest prediction of channel types is achieved by discriminant functions containing the same three variates. Success rates, depending on whether or not boulder-cascade reaches are grouped with step-pools, vary between 89% and 76%. Notwithstanding the glacially-inherited slope and the transient geomorphic dynamics of this landscape, similar to the case of unglaciated mountain streams, channel types are chiefly segregated by local slope (albeit characterized by significantly higher ranges), and to a lesser extent by shear stress and relative roughness. This outcome, while adding considerable strength to prior empirical knowledge, indicates that first-order physical conditions at which distinct channel states form are insensitive to very different landscape structures, hence histories.